Land Titles Act
(CHAPTER 157)

(Original Enactment: Act 27 of 1993)

REVISED EDITION 1994
(15th March 1994)
An Act which makes provision for the registration of titles to land.
[1st March 1994]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Land Titles Act.
Division into Parts
2.  This Act is divided into Parts, as follows:
Part I
...
sections
1-4
Part II
...
sections
5-7
Part III
 
 
 
Division 1
...
sections
8-20
Division 2
...
sections
21-27
Part IV
...
sections
28-44
Part V
 
 
 
Division 1
...
sections
45-49
Division 2
...
section
50
Part VI
...
sections
51-62
Part VII
...
sections
63-67
Part VIII
 
 
 
Division 1
...
sections
68-80
Division 2
...
sections
81-85
Part IX
...
sections
86-93
Part X
...
sections
94-106
Part XI
...
sections
107-114
Part XII
...
sections
115-130
Part XIII
...
sections
131-137
Part XIV
...
sections
138-141
Part XV
...
sections
142-145
Part XVI
...
sections
146-150
Part XVII
...
sections
151-160
Part XVIII
...
sections
161-164
Part XIX
...
sections
165-173.
Reconciliation with existing laws
3.—(1)  Except as hereinafter provided, all Acts, regulations, rules, and other laws, and all practices, relating to estates and interests in land and operative at 1st March 1994, so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act in their application to registered land, are repealed.
(2)  Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the Collector of Land Revenue, or of any other person or authority empowered by any written law, to enter on registered land pursuant to such a power.
(3)  Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269] shall not apply to registered land.
(4)  This Act shall bind the Government.
Interpretation
4.—(1)  In the interpretation of this Act and any rules made thereunder, unless the context otherwise requires —
“approved form” means any form approved by the Registrar for the purposes of any of the provisions of this Act;
“assurance”, in relation to unregistered land, has the same meaning as in the Registration of Deeds Act;
“assurance fund” means the assurance fund constituted under section 151;
“caveatee” means the proprietor or other owner of land described in a caveat and to whom notice of the caveat is required to be given;
“caveator” means the person by whom or on whose behalf a caveat has been lodged;
“certificate of title”, in relation to —
(a)a manual folio includes a duplicate certificate of title issued by the Registrar before or after 1st March 1994;
(b)a computer folio includes a print-out of that folio bearing a facsimile of the Registrar’s seal;
“Collector” means the Collector of Land Revenue;
“computer folio” means a folio that is not a manual folio;
“dealing” means any instrument other than a certificate of title or caveat which is registrable or capable of being made registrable under the provisions of this Act or in respect of which any entry or notification in the land-register is by this Act required or permitted to be made;
“executor” means the executor to whom probate has been granted, and includes an executor by right of representation;
“folio” means a folio of the land-register, whether qualified or unqualified as to title;
“interest”, in relation to land, means any interest in land recognised as such by law, and includes an estate in land;
“instrument” includes a transfer, lease, mortgage, transmission application, charge and any other application, or any other document in writing relating to any disposition, devolution or acquisition of land or any claim to or vesting of interest in land;
“land” means —
(a)the surface of any defined parcel of the earth, all substances thereunder 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 proprietor’s use and enjoyment, and includes any estate or interest therein and all vegetation growing thereon and structures affixed thereto; or
(b)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 in the Survey Department, 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;
“land-register” means the land-register that is maintained pursuant to section 28;
“manual folio” means a folio maintained by the Registrar wholly in the form of a document in writing;
“microfilm”, in relation to a document, includes storing a reproduction of the document on magnetic, optical or other medium in a computer from which a facsimile of the document may be perceived or further reproduced with the aid of a machine or other device, and “microfilmed” shall have a corresponding meaning;
“proprietor” means any person who appears from the land-register to be the person entitled to an estate or interest in any land which has been brought under the provisions of this Act, and includes a mortgagee, chargee and lessee;
“purchaser” means a person who, in good faith and for valuable consideration, acquires an estate or interest in land, and includes a mortgagee, chargee and lessee; and “purchase” shall have a corresponding meaning;
“qualified folio” means a folio qualified as to title;
“registered land” means land which has been brought under the provisions of this Act by being included in a folio;
“Registrar” means the Registrar of Titles appointed pursuant to this Act;
“Registrar of Deeds” means the Registrar of Deeds appointed under the Registration of Deeds Act [Cap. 269];
“subdivided building” has the same meaning as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act [Cap. 158];
“unregistered land” means any land which has not yet been brought under the provisions of this Act.
(2)  A reference in this Act to a State grant or lease shall include a reference to a Crown grant or lease issued at any time prior to 16th September 1963.
(3)  A reference to land alienated by the State shall include a reference to land alienated by the Crown at any time prior to 16th September 1963.
(4)  A reference in this Act to a facsimile of the Registrar’s seal shall be a reference to an official seal which is a facsimile of the seal of office referred to in section 6(1).