Land Titles (Amendment) Bill

Where permission has been granted under the Planning Ordinance, 1959 (Ord. 12 of 1959), or any ordinance repealed by that Ordinance, or under any written law, on, before or after the date of the coming into operation of the Land Titles (Amendment) Act, 1970, to develop or subdivide unregistered land, the proprietor thereof, for the purpose of dealing with the unregistered land, or any part thereof, shall be required to produce to the Registrar all the title deeds necessary for deducing a good title to the land.(2) The Registrar on receipt of the title deeds may —

direct, in writing, the proprietor to surrender the title to such land to the President free from encumbrances, and where the land has been surrendered, the President, if satisfied with the title of the proprietor and on payment by the proprietor of all costs and expenses of, or consequent on, such surrender, shall issue a new title in lieu thereof;

bring such land under the provisions of this Ordinance by issuing a qualified certificate of title and upon such issue the Registrar shall cancel any conveyance pursuant to which he issues a qualified certificate of title and shall deliver the duplicate certificate of title and the title deeds to the proprietor or the person entitled to the custody thereof as the case may be; or

issue to the proprietor a certificate to the effect that the provisions of this section do not apply to the title held by such proprietor, and, on production of such a certificate to the Registrar of Deeds, the proprietor may present for registration an assurance of the whole or any part of his unregistered land to be dealt with subject to the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Ordinance (Cap. 255).(3) In any case where the unregistered land comprises any subdivided building, the Registrar shall not elect to proceed under the provisions of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of this section but shall proceed either under the provisions of paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2) of this section, as the case may be.(4) Where the unregistered land has been surrendered pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of this section a Collector’s Certificate issued by the Collector of Land Revenue or a Grant or Lease issued by the President, as the case may be, shall be forwarded by the Commissioner of Lands to the Registrar who shall thereupon bring the land comprised therein under the provisions of this Ordinance and deliver the relevant duplicate certificate of title to the person entitled thereto.(5) The provisions of section 8 of this Ordinance, other than subsection (1) thereof, shall apply to a certificate of title issued pursuant to a Collector’s Certificate under this section.(6) The provisions of this section shall not apply to —

a leasehold title having less than an unexpired term of thirty years as at the date of the production of the title deeds to the Registrar required under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section; or

unregistered land in respect of which permission for subdivision of any building erected thereon has been granted by the authority for the time being charged with the duty of controlling or supervising the subdivision of land and in respect of which an assurance of part of such subdivided building has been registered or provisionally registered under the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Ordinance (Cap. 255) before the 15th day of May 1968, the date on which the Land Titles (Strata) Act, 1967 (Act 41 of 1967), came into operation:Provided that where the whole of the estate in the unregistered land, comprising the subdivided building, has subsequently become vested in the same proprietor on or after the date of the coming into operation of that Act the provisions of this section shall apply to such unregistered land.(7) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) and subsection (6) of this section —

no assurance of any unregistered land, or part thereof, to which subsection (1) of this section applies, shall be capable of being registered under the provisions of the Registration of Deeds Ordinance (Cap. 255); and

upon receipt from the Competent Authority under the Planning Ordinance, 1959 (Ord. 12 of 1959), of a notice in writing or of an approved plan relating to the granting of permission to develop or subdivide any unregistered land or building, the whole or part of which is dealt with under any assurance, the Registrar of Deeds shall have the power to refuse to register such assurance when presented for registration.(8) In this section —“assurance” has the same meaning as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act, 1967 (Act 41 of 1967);“proprietor” means the proprietor of unregistered land approved for development or subdivision under any written law;“Registrar of Deeds” means the Registrar appointed under the Registration of Deeds Ordinance;“subdivided building” has the same meaning as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act, 1967;“unregistered land” means land, or any subdivided building thereon, which has not been brought under the provisions of this Ordinance.Issue of qualified certificate of title prior to completion of survey for unregistered land11B.—

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of section 11 of this Ordinance, where the Registrar of Deeds has accepted a conveyance for registration under the Registration of Deeds Ordinance but has not endorsed on the conveyance the certificate required by subsection (2) of section 8 of that Ordinance, the Registrar of Deeds, upon being satisfied that the requirements of that Ordinance have been complied with, other than the requirement in paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 14 of that Ordinance (dealing with survey) may forward the original conveyance to the Registrar who may elect to bring the land comprised therein under the provisions of this Ordinance by issuing a qualified certificate of title.(2) Where the Registrar elects not to issue a qualified certificate of title he shall return the conveyance to the Registrar of Deeds.(3) Where a qualified certificate of title is issued under this section —

the Registrar shall return the conveyance to the Registrar of Deeds endorsed with a certificate of the Registrar that the land comprised therein has been brought under the provisions of this Ordinance but the Registrar of Deeds shall not complete registration of the conveyance until the survey mentioned in paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section 14 of the Registration of Deeds Ordinance (Cap. 255) has been completed; and

the Registrar shall deliver the duplicate certificate of title issued to the person who, but for this Ordinance, would have been entitled to the custody of the conveyance.(4) A qualified certificate of title issued pursuant to this section shall not be conclusive as to the boundaries or dimensions of the land therein comprised, and the provisions of section 136 of this Ordinance shall, mutatis mutandis, apply thereto.Effect of issuing a qualified certificate of title under sections 11A and 11B11C. Upon the issue of a qualified certificate of title pursuant to sections 11A and 11B of this Ordinance, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say: —

the proprietor of the registered land may deal with any part thereof subject to the provisions of this Ordinance; and

except as provided by subsections (3) and (4) of section 11B of this Ordinance, the provisions of section 11 of this Ordinance other than subsections (1) and (6) thereof, as well as the other provisions of this Ordinance relating to a qualified certificate of title, shall apply thereto.”.

