Singapore legislation
Clause 44
Clause 44
Disposal of antecedent documents of title and defunct instruments
(1)
Where land has been brought under the provisions of this Act, the Registrar may deal with the documents of title lodged with the Registrar for the purpose of bringing the land under this Act in the following manner:
retain the documents in the Land Titles Registry;
microfilm and transfer the documents to the National Archives to be dealt with as if they were public records for the purposes of the National Archives and Records Centre; or
subject to subsection (2), destroy the documents.
(2)
The Registrar shall not destroy a document of title referred to in subsection (1) unless —
where the relevant folio is unqualified on the date of its issue, a period of 12 years has elapsed since the date of the creation of the folio; or
where the relevant folio was qualified, a period of 12 years has elapsed since the date when the folio becomes unqualified.
(3)
Subject to subsection (4), the Registrar may destroy —
any instrument lodged with the Registrar for registration of another instrument and the instrument has since the registration of the other instrument become defunct; and
any certificate of title which has been cancelled pursuant to the issue of a new certificate of title or pursuant to the vesting of the land comprised in the certificate of title in the Government.
(4)
Before destroying any of the instruments or certificates of title referred to in subsection (3), the Registrar shall cause them to be microfilmed.
(5)
The Registrar may deal with documents of title lodged for the purpose of bringing land under the provisions of the repealed Land Titles Act [Cap. 157] in force immediately before the commencement of this Act in accordance with this section as if they were lodged after the commencement under the provisions of this Act.