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REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - LONG TITLE

An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to the registration
of documents in the Registry of Deeds.
[9th July 1970]
Registration

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 1

1.(1) Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act
and the rules made thereunder, a deed or conveyance affecting land
in Northern Ireland may be registered in the Registry of Deeds for
Northern Ireland (in this Act referred to as "the registry of
deeds").

(2) A deed or conveyance brought to the registry of deeds to be
registered shall be produced to the registrar together with a
memorial in writing of that deed or conveyance which memorial shall
be directed to the registrar and shall comply with the provisions
of Schedule 1.

(3) The registrar shall satisfy himself that the execution of the
deed or conveyance has been witnessed in the manner provided by
section 2.

(4) On the registrar being so satisfied, the memorial shall be
compared with the deed or conveyance and if the several particulars
required by Schedule 1 to be in the memorial are contained in the
memorial and are, if contained in the deed or conveyance, correctly
stated from the deed or conveyance, then, subject to the provisions
of this Act, the deed or conveyance shall be registered but not
otherwise.

(5) When the deed or conveyance is registered, the registrar shall
endorse on it and sign a certificate stating the serial number
allocated to it under section 8 and the date on which that number
was so allocated.

(6) A certificate of registration endorsed under subsection (5) on a
deed or conveyance shall be admitted and taken in any court of
record as evidence of that registration.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 2
Proof of execution of documents, judgments, etc.

2.(1) Except as otherwise provided by subsection (3) or by any
other provision of the Registration of Deeds Acts, a document shall
not be registered in the registry of deeds unless its execution by
a grantor under the document is attested by two witnesses who
subscribe their names and addresses and occupations or descriptions
to the document.

(2) Where, on the execution of a document by a body corporate, the
seal of that body is affixed to the document in the presence of
any two or more than two persons who sign that document as persons
present at the affixing of the seal, each of those persons shall,
for the purposes of the Registration of Deeds Acts, be deemed to
be a valid witness to the execution of the document by the body
corporate.

(3) Without prejudice to any other provision in the Registration of
Deeds Acts

(a)any judgment, decree or order of a court which affects
unregistered land may be registered by the lodgment in the registry
of deeds of two copies thereof, one of which shall be certified by
the court entering or making the same;

(b)the certified copy of such judgment, decree or order shall, for
the purposes of this Act, be treated as the document to be
registered and the other copy thereof shall, subject to section 12
and to any regulations made thereunder, be treated for those
purposes as the memorial of that document;

(c)such registration may be vacated by the lodgment in the registry
of deeds of a certificate of the appropriate court stating such
matters as may be prescribed.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 3
Pending actions relating to land.

3.(1) A pending action shall not bind or affect a purchaser of any
unregistered land, which is the subject of the pending action, who
has not actual knowledge of that action, unless and until the
pending action has been registered in the registry of deeds in
accordance with the succeeding provisions of this section.

(2) A pending action may be registered by the lodgment in the
registry of deeds of two copies of a document, stating such matters
as may be prescribed, one of which copies shall be certified by
the court before whom the action is pending.

(3) The certified copy of the document referred to in subsection
(2) shall, for the purposes of the Registration of Deeds Acts, be
treated as the document to be registered and the other copy thereof
shall, subject to section 12 and to any regulations made thereunder,
be treated for those purposes as the memorial of that document.

(4) The registration of a pending action may be vacated by the
lodgment in the registry of deeds of a certificate of the
appropriate court stating such matters as may be prescribed.

(5) A pending action validly registered or re-registered in the
judgments registry or in the registry of deeds under any statutory
provision (within the meaning of section 1(f) of the Interpretation
Act (Northern Ireland) 1954) immediately before the coming into force
of this section shall be deemed to have been validly registered in
accordance with this section with effect from the date on which it
was so registered or re-registered, as the case may be.

(6) Without prejudice to subsection (4), the registration of a
pending action shall cease to have effect at the expiration of five
years from the date of registration, but may be renewed from time
to time, and, if renewed, shall have effect for five years from
the date of renewal.

(7) In this section

"pending action" means any action or proceeding pending in the [High
Court or the Court of Appeal] or in a county court relating to
any unregistered land;

"purchaser" means

(a)any person (including a mortgagee or lessee) who, for valuable
consideration, takes any estate in any unregistered land; and

(b)the agent, within the meaning of section 4(4), of any such
person.

Subs.(8)(9) rep. by 1981 NI 6 art.147(3) sch.4

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 4
Effect of registration.

