Act of Parliament · 2020 Revised Edition
Registration of Deeds Act 1988
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s 1Short title
This Act is the Registration of Deeds Act 1988.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“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;
“Authority” means the Singapore Land Authority established under the Singapore Land Authority Act 2001;
“caveatee” means —
the proprietor of any land who has given an estate or interest in the land to a person named in a caveat; or
the proprietor of any land, and any person having a prior registered estate or interest in land, in respect of which a caveat has been lodged by any person claiming an estate or interest in the land;
“caveator” means —
a person who has been given an estate or interest in any land by the proprietor of the land; or
a person who claims an estate or interest in any land;
“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” means —
the surface of any defined parcel of the earth, so much of the subterranean space below the surface and so much of the column of airspace above the surface whether or not held apart from the surface as is reasonably necessary for the use and enjoyment of the proprietor, and includes any estate or interest therein and all vegetation growing thereon and structures affixed thereto; or
any parcel of airspace or any subterranean space held apart from the surface of the earth and described with certainty by reference to a plan approved by the Chief Surveyor and filed with the Authority, and includes any estate or interest therein and all vegetation growing thereon and structures affixed thereto,and where the context so permits, the proprietorship of land includes natural rights to air, light, water and support and the right of access to any highway on which the land abuts;
“lease” includes an agreement for a lease;
“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, enforcement order, writ of 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;
“prior mortgage” includes a prior charge or assignment which has been either secured by a mortgage or protected by a caveat lodged with and accepted by the Registrar as being in order for registration;
“prior mortgagee” includes a prior chargee or assignee in whose favour an estate or interest in respect of land was mortgaged, charged or assigned by way of mortgage;
“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;
“registered surveyor” means a registered surveyor under the Land Surveyors Act 1991 who has in force a practising certificate issued under that Act;
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Deeds and includes any Deputy Registrar of Deeds appointed under this Act;
“Registry” means the Registry of Deeds of the Authority;
“repealed enactment” means the Registration of Deeds Ordinance 1886 (Ordinance XIII of 1886) or the Registration of Deeds Act (Cap. 269, 1985 Revised Edition) which is repealed by this Act;
“rules” means rules made under this Act;
“subsequent mortgage” includes a subsequent charge or assignment;
“subsequent mortgagee” includes a subsequent chargee or assignee in whose favour an estate or interest in respect of land was mortgaged, charged or assigned by way of mortgage;
“will” includes a codicil.
In this Act, any reference to a plan certified by a registered surveyor is, in relation to a plan certified at any time prior to 1 September 1972, to be construed as a reference to a plan which was certified by a surveyor licensed under any written law which was in force at the time that plan was certified.
The Minister may appoint a Registrar of Deeds and such number of Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars of Deeds and other officers of the Registry as the Minister may think fit.
Any act or thing which may be done or performed by the Registrar under this Act may, subject to the orders and directions of the Registrar, be done or performed by a Deputy Registrar or an Assistant Registrar.
The Minister may create such different grades for Deputy Registrars and Assistant Registrars of Deeds as the Minister may think fit.
The Registrar must have a seal, and judicial notice is to be taken of the seal and of the signature of the Registrar in all legal proceedings.
s 4All instruments affecting land may be registered
Subject to this Act and the rules, all assurances executed or made, and all probates and letters of administration granted, before or after 30 November 1988 by which any land within Singapore is affected and which have not been registered under any repealed enactment, may be registered in such manner as is hereinafter directed, and unless so registered is not admissible in any court as evidence of title to the land.
Any person desiring to register an instrument under this Act must present to the Registrar —
in the case of instruments other than private Acts, probates, letters of administration, orders of court and certificates of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy — the original and a memorial thereof;
in the case of orders of court or certificates of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy — an office copy and a memorial thereof;
in the case of a private Act — a copy purporting to be printed or published by the Government Printer and a memorial thereof;
in the case of probates or letters of administration — a memorial thereof prepared in accordance with the rules together with the probates or letters of administration; and
in the case of a memorandum of lien or charge, or a memorandum of discharge of lien or charge — the original and a memorial thereof.
Where the Registrar has accepted any instrument for provisional registration under this Act, he or she must —
allot a volume and number of the register to that instrument; and
endorse on the instrument or its memorial the volume and number which has been allotted and the date and time of acceptance of the instrument for provisional registration.
As soon as convenient after the provisional registration of any instrument has been effected, the instrument or its memorial must be duly enrolled in the register by an entry made in the index to land which is maintained by the Registrar for the purposes of the registration of instruments under this Act.
