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An overview of the compulsory applications for first registration of land titles in Bermuda, including the events that trigger registration, the required forms and documents, and the examination process and classes of title. Absolute freehold and absolute leasehold titles are discussed, as well as dealings with land before first registration is completed.
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LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
s24 LTRA 2011 specifies the events that trigger compulsory registration. The requirement of registration applies to a conveyance or other transfer of land;
Additionally, schedule 3 LTRA 2011 provides that voluntary registration of title may be required prior to an:
s98 LTRA 2011 provides for compulsory registration of grants by Her Majesty out of demesne land.
Registration is compulsory on a conveyance or other transfer of an unregistered freehold estate in land ( s24(1)(a) LTRA 2011 ):
for valuable or other consideration including a transfer of property with a negative value by way of gift including for the purposes of constituting a trust under which the settlor does not retain the whole of the beneficial interest, or uniting the bare legal title and the beneficial interest in property held under a trust under which the settlor did not, on constitution, retain the whole beneficial interest in pursuance of an order of any court by means of an assent including a vesting assent giving effect to a partition of land subject to a trust of land by a vesting order under s34 Trustee Act 1975 that is consequential on the appointment of a new trustee By a deed that appoints a new trustee or is made in consequence of the appointment of a new trustee.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
Please note that not all of the examples above will result in first registration when the LTRA 2011 comes into force.
Registration is compulsory on transfers of an unregistered leasehold estate in land with more than twenty one years to run at the time of the transfer for valuable or other consideration (including a transfer of property with a negative value) and also:-
For the avoidance of any doubt only trigger 2 will be introduced when the LTRA 2011 comes into force. The other triggers will be introduced at a later date to be decided by the Minister.
Compulsory registration applies to grants both out of unregistered freehold estates and out of unregistered leasehold estates that at the time of the grant have more than twenty one years to run. The lease granted must be either:
for a term of more than twenty one years from the date of the grant, and for valuable or other consideration (including a lease of property with a negative value), be by way of gift (including for the purposes mentioned in Section 2.1 - On a Conveyance or Other Freehold Estate in Land ) or in pursuance of an order of the court
or :
be for a term of years absolute to take effect in possession after a period of three months from the date of the grant.
Compulsory registration also applies on the creation by the owner of an estate in unregistered land of a first legal mortgage ( s24(1)(d) LTRA 2011 ). A first legal mortgage is one that, on creation, will rank in priority ahead of other mortgages affecting the mortgaged estate.
Nothing in the LTRA 2011 makes it compulsory to register title to:
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
- Property Address or other description of the estate to be registered
Give the property address including postcode, if any. If there is no property address, a general description, e.g. ‘land lying to the west of 45 South Road, Paget’ will suffice.
- Extent to be registered
You must provide sufficient details to enable us to identify clearly the extent of the land to be registered ( r24(1)(a) LTRR 2018 ). If we cannot establish the extent sufficiently for it to be indexed, we will reject your application (see Practice Guide 7 - A Guide to the Land Title Registry Index Map (LTRIM) ).
Schedule 2 LTRA 2011 and r29 LTRR 2018 , list the interests that override first registration. With certain exceptions, you must disclose overriding interests that affect the estate being registered, and that the applicant actually know about ( s89 LTRA 2011 ). The exceptions are set out in r29(2) LTRR 2018. In particular, you do not need to disclose any interest that is apparent from the deeds and documents of title lodged with your application.
If there are any overriding interests you must inform us of them in writing, and lodge it with your application.
Generally there will be no rights, interests or claims known to the applicant other than those disclosed in the title documents or forms lodged. If a certified copy of the instrument creating a right or interest is lodged, the right or interest will be treated as disclosed in the title documents. If there are any other undisclosed interests, rights or claims known to the applicant, please inform us in writing.
Examples of third party rights, interests and claims that can affect the property are set out below:-
Puisne mortgages, equitable charges, estate contracts, restrictive covenants, equitable easements and other charges on, or obligations affecting land You must tell us of any lease to which the land is subject for which you are unable to provide documentary evidence, and that is not an overriding interest. Please give details if you are aware of any options contained in these leases You should also tell us about any options contained in leases that are not capable of being noted where the option has not been disclosed in the title deeds or on Form DL Rights acquired, or in course of being acquired, under the Limitation Act 1984
If squatters occupy any part of the property details must be given unless the squatters’ interest has been disclosed under r29 LTRR 2018. We will not complete registration until the claims of the squatters have been investigated and settled once and for all.
