The Gazette 1977

GAZETTE

JULY

Land Registry Practice Lecture delivered at the Summer Meeting of the Law Society in Wexford —May 1977.

by Nevin Griffith, Registrar, Land Registry

would disturb registered legal interests. In case of any other error originating in the Registry a Court Order would be required. Section 32 of the Act states that the Court, if it is of the opinion that an error may be rectified without injustice to any person, may order it to be rectified under such terms as to costs or otherwise as it thinks just. It would appear that an error on the Register which is caused by a mistake in a document submitted would normally require a Deed of Rectification by the necessary parties. The Indexes maintained in the Central Office are an Index of the names of the registered owners of Freehold land, of Leasehold Interests or of a right under Section 8(b) of the Act. There is also an Index of lands which contains the identification reference to the Registry Map to every parcel of land on which the ownership is registered or of a Leasehold Interest or an Incorporeal Hereditament. The Local Office maintains only an Index of Names of the registered owners of Freehold and Leasehold Interests. FIRST REGISTRATION Part II of the Rules deals with applications for First Registration for conversion of Possessory Titles and other Registrations involving examinations of title. This is the work mainly dealt with by the Examiners of Title. Rule 15 sets out the documents which should accompany an application forFirstRegistrationof freehold property. Note that one of the current documents should be a plan of the property drawn on the current largest scale map published by the Ordnance Survey, unless there is a sufficiently identifiable plan or map on some muniment of title. One of the most common mistakes in these applications is to neglect to lodge the Statement of Title. If an opinion of Counsel is lodged the Statement of Title is not required. An Affidavit of Discovery should also be furnished. In 1891 it was thought that there would be many voluntary applications forFirstRegistrationbecause of the advantage this would give in future dealings with the property. In practice, as the trouble and expense of registering the propertywould fall on the first applicant, — for the benefit of his successors — there were few such applications. Those who did apply seemed to do so because their title was not acceptable as a purchaser and it was hoped that the Registry would in effect guarantee it. In recent years however the number of applications for first voluntary registration has greatly increased. In 1976 it was seven times greater than in 1967. Rule 16 deals with the application for first registration of a Leasehold Interest or of an Incorporeal Hereditament not held in gross. Under Rule 19 it is provided that the title shown by the applicant may commence with a disposition of the property made not less than 30 years prior to the application that would be a good root of title on a sale 99

The 1891 Registration of Title Act laid the foundation of the system of Registration of Title in Ireland. This has now been superseded by the Registration of Title Act 1964. My predecessor, Mr. Desmond McAllister, published his comprehensive book on Registration of Title in Ireland four years ago. In Mr. Wylie's recent book on Irish Land Law there is a concise chapter on Registration of Title. In this talk I thought I might go through the Rules made under the provisions of the Act and comment on some of the more important of them. The current Rules are the Land Registration Rules 1972. There is a recent amendment in respect of Rules 18 and 35 and Form 3. This came into operation on the 1st April. Where for convenience I refer only to "the Act" or "the Rules" I mean the 1964 Act or the 1972 Rules. The 1964 Act came into operation on 1st January 1967 so that we have just over ten years experience of its working. The purpose of the Act was to amend and consolidate the law relating to the registration of the title to land, and to provide for the gradual extension of compulsory registration to all land in the State. Carlow, Laois and Meath became subject to the compulsory registration provisions from 1st January 1970. Conditions are not suitable for an extension of the compulsory areas at present. The great increase in the number of Land Registry transactions over this period has unfortunately led to arrears and delays in some sectors. Most of thefigures for the various categories of work in the Land Registry have doubled, some have trebled or quadrupled, or multiplied even further. For example, the number of public inspections of folios and Instruments in the Public Office last year was 22,900 which compares with 7,400 ten years ago. In fact last years figure of nearly 23,000 was 8,500 higher than in the previous twelve months. This gives some idea of the pressure on the counter staff, who deal with these inquiries. There were nearly five times as many Mapping Searches last year as in 1967. Applications for Land Registry copy maps numbered 9,000 in 1967; there were 24,000 last year. 9,000 new folios were opened in 1967. In 1976 the number was 37,000. ERRORS IN LAND REGISTRY Rule 3 sets out the framework of a Folio. Rule 7 gives the power to the Registrar to make formal alterations in the Register or cancel any burdens or entry which no longer affects the property. Rule 8 deals with clerical and mapping errors which originated in the Registry. These may be corrected by the Registrar after giving any necessary notices and obtaining any necessary consents. No correction could be made by the Registrar which