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 instrument is so presented is deemed to have made an application for the land to be surveyed and demarcated under the direction of the Chief Surveyor, and for the purposes of satisfying the Chief Surveyor on the survey and demarcation of the land, that person may either —
make application to the Chief Surveyor for the survey to be carried out by the Government Survey Department in which case the Chief Surveyor may either —
cause the survey to be carried out by the Government Survey Department; or
direct that a registered surveyor be employed to carry out the survey; or
satisfy the Registrar by annexing an assurance plan to the instrument which has been approved by the Chief Surveyor as provided in section 13(1)(c).
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.
No such lien or charge has 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.
Immediately on compliance with section 13(1) or the provisions of section 13(1), other than paragraph (c) in the event of that paragraph being dispensed with, any instrument provisionally registered is deemed to have been registered under this Act as to the lands with respect to which an endorsement has been made under section 5(2), and the date, hour and minute entered under that subsection is deemed for all purposes to be the date and time of registration.
Immediately after the provisional registration of any instrument, probate, letters of administration, order of court, certificate of appointment of trustee in bankruptcy, private Act or memorandum of charge or discharge, there must be endorsed on —
the original instrument;
the probate or letters of administration;
the office copy of the order of court or certificate or the copy of the Act; or
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 and number in the register in which the same or a memorial thereof (as the case may be) is or is intended to be enrolled.
The Registrar or any officer duly authorised by the Registrar must sign the certificate mentioned in subsection (2) and seal it with the seal of the Registrar, and every certificate so signed and sealed is receivable in evidence.
If at the expiration of 6 months from the date of provisional registration of any instrument section 13(1) (other than paragraph (c)) has not been fully complied with, then the provisional registration is void for all purposes and all entries in respect thereof must be cancelled.
Subsection (1) does not apply to any assurance in respect of any estate or interest in any residential property within the meaning of the Residential Property Act 1976 lodged with the Registrar.
Subject to this section and the rules, a caveat in respect of any land may be —
given by the proprietor of the land for any estate or interest therein in favour of any person named in the caveat; or
lodged by any person claiming an estate or interest in the land.
Such a caveat must contain the following particulars:
the names of the caveator and the caveatee and their addresses for the service of notices under this Act;
a description of the estate or interest in the land given to or claimed by the caveator and, if the caveator is the purchaser or sub-purchaser of the estate or interest claimed in the caveat, the amount of the purchase price and the date of the caveator’s contract or the date on which the caveator exercised the option to purchase the interest in the land, as the case may be.
Where a part of a Government survey lot is affected, the caveat must have a plan annexed edging with sufficient identity that part of the lot affected.
The Registrar must not register a caveat which —
does not disclose any estate or interest in land; or
does not state the Government survey lot number maintained in the records of the Chief Surveyor or, in the case where a part of a Government survey lot is affected, does not state that part of the existing lot and does not clearly identify that part of the lot in one or more plans annexed to the caveat.
Where, after the acceptance of any caveat for provisional registration, the Registrar discovers that the caveat does not comply with any of the requirements under this section or the rules, the Registrar may cancel the provisional registration.
Despite subsections (4) and (5), the Registrar must not be concerned to consider whether or not a caveator’s claim is justified.
Where a caveat is lodged by a person claiming an estate or interest in land or by the person’s solicitor or agent, the person must serve a notice by registered post on the proprietor of the land and all persons who have prior claims as shown in the register, and the Registrar must not be concerned to inquire whether or not the notice has been effected.
If within the period during which a caveat remains in force any subsequent assurance made or executed —
in favour of —
the person to whom a caveat has been granted under subsection (1)(a); or
the person who has lodged a caveat under subsection (1)(b); and
conveying the same estate or interest protected by and so described in the subsisting caveat is presented and accepted for registration,that assurance when registered has priority as though it had been registered on the date the caveat was registered and that date is deemed to be the date of registration of the assurance for all purposes and to have been substituted in all certificates and other instruments for the date on which the assurance was actually presented for enrolment accordingly.
A caveat registered under this Act is, unless withdrawn by the caveator or cancelled by an order of court, in force for a period of 5 years.
An assurance or caveat must not be provisionally registered under this Act unless it is presented for registration by —
a person who has executed or claims under it;
the legal personal representative of that person;
the agent of that person or representative duly authorised by power of attorney, executed and authenticated in the manner hereinafter mentioned; or
the solicitor of that person or that person’s representative.
An instrument must not 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.
s 10Powers of attorney for purposes of section 9
For the purposes of section 9, where any assurance or caveat has been executed by any agent or representative duly authorised by a power of attorney, the Registrar may require the power of attorney to be deposited in the Registry of the Supreme Court pursuant to section 48 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act 1886 before the assurance or caveat is provisionally registered under this Act.