by inserting immediately after paragraph (c) thereof the following new paragraph: —“(d)where two or more parcels comprised in one or more folia have been amalgamated and allotted with a survey lot number by the Chief Surveyor;”; and

by relettering the existing paragraphs (d) and (e) thereof as paragraphs (e) and (f) respectively.

by inserting immediately after the word “Ordinance” appearing in paragraph (b) thereof the expression “and any statutory easement implied under section 76A of this Ordinance”;

by inserting immediately after paragraph (b) thereof the following new paragraph: —“(c)any statutory obligation as defined in section 114 of this Ordinance;”;

by inserting immediately after paragraph (c) thereof the following new paragraph: —“(e)the power to rectify the land-register conferred upon the Court by section 131A of this Ordinance;”; and

by relettering the existing paragraphs (c) and (d) thereof as paragraphs (d) and (f) respectively.

by inserting immediately after the word “certificate” appearing in the fourth line of subsection (1) thereof the words “by the person acquiring title and a certificate by the person divesting title under this Ordinance”;

by inserting immediately after the word “certificate” appearing in the first line of subsection (2) thereof the words “by the person acquiring title”;

by deleting the word “any” appearing in the first line of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) thereof and substituting therefor the word “such”;

by inserting immediately after subsection (2) thereof the following new subsection: —“(3) The certificate by the person divesting title shall imply representations that to the best of the signatory’s knowledge and belief, and in so far as he has any reasonable means of ascertaining —

the instrument is made in good faith;

the matters set forth therein are substantially correct; and

such person divesting title thereunder is the party entitled to divest the interest under the instrument and is of full age and legal capacity.”;

by renumbering the existing subsections (3) and (4) thereof as subsections (4) and (5) respectively;

by inserting immediately after the word “certificate” appearing in the first line of subsection (4) thereof the words “by the person acquiring title”;

by inserting immediately after the word “instrument” appearing in the second line of subsection (4) thereof the words “and the certificate by the person divesting title shall be signed by the solicitor employed by the party divesting title under the instrument”; and

by inserting immediately after subsection (5) thereof the following new subsection: —“(6) The provisions of this section relating to the certificate to be given by the person divesting title shall only apply to an instrument that is lodged with the Registrar after the date of the coming into operation of the Land Titles (Amendment) Act, 1970.”.

There shall be implied in respect of each lot of land which forms part of the same housing estate (hereinafter referred to as “the lot”) —

in favour of the proprietor of the lot, and as appurtenant thereto, easements for the passage or provision of water, electricity, drainage, gas and sewerage through or by means of any sewers, pipes, wires, cables or ducts to the extent to which those sewers, pipes, wires, cables or ducts are capable of being used in connection with the enjoyment of the lot;

as against the proprietor of the lot, and to which the lot shall be subject, easements for the passage or provision of water, electricity, drainage, gas and sewerage through or by means of any sewers, pipes, wires, cables or ducts, as appurtenant to every other lot capable of enjoying such easements.(2) All ancillary rights and obligations reasonably necessary to make the foregoing easements effective shall be implied.(3) The easements implied by this section shall entitle the proprietor of the dominant tenement to enter on the servient tenement at all reasonable times to repair, renew or restore any sewers, pipes, cables, wires or ducts as shall appear necessary provided that the proprietor of the dominant tenement shall make good any damage caused to the servient tenement.(4) (a) In respect of all the easements implied by this section there shall also be implied a covenant, binding all parties enjoying the benefit of such easements, to contribute to the cost of construction, maintenance or repair of the sewers, pipes, cables, wires or ducts — the subject of the easements — as if the easements and the covenant to contribute had been created by an instrument registered under this Ordinance and so long as such easements subsist the covenant to contribute shall bind any successors in title enjoying the benefit of such easements:Provided that such a covenant shall not be implied where the proprietor of any lot is able to show that he is entitled to enjoy the easements free from the liability to contribute.(b)The provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not render any person liable to contribute to expenditure incurred at a time before he became or after he ceased to be a proprietor of the tenement to which the liability attached.(c)Unity of seisin of two or more lots shall not destroy the easements implied by this section but on the cessation of such unity they shall continue in full force and effect as if the seisin had never been united.(5) (a) The easements implied by this section shall apply to each lot comprised in any housing estate registered under the provisions of this Ordinance, on, before or after the date of the coming into operation of the Land Titles (Amendment) Act, 1970.(b)The easements implied by this section shall be enforceable without any memorial or notification on the folia of the land-register, and subsections (5) and (6) of section 76 of this Ordinance shall not accordingly apply thereto.(6) In this section —“lot” means a parcel of land, forming part of a housing estate, to which has been allotted by the Chief Surveyor a government survey lot number;“housing estate” means land subdivided into four or more lots pursuant to subsection (3) of section 9 of the Planning Ordinance, 1959 (Ord. 12 of 1959), where those lots are affected by common easements in respect of the passage or provision of water, electricity, drainage, gas or sewerage that are capable of being created as cross easements by an instrument and enjoyed as such by those lots.”.