Claims - give particulars of any claims that may result in an objection to the application or should be noted in the register (unless disclosed to us in writing). If possible, provide the name and address of the person making the claim.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
We may enter a notice in the register of any interest that you disclose.
Further information on overriding interests is contained in Practice Guide 14 - Overriding Interests and Disclosures.
- Class of Title applied for
You will need to add whether the land is to be registered as ‘absolute freehold’ or ‘absolute leasehold’ or ‘provisional freehold’ or ‘provisional leasehold’. The Registrar will then grant the best class of title that the circumstances permit. You should note that we might not be able to grant the class of title that you apply for.
An absolute title is the best form of title available as it is a state guaranteed title. If the chain of title is broken by a missing deed or where the owner cannot produce documentary evidence or where evidence is lacking, it may not be possible for the LTRO to guarantee the owner absolutely. In such cases a provisional title may then be granted by the Registrar. If such defect is rectified at a later date, then the applicant may make an application for an upgrade of the title at that time (see Practice Guide 27 - Upgrading the class of title).
- How the land is held?
Specify how the land is to be held on the register by each of the applicants and in what shares. This will enable to us to make the correct proprietorship section entries e.g.
John Smith 40% as tenant in common
Jane Smith 40% as tenant in common
Robert Smith 20% as tenant in common
Or John Smith and Jane Smith as Joint Tenants
Or John Smith as Sole Owner
Or John Smith and Jane Smith as Trustees.
We need to establish how the owners are to hold the land. The purpose of this is not to give the Registrar notice of the trusts under which the land is held, but simply to enable us to enter a Form B restriction to protect a beneficiary under a trust ( r92 LTRR 2018 ). We must enter this restriction to protect the interests of such beneficiaries.
Form B - Restriction on Dispositions by Trustees (Certificate Required)
“No disposition [or specify details] by the owners of the registered estate is to be registered unless they make a Statutory Declaration, or their attorney gives a certificate, that the disposition [or give details] is in accordance with [specify the disposition creating the trust] or some variation thereof referred to in the declaration or certificate.”
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
3.4 Documents that must accompany Form A1 – First Registration
This form, in duplicate, must always accompany Form A1. Give the address or other description of the property and list, in date order (earliest first) all the documents lodged in support of the application ( r LTRR 2018 ).
A survey plan should always accompany an application for first registration r24(1)(a) LTRR 2018 (for survey plan requirements, see Practice Guide 7 - A Guide to the Land Title Registry Index Map (LTRIM) ).
If registering mines and minerals owned separately from the surface you must provide under r25 LTRR 2018 :
a plan of the surface under which the mines and minerals lie, any other sufficient details by plan or otherwise so that the mines and minerals can be identified clearly, and Full details of rights incidental to the working of the mines and minerals.
Lessee/Tenant: Where the title is leasehold, you must lodge the original lease and a certified copy ( r24 LTRR 2018 ).
Lessor/Landlord: If the title is subject to any leases you have granted, you must lodge the relevant counterpart lease.
Send all the deeds and documents relating to the title that the applicant has or can oblige the holder to produce, including but not limited to opinions of counsel, abstracts of title, copies of documents, contracts for sale, requisitions, replies, searches and other documents relating to the title. All these documents must be listed on Form DL under r24 LTRR 2018.
Where the application is based on a purchase for value and the title has been investigated in the usual way back to a good root at least 20 years old, you should resist the temptation to edit the deed package so as to send us only a recent root of title and subsequent conveyances. Though we may not need to see very old documents, particularly if they are fragile, deeds from the 19th and early 20th centuries often contain definitive details of covenants, easements and other matters that need to be entered in the register.
You will reduce the likelihood of us sending you requisitions by lodging a complete bundle of deeds, and the examiner will have a better opportunity to frame fully informative entries, both as to the nature of any covenants or rights and the extent of the land affected.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
Original deeds and documents need not be produced if they are not in the control of the applicant. For example, if they affect other land i.e. they are held by a mortgagee under a subsisting mortgage entered into before the transfer to the estate owner (note that, as we will have to register the charge, the chargee will usually have to consent to the application). In such cases, you should supply an abstract or certified copies of the relevant deeds. Abstracts should be marked by an attorney as examined against the original deeds. All particulars of wills, grants of probate or letters of administration, marriages and deaths set out in the abstract of title as separate items should also be verified and marked accordingly.
If there is no good explanation for the absence of the original deeds, we may not be able to give an absolute title. If you require further information about missing deeds, (see Practice Guide 2 - First Registration Where Deeds have been Lost or Destroyed ).