4.(1) Subject to subsection (3) and section 5, every document which
is registered shall be deemed and taken as good and effectual both
in law and equity according to the priority of time of registering
it and the priority of time of registering a document registered
after the 30th April 1968 shall be determined by the serial number
allocated thereto pursuant to section 8 and not by the actual time
of registering the document.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) and section 5, a deed or conveyance
affecting any land in Northern Ireland which is not registered shall
be void against a registered document affecting those lands and
against a registered order charging those lands made under [the
Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981].

(3) Where a person or the agent of that person has actual
knowledge of a prior document, which has not been registered,
affecting any unregistered land, registration of a subsequent document
which transfers, or confers an estate in, the land to or on that
person shall not operate so as to confer priority on, or make the
prior document void in relation to, that subsequent document.

(4) In subsection (3), "agent" means a person who is generally
authorised to act for his principal in respect of dealings in land
or who is specially authorised by his principal to deal in the
land the subject matter of the prior document and who in either
case obtains knowledge of the prior document in the course of the
same transaction with respect to which the question of knowledge
arises.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 5
Application of sections 1 and 4.

5. Sections 1 and 4 shall

(a)not apply to any deed or conveyance executed before 26th March
1708;

(b)in relation to documents affecting land registered or deemed to
be registered under the Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland)
1970, be subject to the provisions of sections 72 and 73 of that
Act;

(c)not apply to any lease for years not exceeding twenty-one years
where the actual possession goes with the lease.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 6
Office copies of memorials to be received in evidence.

6.(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), in any proceedings before
any court an office copy of a memorial of a registered document
filed in the registry of deeds shall, upon such office copy being
proved in like manner as an office copy of any other record, be
received and taken as evidence of the contents of the memorial of
which it purports to be an office copy without the production of
the original memorial.

(2) A party to any proceedings shall if out of Belfast ten days,
and if in Belfast eight days, before producing such office copy as
aforesaid in those proceedings give notice in writing thereof to the
other party to the proceedings and that other party may within four
days after receiving such notice demand by a counter notice the
original document shall be produced.

(3) Where a counter notice is given under subsection (2), subsection
(1) shall not apply and the court in which the proceedings take
place or the taxing officer of such court shall determine which of
the parties shall pay the costs of producing the original memorial.

The registry of deeds

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 7

7.(1) The registry of deeds shall continue to be situated in
Belfast.

(2) The staff of the registry of deeds shall

(a)consist of a registrar, an assistant registrar and such other
officers and persons as in the opinion of the Ministry of Finance
(in this Act referred to as "the Ministry") are required for the
service of the registry;

(b)be appointed by the Ministry;

(3) The direction, management and superintendence of the registry of
deeds shall be the duty of the registrar of deeds.

(4) In order to facilitate the business of the registry of deeds
and without in any way diminishing the responsibility of the
registrar of deeds, the assistant registrar of deeds may sign
official documents and do all official acts necessary for the
carrying out of the functions of the registry and anything which is
required to be done to the registrar may be done to the assistant
registrar and this subsection shall apply notwithstanding the fact
that the office of registrar of deeds may be vacant.

(5) The powers and duties of the registrar and assistant registrar
under this Act may, in the absence of the registrar and assistant
registrar, be exercised and performed by an officer nominated in
that behalf by the Ministry and anything which is required to be
done to the registrar may be done to the officer so nominated.

(6) The registry of deeds shall be kept open for the transaction
of business during such hours or other periods of time as the
Ministry may by order made subject to negative resolution provide.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 8
Allocation of serial numbers to documents and endorsement thereof on
memorials.

8.(1) A serial number shall be allocated in the prescribed manner
to every document lodged for registration under the Registration of
Deeds Acts according to the date and time when such document is so
lodged.

(2) The serial number of a document which is rejected for
registration shall be cancelled and if that document is subsequently
relodged for registration under the Registration of Deeds Acts, it
shall have a new serial number allocated to it according to the
date and time when that document is so relodged.

(3) Except where a document lodged for registration in the registry
of deeds is to be filed in that registry in the same manner as a
memorial would be filed, there shall be endorsed on the memorial of
every document lodged in the registry of deeds the serial number
allocated to that document pursuant to subsection (1) or subsection
(2) and the date on which the serial number was so allocated.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 9
Filing of memorials and keeping of abstract book.

9.(1) All memorials of registered documents shall be kept in the
registry of deeds in files or books in such manner as may be
prescribed.

(2) There shall be kept in the prescribed manner in the registry
of deeds a series of books (to be called "the Abstract Book") in
which shall be entered abstracts of all memorials filed in the
registry of deeds and every such abstract shall contain such matters
as may be prescribed.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 10
Index of names.

