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GAZETTE
JULY
under a contract limiting only the length of title to be
shown.
Sub-rules (2) (3) and (4) of Rule 19 provided that the
Registrar might in specific cases accept a certificate by a
solicitor in Form 3 when the market value of the property
did not exceed £8,000 and make the registration without
any further examination of title. This figure of £8,000 was
raised to £20,000 in 1973 and is now £25,000 under the
amending Rules which came into operation on 1st April
1977. These amending Rules (S.I. 89 of 1977) also
prescribed a new form of certificate. It is hoped that the
use of this new certificate will speed the registration of
applications under this Rule.
APPURTENANT RIGHTS
Provision is now make by Section 82 of the Act for the
entry on the Folio of appurtenant rights acquired by
Grant or Court Order attached to the registered lands and
Rule 25(b) sets out the requirements for such an
application.
Only since the passing of the Land Act 1965 has the
Land Commission power to vest appurtenant rights.
Appurtenant rights may be extinguished by law or by
statute or by express or implied release. It is extremely
difficult to establish the extinguishment of such a right by
abandonment. In fact for registration purposes a Court
Order would probably be necessary. The right to take turf
for fuel in a house is not appurtenant to the lands but to
the dwellinghouse situate on the lands. It cannot be
apportioned or severed from the dwellinghouse. Normally
ah easement must be appurtenant to lands and cannot
exist in gross. It is, therefore, necessary to ascertain the
dominant tenement for the benefit of which the easement
exists and to enter the right as a burden on the servient
tenament. There is an exception under Section 69 of the
1964 Act where the right of the Land Commission or
Local Authority to lay pipelines for any purpose may be
registered as a burden.
Rule 28 deals with mines and minerals on applications
for first registration of the ownership of property. Most of
the lands registered under the Registration of Title Acts
were purchased under the various Land Purchase Acts
and roughly speaking those purchased prior to the 1903
Land Act acquired the mines and minerals, and those
purchased subsequently did not.
Rule 30 deals with applications for first registration of
mines and minerals; and of portions of premises such as a
flat or a floor of a house.
If any application for registration includes foreshore
the fact should be stated in the application so that the
Registrar may notify the Minister for Transport and
Power as required by the Act.
Cautions against First Registration may be entered by
persons having an interest in the property (Rules 31 and
32).
DISCHARGE OF EQUITIES
Rules 33 to 37 deal with conversion of Possessory
Title into Absolute Title where the property has been
purchased under the Land Purchase Acts. This is the old
discharge of equities and the Rules are similar to those in
operation for the last thirty years. Note that under Rule
35 the conversion may now be made on a certificate by
the solicitor in Form 15 where the purchase money is
under a certain figure. This figure is now £25,000 after
100
last month's amendment to the Rules. The conversions of
Possessory Title into Absolute or Good Leasehold title
where the property has not been purchased under the
Land Purchase Acts are dealt with in Rules 38 and 39.
There are not many of these applications.
Rules 41 to 44 deal with general provisions as to
conversion of Possessory or Qualified titles.
Rule 45 deals with other examinations of title outside
the Register, e.g. the examination of the title of a lessor
when the ownership of the lease is registered with good
leasehold title, for purpose of noting that it is converted to
Absolute Title.
SECTION 49 APPLICATIONS - SQUATTER'S
RIGHTS
Applications where it is claimed that title has been
acquired by mere possession, hitherto dealt with by the
Courts under Section 52 of the 1891 Act, may now be
made in the Registry. Under Section 49 of the 1964 Act
the Registrar was empowered to register an applicant in
such cases when he is satisfied that the applicant has
acquired the title. Rule 46 prescribes that such
applications should be made in Form 5 or such
modifications as the case may require. If the Registrar is
satisfied with the title he may register the applicant as full
owner of the property with an Absolute, Good Leasehold,
Possessory or Qualified title as the case may require. The
application is usually for an Absolute Title.
In many cases these applications are based on the
supposition that twelve years undisturbed possession is
sufficient for the purpose of registration as full owner with
an Absolute Title on the Freehold Register. In fact, the
land on which the applicant has squatted may be the
subject of a long lease. Even if the property is shown to be
freehold the persons entitled may be under a disability; or
the lands may be in settlement in which case the squatter
may only be acquiring the estate of a tenant for life. In
such cases twelve years possession does not entitle the
applicant to the freehold interest.
It is strictly necessary to show 40 years title by the
applicant or his predecessors and to show who were the
true owners at the date of dispossession, and that their
claim has been barred.
The 40 year period may be curtailed in special
circumstances. A 19 year period was accepted by the
Court where the lands were a Commons (on appeal from
Registrar).
Nevertheless every case of title claimed by long
possession will be considered on its merits. Such
applications are usually made by one member of a family
remaining on after the others have died or departed from
the lands. The facts should be fully set out in Form 5 as to
dates of death and of departure etc.
In Section 49 cases statements such as that the appli-
cant has become entitled by operation of the Statute of
Limitations have been criticised by High Court Judges.
They should not be accepted. It is for the applicant to
prove the facts and for the Examiner to decide whether on
the facts proved the title sought has been established. It is
in the discretion of the Examiner dealing with the
application whether notices may or may not be served
where it is sworn that a person has been out of the
property and long barred. Short social visits by those who
left are not enough to prevent the Statute running against
them. A son remaining on the death of the registered
owner has been held entitled although his wife worked the