The evidence required in support of your application depends on the nature of the title and the class of title sought (see Section 4 - The Examination Process and Classes of Title ).
Where the application is based on a vesting assent, we will need to be satisfied that the assentee was the person entitled to have the legal estate transferred to them (see Section 4.4 Titles based on vesting assents ).
Any original statutory declarations or affidavits, subsisting leases, subsisting charges, and the latest document of title (such as the conveyance to the applicant) should also be lodged. We will return the pre-registration deeds after registration. Subject to the rights of any mortgagee that wishes to hold them, the estate owners are entitled to possession of them, and they ought not to be destroyed without their authority. There are several reasons why a customer may want to keep pre-registration deeds:
They often contain information that would not appear on the land title register. For example, details of trusts, wayleaves, licences, short leases, correspondence and old searches They may assist in the future if the title comes into question or on alteration applications The deeds can assist with the establishment of the exact line of a boundary on a property registered with indicative boundaries.
Particularly with older properties, the deeds may have considerable historical interest. Archives are usually happy to take unwanted deeds and documents, (The Bermuda Archives, Government Administration Building, 30 Parliament Street, Hamilton, HM12).
Where a corporation or body of trustees holds land on behalf of charitable, ecclesiastical or public trusts, applies to be registered as owner of a registered estate or charge, the application must be accompanied by the document creating the trust or a certified copy of it ( r157 LTRR 2018 ).
There are additional requirements for charities (see Practice Guide 13 - Charities ).
If the applicant is a corporate body, but is not either:
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
In some situations, where a document will be referred to in the register you may wish to have prejudicial information removed from that document. r126 LTRR 2018 provides for a request to be made by any person upon application.
If you wish to apply to the Registrar to designate a document as an exempt information document, you must use form R20.
Separate applications are required in respect of registered and unregistered titles. Form A2 is the application form for dealings with registered titles. Where the transfer or assent to the estate owner includes registered as well as unregistered titles, you must complete Forms A2 and A1 and pay a separate LTRO fee in respect of each.
Form A2 may also be needed where there has been dealing with the land prior to first registration. (see Section 6 - Dealings with land before first registration is completed ).
Please see the Head 38 in the Government Fees Amendment Regulations 2018 for further details. You must show the amount of the fee on Form A.
When first registration is compulsory (see Section 2 - Compulsory Applications for Frst Registration ), you must apply for it within two months of the date of completion of the transaction concerned ( s25(3) LTRA 2011 ).
s25A LTRA 2011 states that any application submitted after the two month period will be subject to a late penalty of $200 for every day or part thereof during which the application remains unmade.
However, the Registrar can make an order extending the two month period, if satisfied on the application of any interested person that there is good reason for doing so under s25(4) LTRA 2011.
In unregistered conveyancing, title is ultimately based on the estate owner’s right to be in possession of the land or to receive the rents and profits of it. Showing a full documentary title commencing with a good root of title that is at least 20 years old should normally establish this right. This is in line with the requirements of the Conveyancing Act 1983.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
The appropriate class of title available to an applicant under ss.28(1)29 and 30 LTRA 2011 is primarily determined by the quality of documentary title lodged. An LTR Officer will assess the title deeds accompanying the application to determine if they prove a good holding title. r30 LTRR 2018 , provides that we may have regard to any prior examination of title by a conveyancer and to the nature of the property when considering the granting of title.
To ensure that the best possible class of title is given to applicants, r24(1)(c) LTRR 2018 , also provides for all available deeds and documents relating to the title to be lodged. If, therefore, any of the title deeds that should be in an applicant’s possession are not produced, you must properly account for their absence, especially where the grant of an absolute title might be prejudiced. Where a deed that is not essential to proving title is not lodged, the Registrar may make a protective entry, for example, when it is known that the missing deed contains restrictive covenants.
Situations where relevant title deeds or documents are unavailable are covered in Section 4.2 - Evidence of Title where the Deeds have been Lost or Destroyed.
As to other situations where the applicant cannot show a 20 year documentary title prior to the deed inducing registration (see Section 4.6 - Land that has been in the same ownership for a considerable time ).
As to titles based on adverse possession, (see Practice Guide 4 - Adverse Possession ).
The Registrar may also make searches and enquiries or require the applicant to make any further searches or enquiries he/she considers are necessary ( r31 LTRR 2018 ).
Please note we will still serve notice on third parties if we believe they may have grounds for objecting, for example, a person who has a caution against first registration of the estate concerned.