10. There shall be kept in the prescribed manner in the registry
of deeds a series of books (to be called "the Index of Names") in
which shall be entered in alphabetical order the names of all
grantors specified in documents registered under the Registration of
Deeds Acts and the names of such other persons, and such other
matters, specified in those documents as may be prescribed.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 11
Preservation of records.

11.(1) Subject to subsection (2), all books used or kept in the
registry of deeds containing transcripts of memorials, abstracts of
the contents of memorials and indexes to memorials kept in the
registry of deeds shall be public property and shall be preserved
in the registry of deeds and not be removed therefrom.

(2) The Ministry may, subject to any rules made under the Public
Records Act (Northern Ireland) 1923, direct that the Index of Lands
(which by section 1(1) of the Registry of Deeds (Amendment) Act
(Northern Ireland) 1967 was deemed to be closed on 31st December
1944), or any part thereof, be removed to the Public Record Office
of Northern Ireland and the Index of Lands, or any part thereof,
if directed to be so removed, shall be dealt with in accordance
with that Act of 1923 and those rules.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 12
Paper and writing authorised for registration purposes.

12.(1) The Ministry may prescribe the nature (including shape,
design, size, colour, quality and other specifications and
characteristics) of paper which, by virtue of this subsection, is
required to be used

(a)for the purposes of any provision of the Registration of Deeds
Acts; or

(b)in transactions in the registry of deeds generally, not being
transactions involving the use of paper of a nature prescribed under
paragraph (a).

(2) Any provision of the Registration of Deeds Acts requiring the
use of vellum or parchment shall be deemed to require the use in
lieu thereof

(a)where regulations under subsection (1)(a) prescribe the nature of
the paper to be used for the purposes of that provision, paper of
that nature; and

(b)in any other case, paper of the nature prescribed under
subsection (1)(b).

(3) The Ministry shall cause to be made available for inspection at
the registry of deeds during normal office hours samples of paper
of the nature prescribed under this section and may make
arrangements for the supply and sale of any such paper.

(4) Any provision of the Registration of Deeds Acts which authorises
or requires any document to be in writing shall operate to
authorise or, as the case may be, to require that document to be
written, typewritten or printed or engraved or lithographed or
photographed or represented or reproduced in any mode by which the
words of the document appear in a durable and legible form and
references in any provision of those Acts to writing shall be
construed accordingly.

(5) Where the registrar of deeds considers that any document
tendered in connection with any registration or transaction is not
written or printed on paper of the nature prescribed under this
section or that the words of the document do not appear in a
durable and legible form, he may refuse to accept that document for
the purposes for which it is so tendered.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 13
Common and negative searches by registry of deeds.

13.(1) A requisition may be made to the registry of deeds for a
common search or negative search to be made by an officer of that
registry of the records and documents therein, and such requisition
shall be in such form, contain such particulars and be signed by
such person as may be prescribed.

(2) All requisitions under subsection (1) shall be kept in the
registry of deeds in the prescribed manner.

(3) Every common search and every negative search required by a
requisition under subsection (1) shall be carried out in the manner
and subject to the conditions prescribed for such a search.

(4) A statement or, in the case of a negative search, a
certificate, in the prescribed form, containing the prescribed
particulars and signed by such person as may be prescribed, shall,
on the completion of every search carried out by the registry of
deeds pursuant to a requisition under subsection (1), be issued to
the person making the requisition.

(5) A certificate under subsection (4) shall include a copy of the
requisition pursuant to which the negative search was carried out.

(6) For the purposes of any action brought by virtue of section
17, any error in or omission from any certificate under subsection
(4) shall, according to the contents thereof, be evidence of a
breach of duty imposed under the Registration of Deeds Acts upon
the person signing the certificate, both in respect of the execution
of the search and of the extent and nature of the requisition.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 14
Duplicate negative searches.

14.(1) It shall be the duty of the registrar of deeds to cause
particulars of every negative search issued or prepared for issue
out of the registry of deeds to be so recorded and indexed as to
facilitate the subsequent issue of a duplicate of such search (to
be known and in this Act referred to as "a duplicate negative
search").

(2) A duplicate negative search shall not be issued unless certified
as correct by the registrar of deeds or the assistant registrar
but, when so certified, the search and certificate thereon shall
have the same force and effect, and shall be accepted and received
in the same manner and for the same purposes, as an original
negative search or certificate to the same extent and in the same
terms.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 15
Inspection, search and examination of records and documents.

15. Any person may, during such hours, in such manner and subject
to such conditions as may be prescribed, inspect, search, examine
and make extracts from, or take short notes of, such records and
documents in the registry of deeds as may be prescribed.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 16
Fees.

