Section 125
Subsidiary strata certificates of title for flats with registered leases under Registration of Deeds Act 1988
of Land Titles (Strata) Act 1967
(1)
Where there are 3 or more flats in a building and subsisting leases for those flats have been registered under the Registration of Deeds Act 1988, the proprietor of the land together with the proprietors of those flats who altogether own not less than 25% of the total number of flats in the building may lodge with the Registrar a strata title application in the approved form —
to have the land brought under the Land Titles Act 1993; and
for the issue of subsidiary strata certificates of title for all those flats.
(2)
A strata title application submitted to the Registrar under subsection (1) —
must be accompanied by a transfer of the proprietor’s estate and interest in the land to the proprietors of all the flats in that building as tenants-in-common in the shares according to the ratio of one share to each flat, except that where the flats are of different sizes, the share in the land allotted to the proprietor of each flat has the value determined by the Registrar based on the methods used by the Commissioner for the allocation of share values under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004; and
must not be registered unless the strata title plan has been lodged with and approved by the Chief Surveyor under the Boundaries and Survey Maps Act 1998.
(3)
The Registrar may, upon acceptance of the application, dispense with the production of the leases of the flats.
(4)
Before issuing subsidiary strata certificates of title in favour of the proprietors of the flats as shown in the records of the Registry of Deeds, the Registrar must —
require a notice in the form approved by him or her to be inserted once in one or more daily newspapers to the effect that the Registrar will issue the subsidiary strata certificates of title under this section to the proprietors of the flats as shown in the records maintained at the Registry of Deeds after the expiration of 6 weeks from the date of publication of the notice if no valid objection is received by the Land Titles Registry; and
send by registered post a copy of the notice mentioned in paragraph (a) to the proprietors of all the flats at the addresses shown in the transfer mentioned in subsection (2).
(5)
Despite subsections (1) to (4), the Registrar may, in order to relieve any case of extreme hardship, in his or her discretion, issue any subsidiary strata certificate of title in favour of a purchaser of a flat whose assignment of the leasehold estate of the flat has been duly stamped and lodged with the Registrar of Deeds, notwithstanding that the name of the purchaser was not shown in the transfer lodged under subsection (2).
(6)
Where the proprietors of the flats who altogether own not less than 25% of the total number of the flats as shown in the records of the Registry of Deeds as at the date of transfer mentioned in subsection (2) have agreed in writing to accept the transfer of the estate and interest of the proprietor of the land, all the proprietors of the flats within the same development and all the respective successors in title or assigns are deemed to have accepted the transfer of the proprietor’s estate and interest in the land and to have given consent to the application for the issue of the subsidiary strata certificates of title by the Registrar and the acceptance of the transfer of the proprietor’s estate and interest in the land.
(7)
The proprietor of the land must deposit with the Registrar the title deeds in that proprietor’s possession relating to the land and the Registrar may, after inspection of the title deeds, create a folio of the land-register by issuing a certificate of title for the land on which the flats are erected.
(8)
Where the Registrar is satisfied with the evidence of title and that all the necessary documents are in order, the Registrar may issue subsidiary strata certificates of title for the flats after the publication of the notice mentioned in subsection (4).
(9)
The Registrar may, under subsections (7) and (8), issue the certificate of title and the subsidiary strata certificates of title qualified as to their title or their boundaries and dimensions, and sections 25 and 165 of the Land Titles Act 1993 apply, with the necessary modifications, to such certificate of title and subsidiary strata certificates of title.
(10)
Upon the registration of the strata title application, the management corporation of the parcel of land must reimburse the person or persons who incurred any expenditure for the purpose of —
bringing the land under the Land Titles Act 1993;
applying for the issue of subsidiary strata certificates of title for all those flats comprised in a building or buildings erected on the parcel;
lodging the transfer under subsection (2);
the preparation of the strata title plan for the parcel;
the publication of the notices mentioned in subsection (4)(a); and
issuing notices to the proprietors of the flats under subsection (4)(b).
(11)
It is the duty of the management corporation to determine the amount of contributions payable by the subsidiary proprietors of the lots in the subdivided building concerned to its management fund to meet the expenditure mentioned in subsection (10) and any contributions so levied by the management corporation are deemed to be contributions levied under section 39(3) of the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004.
(12)
For the purposes of this section, where the registered proprietor of the land on which the building is erected has granted leases for some but not all of the flats in the building, that registered proprietor is deemed a proprietor of the flats which are still owned by that registered proprietor.