Act of Parliament · 1985 Revised Edition
Registration of Deeds Act
Feedback & supportRegistration of deedsOfficial textFrom Singapore Statutes Online, unchanged
s 1Short title
This Act may be cited as the Registration of Deeds Act.
s 2Interpretation
In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context —“assurance” includes any conveyance, memorandum of charge or discharge, deed of consent to the discharge of a trustee, private Act, order of court, or certificate of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy;“conveyance” includes any assignment, appointment, lease or settlement made by deed on a sale, mortgage, demise or settlement of any land or appointment of a new trustee in respect thereof which has been executed by one or more of the parties by whom any interest in the land is thereby conveyed;“land” includes land tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, and houses and other buildings and also an undivided share in land;“lease” includes an agreement for a lease;“registered surveyor” means a person registered under the Land Surveyors Act [Cap. 156];“memorandum of charge” includes any memorandum of a lien or charge on any land which is registered under this Act;“mortgage” includes any charge on any land for securing money or money’s worth and any transfer of a mortgage; and “mortgagee” has a corresponding meaning;“order of court” means any judgment, decree, writ of execution or sequestration, adjudication in bankruptcy or other order or process of or issuing from that court or other court of competent jurisdiction whereby any interest in any land is or may be affected;“probate” means the probate of any will or any letters of administration with the will annexed or copy thereof, stamped with the seal of the Supreme Court or other court of competent jurisdiction, or a certified office copy thereof;“Registrar” means the Registrar or the Deputy Registrar of Deeds appointed under this Act;“will” includes codicil.
“assurance” includes any conveyance, memorandum of charge or discharge, deed of consent to the discharge of a trustee, private Act, order of court, or certificate of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy;
“conveyance” includes any assignment, appointment, lease or settlement made by deed on a sale, mortgage, demise or settlement of any land or appointment of a new trustee in respect thereof which has been executed by one or more of the parties by whom any interest in the land is thereby conveyed;
“land” includes land tenements and hereditaments, corporeal and incorporeal, and houses and other buildings and also an undivided share in land;
“lease” includes an agreement for a lease;
“registered surveyor” means a person registered under the Land Surveyors Act [Cap. 156];
“memorandum of charge” includes any memorandum of a lien or charge on any land which is registered under this Act;
“mortgage” includes any charge on any land for securing money or money’s worth and any transfer of a mortgage; and “mortgagee” has a corresponding meaning;
“order of court” means any judgment, decree, writ of execution or sequestration, adjudication in bankruptcy or other order or process of or issuing from that court or other court of competent jurisdiction whereby any interest in any land is or may be affected;
“probate” means the probate of any will or any letters of administration with the will annexed or copy thereof, stamped with the seal of the Supreme Court or other court of competent jurisdiction, or a certified office copy thereof;
“Registrar” means the Registrar or the Deputy Registrar of Deeds appointed under this Act;
“will” includes codicil.
The President may appoint fit and proper persons to be the Registrar of Deeds and Deputy Registrars of Deeds, and any person appointed to be a Deputy Registrar has and may exercise the like powers as a Registrar under this Act.
Every registering officer appointed under this section shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the Penal Code [Cap. 224].
The Registry of Deeds shall have a seal, and judicial notice shall be taken of the seal and of the signature of the Registrar in all legal proceedings.
s 4All deeds, etc., affecting land may be registered
From and after the commencement of this Act and subject to this Act and any rules made thereunder, all assurances thereafter or theretofore executed or made, and all probates and letters of administration thereafter or theretofore granted, by which any land within Singapore is affected and which have not been registered under the Registration of Deeds Ordinance 1886 [XIII/1886], may be registered in such manner as is hereinafter directed, and unless so registered shall not be admissible in any court as evidence of title to such land.
Provisional registration of any instrument under this Act shall be effected in the manner provided by this section and by sections 6 and 7.
Any person desiring to register an instrument under this Act shall present to the Registrar of Deeds —
in the case of instruments other than private Acts, probates, letters of administration, orders of court, certificates of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy and caveats, a copy of the instrument together with the original or one of the originals thereof;
in the case of orders of court or certificates of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy, an office copy thereof;
in the case of a private Act, a copy thereof printed by the Government Printer;
in the case of probates or letters of administration, a memorial thereof, prepared in accordance with this Act and any rules made thereunder, together with the probate or letters of administration;
in the case of a memorandum of lien or charge, the original thereof, together with a copy of it; and
in the case of caveats, the original thereof.