Any person may object to the application, whether or not we notify them of it ( r.19, LTRR 2018 ). We will notify the applicant of any objection and the title will not be registered until the objection has been withdrawn or disposed of. Any purchaser or mortgagee should always make a prior search of the LTRO records. This will reveal any caution against first registration, as well as revealing whether any part of the land is already registered.
The vendor’s ability to produce the title deeds of the property and the absence of any unexplained memoranda of sales of part of it or other dealings with the land are important safeguards for a purchaser of unregistered land, and for the Registrar on first registration.
Where the applicants are unable to produce all the deeds that ought to be in their possession or control, the possibility of an undisclosed mortgage, of an applicant who has forgotten about a deed or other transaction taking place, or even of fraud, cannot be ruled out. As a result, we take special precautions when registering land when it is claimed that all or some of the title deeds have been lost or destroyed. Particular attention will be given to:
the identity of the applicant custody of the deeds at the time of their loss
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
Where leasehold titles are concerned, the LTRO will grant a provisional title if we think that either the applicant’s title to the estate, or the lessor’s title to the reversion, has been established only for a limited period subject to certain reservations that cannot be disregarded under s28(3) LTRA 2011.
Provisional Titles may be granted for freehold estates and leasehold estates under s28(4) LTRA 2011 , if the Registrar is of the opinion that:
the applicant is in actual possession of the land, or in receipt of the rents and profits of the land, by virtue of the estate, and there is no other class of title with which they may be registered.
An estate owner with a limited or no documentary title may still be registered with provisional title provided they comply with any procedural requirements set out in r28 LTRR 2018.
A purchaser may accept a vesting assent by a personal representative in respect of an unregistered legal estate as sufficient evidence that the assentee is the person entitled to have the legal estate conveyed to them, unless notice of a previous assent affecting that legal estate has been placed on or annexed to the probate or letters of administration. However, the Registrar does not have the protection conferred by this provision on an application for first registration.
Any application for first registration based on a vesting assent should, therefore, be accompanied by a copy of the will, or a statutory declaration or affidavit showing that the estate owner became entitled on the intestacy of the deceased. If the position is affected by a deed of variation, deed of family arrangement, or court order, a copy of that should also be lodged.
You must not only show title to land being registered but also to any appurtenant easements. We will normally make no entry of the benefit of easements unless we are satisfied as to the title to them. However, there is usually no need to show any earlier title to appurtenant easements that are created or transferred by the root deed.
Title to the easement must be shown even where the servient land is registered and the easement is noted in the register. This notice does not guarantee the validity of the easement ( s50 LTRA 2011 ) and we cannot rely on it as evidence of title. Where the servient land is registered and the easement is not already noted in the register, we can still enter it as appurtenant on first registration if we are satisfied that it exists. However, we will normally need to note the burden of the easement on the servient title at the same time if the servient title has been registered.
In all cases where we propose to note the burden of the easement on the servient title, we will serve notice on the registered proprietor, and normally on any chargee, before doing so. However, you will need to supply evidence of the consent of any registered chargee whose charge already existed when the easement was granted. You will also need to comply with any restriction, if the servient land was registered when the easement was granted.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
Where land has not changed hands for centuries it may be impossible to deduce title in the normal way because the applicant has no satisfactory documents of title. In extreme cases there may be no record at all of the circumstances in which the land was acquired.
Applications where full documentary title cannot be produced are provided for by r28 LTRR 2018. You must lodge evidence:
satisfying the Registrar that the applicant is either entitled or required to apply for first registration where appropriate, accounting for the absence of documentary evidence of title.
In cases involving ancient possessions, where the deeds (if any) cannot be easily identified or do not clearly identify the land, you must lodge a statutory declaration or affidavit in support of the application.
Information should also be provided as to whether or not the applicant is either in occupation of the land or receiving any rents and profits from it.
Individual arrangements for registers of title may be considered for charities and other large landowners who can provide reliable information on title.
If the land you are applying to register comprises or includes foreshore, or abuts Crown foreshore, we will serve notice on the Government Department responsible for the Government and Crown Estate, where appropriate, ( r32 LTRR 2018 ) before we complete the registration assuming that the said Department does not object to the registration.
You should lodge any agreement as to the operation of accretion and diluvion, together with any necessary consents ( r114(1) LTRR 2018 ), the terms of which we shall enter in the register under s80(2) LTRA 2011.
