land registration
TRANSCRIPT
Schemes of Registration
‘Bureaucratisation’ of land title
Why is it so?
In which we answer the question…
HISTORICALLYAssigning valid title
Feoffment by livery of seisin* *actual footage
s236 Want of livery of seisin
(1) Livery of seisin shall not be deemed to have been necessary to give effect to any feoffment executed before 3 January 1842, but every such feoffment shall be taken to have operated in the same manner as the same would have done in case there had been livery of seisin in the most valid form.
(2) However, nothing in subsection (1) shall make any such feoffment operate as a tortious conveyance or shall prejudice or affect the title of any person now in possession of land the subject of any such feoffment and claimed adversely to the feoffee or the feoffee's heirs or assigns.
The longevity of symbolism
FROM ACT TO TEXTAssigning valid title (old system)
Statute of FraudsEarly parliamentary intervention in the process of passing enforceable title
‘A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.’
Samuel Goldwyn
The chain of title
Grant
conveyance
mortgage
probate
conveyance
Etc, etc
Proof of title: text-based
Title deeds – do you need them all?
s237 Statutory commencements of title
(1) After the commencement of this Act 30 years shall be substituted for 60 years as the period of commencement of title which a purchaser of land may require, even though earlier title than 30 years may be required in cases similar to those in which earlier title than 60 years might immediately before the commencement of this Act be required.
Old system title…well, it had problems
Validity of title depends on chain
of title
Lacks transparency
Proving priority is complex
Land dealings unsustainable
PARLIAMENTARY INTERVENTION
Creating a register
Deeds registration system
Documented conveyance
Chain of title Register the DEED that created the
title
Win* in a priority competition *condition
s apply
Did deeds registration solve the problems?
IF you registered though, you MAY advance priority
Validity
STILL
depends on
chain of title
STILL lacks
transparenc
y
STILL need
complex process
Documentary titleCreation of title is a private matter.Participation in the public process of registration was voluntary.
Can we fix it?
Yes we can!
Torrens: a land title revolution
Torrens title
Title created BY REGISTRATION
Priority created BY REGISTRATION
Registration compulsory
Title information in the public
domain
Review
Torrens: transparent, public, cheap, straightforward, universal
Old system: opaque, private, expensive, complicated, contingent