Immediately on receipt of any instrument or memorial of an instrument or memorandum presented for registration, an entry shall be made in a book, to be known as the book of reference, setting forth —
the date of the instrument;
in the case of —
a deed — the names of the parties;
a probate or letters of administration — the name of the testator or intestate, as the case may be, and the name of the person to whom probate or letters of administration are granted;
an order of court or certificate of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy — the title of the cause or matter wherein the same purports to be made, and the names of the parties thereto, if any;
a private Act — the title of the Act;
a memorandum of charge — the name of the landowner whose lands are charged, and the name of the person holding the charge;
a caveat — the names of the persons by whom and in whose favour it is given;
the names of all the districts in which the lands affected by the instrument are situated;
the reference numbers of the State grants or leases, if any, in which the lands affected by the instrument are respectively comprised;
the volume, page and number of the register where the instrument or memorial is or is intended to be registered; and
the date, hour and minute when the instrument or memorial was received at the office for the purpose of registration.
Upon such an entry being duly made, the instrument shall be deemed to have been provisionally registered under this Act, and the date, hour and minute so entered shall be deemed for all purposes to be the date of provisional registration.
If such an entry is duly made in respect of part only of the lands affected by any such instrument, the instrument shall, as to the lands with respect to which the entry has been duly made but not as to the residue of the lands affected thereby, be deemed to have been provisionally registered under this Act.
If that instrument is afterwards provisionally registered as to the omitted property, a note of that provisional registration and of the date thereof shall be made in the book of reference, and that provisional registration shall thenceforth be valid and effectual as to the omitted lands.
As soon as conveniently may be after the presentation of any instrument or memorial for enrolment in the register, the instrument or memorial shall be duly enrolled in the register, and the volume, page and number of the register where it is so enrolled shall correspond with the entry made or to be made in the book of reference relating to that instrument, and an entry of the date of provisional registration shall be made in the margin of the register opposite any instrument or memorial so enrolled.
Upon the presentation for registration of an instrument affecting any land that has not been surveyed and demarcated to the satisfaction of the Chief Surveyor, the person on whose behalf the deed is so presented shall be deemed to have made an application that the land be surveyed and demarcated by the Chief Surveyor:Provided that where the Chief Surveyor has approved a plan for the purpose of section 14(1)(c), the land comprised therein shall not, by reason only of that approval, be deemed to have been surveyed and demarcated to the satisfaction of the Chief Surveyor.
s 6Memorials
Except so far as is otherwise expressly provided by this Act or by any rules made thereunder, memorials provisionally registered under this Act shall be subject to the following requirements:
in the case of a probate, the memorial shall be under the hand of one of the trustees or executors of the will or of one or more persons claiming an interest thereunder in some of the lands affected thereby within Singapore, and shall be attested by one or more witnesses, and shall contain —
the date of the will;
the date of the death of the testator;
the name, address and occupation of the testator;
the names, addresses and occupations of all executors who have proved;
a description of all the lands affected by the will within Singapore, and the names of all the districts in which they are situated, and the reference numbers of the Crown grants or leases or State grants or leases, if any, in which they are comprised; and
the name, address and occupation of the person on whose behalf the memorial is to be registered;
in the case of letters of administration, the memorial shall be under the hand of the administrator or of one or more persons claiming an interest in some of the lands of the intestate within Singapore, and shall be attested by one or more witnesses, and shall contain —
the date of the grant of the letters of administration;
the date of the death of the intestate;
the name, address and occupation of the intestate;
the names, addresses and occupations of all administrators;
a description, so far as is possible, of all the lands of the intestate within Singapore, with the names of all the districts in which they are situated, and the reference numbers of the Crown grants and leases or State grants and leases, if any, in which they are comprised; and
the name, address and occupation of the person on whose behalf the memorial is to be registered.
Where any lien or charge on any lands is claimed in respect of any unpaid purchase-money or by reason of any deposit of title deeds or otherwise, a memorandum of the lien or charge, signed by the person against whom the lien or charge is claimed, may be provisionally registered on presentation by any person claiming to be interested therein.