If you are applying to register an estate where a previous freehold estate has reverted to the Crown on escheat, you should apply as normal using Form A1 and Form DL in duplicate. The grant or transfer will recite the details of the escheat, including the parcel number, if the determined estate is registered. Subject to serving notice on the registered proprietor of the determined estate, we will register the applicant as proprietor of a new freehold estate and close the title of the determined estate. The new estate will be subject to all the incumbrances that previously affected the determined estate, unless you are able to lodge evidence to the contrary, such as a court order or evidence that they are unenforceable.
Enquiries about practice may be made at any time at the LTRO. However, until a formal application is made, accompanied by the appropriate deeds and documents and the appropriate fee has been paid, LTRO staff cannot express any opinion about a particular title.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
Whilst Lessees cannot register their lessor’s reversionary estate, they can apply to register their own leasehold title. If the lessor is required under s25(1) LTRA 2011 , to apply for first registration of their estate, and the lease is of a kind that will need to be registered ( s46(2)(b) LTRA 2011 ) the intending lessee should insist that the lessor applies for first registration before the lease is completed.
If the Lessor has not registered their reversionary estate before the lease has been granted then the lawyer acting for the Lessee will need to review the freehold title before the lease is granted. They can rely on paragraphs 6 and 7 in Schedule 3 LTRA 2011 to obtain information about the freehold title. They will most likely have to pay the reasonable legal fees of the Lessor in relation to the disclosure of such information.
The grant of the lease is a disposition that should be noted as an incumbrance in the register of the freehold title. This cannot happen until the freehold has been registered so it is therefore in the interests of the Lessor to register their title as soon as possible. Once a freehold title has been registered each lease will be given a separate parcel number derived from the freehold parcel number. For example if TS-1234 is the freehold title number then the first lease will be TS-1234/1 and the second TS/1234/2 etc. If there are fractional interests then they will be shown as TS-1234/1/a, TS-1234/1/b, TS-1234/1/c etc.
This is the combined effect of s46 and paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 LTRA 2011 and r39 LTRR 2018.
The Lessee should make an application to register their lease as soon as possible after it has been completed. They cannot benefit from registering a caution against first registration because they have the ability to register the lease by “virtue of ownership of or an entitlement to a registrable estate which is capable of being the subject of an application for its registration under Part 7 (LTRA 2011) ” as stated in s.35(3) LTRA 2011.
The mortgagee (lender) should ensure that the mortgagor (borrower) applies for registration of the land in the name of the mortgagor and for its mortgage to be registered as a legal charge. If necessary, the mortgagee can make an application in the name of the mortgagor for the estate charged by the mortgage to be registered without the consent of the mortgagor ( s25(5) LTRA 2011 and r21 LTRR 2018 ).
Please note that second charges are not registrable as they do not fall under an active trigger for registration at this time. They can be registered voluntarily by the mortgagee or the mortgagor under s23(2) LTRA 2011.
The mortgagee can obtain the necessary priority for their charge by making an application to register a caution against first registration. Though the caution will not give them any priority against subsequent dealings, it will ensure that they are notified when an application for first registration is made, so that they can then apply to register the charge.
LAND TITLE REGISTRY OFFICE
If a transaction other than a transfer, lease or charge (such as the grant of an easement) is affected by r LTRR 2018 , then:
we cannot register it, guarantee the benefit of it or note it (as appropriate) until application for first registration is received; and it will then require a separate dealing application and fee.
It can be protected in the interim by a caution against first registration.
Vendors who have reserved to themselves a legal easement generally need take no action as their interest will automatically be noted in the register on first registration of the servient land. If the rights are overlooked by the examiner they will continue to bind the registered proprietor as overriding interests. In a few instances, however, the overriding status of these rights may be lost on a subsequent transfer of the servient land.
We cannot supply an official copy of the register until the registration has been completed. A person dealing with the estate owner should therefore investigate the title as if the land were still unregistered.
You may secure priority for such a dealing by means of an official search. Use Form R31 for searches affecting the whole of the pending first registration and Form R32 for searches of part. Describe the search as ‘Pending first registration search’ in the relevant panel of the search form. The search will disclose, among other things, details of any applications or official searches with priority pending against the title.
Have you lodged a fully completed and signed Form A1 – First Registration? Have you lodged all the documents of title and listed them on Form DL (in duplicate)? Can we precisely identify the extent of the land from either a plan or the postal address? Have you enclosed the correct fee? Where the applicants are joint proprietors, have you indicated whether they are beneficial joint tenants or tenants in common? Have you supplied the address for service of the applicant for entry in the register? Important: please check clerical details in all forms and deeds (especially charges and mortgages) and pay particular attention to all dates, property descriptions, parcel numbers and full names of parties, especially where they appear in more than one deed.