16.(1) The Ministry may, by order, make provision for

(a)the fees to be taken in respect of documents lodged for
registration in the registry of deeds and of entries, searches,
examinations, inspections, certificates and copies made and other
matters done in that registry under the Registration of Deeds Acts;

(b)the manner in which such fees shall be paid; and

(c)the persons who shall be exempted from paying such fees.

(2) Where any fees are, by virtue of an order under subsection
(1), to be paid by stamps, such of the provisions of the Stamp
Act 1891 as may be specified in the order shall, subject to any
modifications thereto specified in the order, apply in respect of
such stamps as if such fees were stamp duties within the meaning
of that Act.

(3) All orders under subsection (1) shall be subject to affirmative
resolution.

(4) Nothing in the Registration of Deeds Acts shall make it
obligatory for any act to be done in the registry of deeds or for
that registry to permit any act to be done in that registry, in
respect of which a fee is payable, except on payment of such fee.

Remedy for breach of statutory duty by registry officials.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 17

17.(1) Any person who suffers loss by reason of the breach of any
duty imposed under the Registration of Deeds Acts upon an officer
or servant of the Ministry may, by action

(a)where the amount claimed does not exceed [#2,000], in the county
court; or

(b)where the amount claimed exceeds [#2,000], in the High Court;

(2) Damages recovered from the Ministry under subsection (1) shall
be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 18
Procuring registration of false document.

18. Any person who procures or attempts to procure the registration
under the Registration of Deeds Acts of any document

(a)knowing the same to be false in any material particular; or

(b)knowing any signature thereon to be false;

(i)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
one year or to a fine not exceeding #200, or to both; and

(ii)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding three years or to a fine not exceeding #1,000, or to
both.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 19
Regulations.

19.(1) The Ministry may make regulations prescribing anything that
under this Act is to be, or may be, prescribed.

(2) All regulations under subsection (1) shall be subject to
negative resolution.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 20
Interpretation.

20.(1) In this Act

"document" includes a deed or conveyance, and any other document
whether or not under seal, which may be registered in the registry
of deeds under the Registration of Deeds Acts;

"the Ministry" means the Ministry of Finance;

"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made by the Ministry;

"registered", in relation to any document, means registered under the
Registration of Deeds Acts.

(2) Any reference in any provision in the Registration of Deeds
Acts to registering a memorial shall be construed as a reference to
registering the document of which it is a memorial.

(3) References in any enactment to a document a memorial of which
is registered in the registry of deeds shall be construed as
including a reference to a document registered in the registry of
deeds.

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 21
Repeals, amendments and transitional provisions.

21.Subs.(1), with Schedule 2, effects repeals; subs.(2) amends s.46
of 1954 c.33 (NI)

(3) Nothing in this Act shall affect the registration or priority
of any document

(a)lodged for registration before the coming into operation of this
Act;

(b)registered, or a memorial of which was registered, under the
Registration of Deeds Acts in accordance with the law in force at
the time of such registration;

(c)deemed by any enactment repealed by this Act to have been
validly registered under the Registration of Deeds Acts.

(4) It shall continue not to be necessary to transcribe any
memorials entered or registered in the registry of deeds and
references in the Registration of Deeds Acts and in orders made
thereunder to transcripts of memorials shall be construed as
references to transcripts of memorials entered or registered before
the 1st January 1958 (the date from which it became unnecessary to
transcribe memorials).

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 22
Short title and commencement.

22.(1) This Act may be cited as the Registration of Deeds Act
(Northern Ireland) 1970.

(2) Commencement

1. Every memorial of any document to be registered in the registry
of deeds shall, subject to paragraph 2, specify:

(a)the date of the document and when it was perfected;

(b)the names, addresses and occupations or descriptions of all the
parties and witnesses to the document as stated in the document;
and

(c)the land affected by the document and, so far and in the like
manner or to the like effect as the land is described in the
document,

(i)in the case of land situate wholly or partly in a county
borough, the name of the county borough in which such land or any
part of such land is situate, together with the name of every
street in which such land or part is situate; and

(ii)in the case of land situate wholly or partly elsewhere than in
a county borough, the name of every county, barony and townland in
which such land or any part of such land is situate and also,
where such land or part is situate in any town or village, the
name of every town, village and street in which it is situate.

2. Where there are two or more documents for making and perfecting
any conveyance or security and those documents name, mention or
otherwise affect the same land, it shall be a sufficient compliance
with paragraph 1(c) if the memorial of one of those documents
states the matters required by that paragraph and the memorials of
the other documents contain a reference to that memorial and
particulars of its registration.

3. Upon every memorial brought into the registry of deeds to be
registered there shall be endorsed the name and address of the
solicitor or party so bringing such memorial or causing it to be
so brought.

Schedule 2Repeals