Every such memorandum shall state —
the date from which the lien or charge is claimed;
the name, address and occupation of the landowner whose lands are charged;
a description of all the lands affected by the lien or charge within Singapore, and the names of all the districts in which they are situated, and the reference numbers of the Crown grants or leases or State grants or leases, if any, in which they are comprised;
the nature of the lien or charge claimed on or in those lands; and
the name, address and occupation of the person registering the memorandum.
No such lien or charge shall have any effect or priority as against any assurance for valuable consideration until a memorandum thereof has been registered in accordance with this Act.
Where any such lien or charge is satisfied or discharged, any person entitled or claiming to be entitled to any interest in the land may register a memorandum of discharge.
Such a memorandum shall be in such form, and be signed by such person, as are prescribed.
Immediately section 14(1), or the provisions of that subsection other than paragraphs (c) and (d), in the event of those paragraphs being dispensed with under section 29(1)(l), have been complied with, any instrument provisionally registered shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act as to the lands with respect to which an entry has been made under section 5(3), and the date, hour and minute entered under that subsection shall be deemed for all purposes to be the date of registration.
Immediately after the registration of any deed, probate, letters of administration, order of court, certificate of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy, private Act or memorandum of charge or discharge there shall be endorsed on the original deed or on the probate or letters of administration or the office copy of the order of court or certificate or the copy of the Act or on the memorandum of charge or discharge, as the case may be, produced to the Registrar, a certificate stating the date, hour and minute of registration, and the volume, page and number in the register in which the same or the memorial thereof, as the case may be, is or is intended to be enrolled, and the Registrar shall sign the certificate and seal it with the seal of the Registry of Deeds, and every certificate so signed and sealed shall be receivable in evidence.
If at the expiration of 6 months from the date of provisional registration of any instrument section 14(1) other than paragraphs (c) and (d) has not been fully complied with, then the provisional registration shall be null and void for all purposes and all entries in respect thereof shall be cancelled.
Subsection (1) shall not apply to any assurance in respect of any estate or interest in any residential property within the meaning of the Residential Property Act [Cap. 274] lodged with the Registrar on or after 11th September 1973*.* Date on which Cap. 274 came into operation.
Subject to any rules made under this Act, a caveat may at any time be given with respect to any lands by any person claiming to be entitled to any interest in those lands in favour of any person named therein.
Such a caveat may be registered under this Act and, when so registered, shall, unless removed or cancelled in accordance with any rules made for that purpose, be in force for such period not exceeding 6 months as is specified therein in that behalf.
Every such caveat shall be under the hand of the person by whom it is given, and attested by at least one witness, and shall contain —
the date on which it is given;
the name, address and occupation of the person by whom it is given;
the name, address and occupation of the person in whose favour it is given;
a statement of the time for which it is intended to remain in force;
a description of the lands to be affected by the caveat, and names of all the districts in which they are situated, and the reference numbers of the State grants or leases, if any, in which they are comprised.
If within the time during which the caveat remains in force any assurance made or executed by the person by whom the caveat was given and conveying any interest in the lands described therein to or in favour of the person in whose favour the caveat was given or his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns is duly registered under this Act, that assurance shall have priority as though it had been registered upon the date on which the caveat was registered, and that date shall, subject to subsection (5), be deemed to be the date of registration of the assurance for all purposes and shall be substituted in all certificates and other instruments for the date on which the assurance was actually presented for enrolment accordingly.
No caveat has any effect as against the operation of any law for the time being in force relating to bankruptcy, and for the purpose of any such law the date of registration of any such assurance shall be deemed to be the date on which the assurance was actually registered.
No assurance or caveat shall be provisionally registered under this Act unless it is presented for registration by some person who has executed or claims under it or by the legal personal representative of that person or by the agent of that person or representative duly authorised by power of attorney, executed and authenticated in the manner hereinafter mentioned, or by the solicitor of that person or representative.
No instrument shall be provisionally registered on behalf of a corporation or company, unless it is presented for registration —
in the case of a corporation sole by the corporation and in the case of a company or other corporation aggregate by a director or secretary of the company or other corporation;
by the agent of the corporation or company duly authorised thereunto by a power of attorney; or
by the solicitor of the corporation or company.