Singapore legislation
Section 24
Section 24
Final registration to be suspended if Act contravened
(1)
The Registrar, if he or she considers or is informed in writing by the Controller that any transfer lodged with the Registrar contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, must not complete the registration of the transfer.
(2)
The transfer in such event remains provisionally registered and the Registrar must cause an entry to be made —
in the case of land subject to the provisions of the Land Titles Act 1993 — in the land‑register; and
in the case of land subject to the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Act 1988 — in the relevant Index of Land Book and other land records maintained at the Registry of Deeds of the Authority,that final registration is suspended.
(3)
No action or claim may be made against the decision of the Registrar to suspend the final registration of the transfer.
(4)
The party or the advocate and solicitor acting for the party claiming under the transfer or that party’s successors in title or assigns who appear as such in the records of the Registrar must be served with a written notice by the Registrar of such decision and such party, successors in title or assigns may seek a declaration from the court as to whether the transfer contravenes any of the provisions of this Act, and, if so, is to be declared void; if the court makes a declaration that the transfer is void, the declaration must be served on the Registrar, and upon service of the declaration, the Registrar must cancel the registration of the transfer and any relating instrument and make such appropriate entries in the Registrar’s records as may be necessary.
(5)
All costs incidental to the action taken by the party claiming under the transfer or that party’s successors in title or assigns who appear as such in the records of the Registrar, despite the declaration of the court, must be borne by the party, successors in title or assigns seeking the declaration.
(6)
If no declaration is sought from the court or if an application to the court for a declaration if made is not served on the Registrar within a period of 6 months of the date of service of the written notice issued and served by the Registrar under subsection (4), or if a declaration made by the court is not served on the Registrar within 21 days of the date of the declaration, the Registrar must, without giving further notice to the party claiming under the transfer or that party’s successors in title or assigns who appear as such in the records of the Registrar, proceed to cancel the registration of the transfer and all relating instruments, and no claim may be made against the Registrar for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of the cancellation.
(7)
Where any transfer which contravenes any of the provisions of this Act has been finally registered by the Registrar, the court may, on the application of the Controller, declare that the transfer is void and order rectification of the land‑register by directing that the registration of the transfer and any relating instrument be cancelled; and all costs and expenses of, and incidental to, the application must be borne by the person who transfers any estate or interest in the residential property concerned to a foreign person, and those costs and expenses are recoverable by the Controller from the person who so transfers.
(8)
Every application to the court made under this section must be by originating summons.