LAND TRANSFER ACT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 45, 2 December 1871, Page 7

LAND TRANSFER ACT.

[lndependent.] Many of our readers may not be aware that the Land Transfer Act Amendment Act came into operation yesterday. "We have before referred to this act as one of the many measures which became law this session from which the colony would derive material advantages, and we now propose to supplement our former remarks by drawing attention to the principal amendments which have been made on the act of last year. In the first place we notice, that what appears to be a very simple and effectual provision has been made for dealing with lands alienated from Jthe Crown since the coming into operation of the Land Transfer Act, but the Crown Grants for which have not been issued. We believe we are speaking within bounds, when we say that in the majority of cases, Crown Grants are not issued for some two years after the purchase of the land, and that, in very many instances, the grants have not been issued for periods varying

from five to twenty years. It is obvious, therefore, that any simple method by which lands may be dealt with between the time of purchase and the issue of the grants, will prove a very great benefit to those holders who may desire to mortgage, lease, or transfer their lands. We are aware that this was partially provided for by the act of last year, but only to the extent of one dealing by the purchaser from the Crown° which it is obvious did not meet the requirements of the case, because it often happens that properties which have not been Crown granted, change hands and are dealt with in a variety of ways in the interim. By the Amendment Act, what is called a *« Provisional Register" is constituted, which is to be composed of the receipts for purchase money, issued by the Eeceivers of Land Revenue, each receipt forming a separate folium. Dealings with land so provisionally registered, may be effected in precisely the same manner as if the title were complete, by executing Memoranda of Mortgage, Lease, Transfer, &c, particulars of which are entered upon the appropriate folium of the Provisional Register. Upon the issue and registration of the grant, these entries are copied upon it, and if it appears that the land has been transferred, the grant is cancelled and a certificate of title issued in the name of the transferee. Under the old law, when a purchase was made from the Crown of unsurveyed land, the purchaser was unable to deal with it, because registration of the instrument by which the dealing was effected was impossible for want of the sectional numbers, and plans, and therefore no protection could be afforded to a subpurchaser. The new system will give as much security to the purchaser, mortgagee, &c, of unsurveyed land, as of surveyed land. By section 20 it is provided that whenever the whole of the land included in any grant or certificate of title, is transferred, it shall not be necessary to cancel such grant or certificate, but a memorial entered thereon shall be conclusive evidence of the vesting of the title in the transferee. This is an encroachment upon the original principle of the jTorrens' system, that every time that the fee simple was conveyed, a fresh certificate of title should be issued to the new proprietor. We presume that in all cases which come under this section, the whole cost will he ten shillings —the fee for the memorandum of transfer. A man, therefore, bringing several sections under the act, which he may intend to dispose of from time to time, and for which he desires to offer a cheap title as an additional incentive to purchase, would do well —instead of having all the sections comprised in one certificate of title—to have a separate certificate for each section, so that when he parts with them they will come within the meaning of this clause. Under section 27, the act provides a simple method of effecting mortgages to Building and Investment Societies, by enacting that all such mortgages shall be made to the officers of those societies, " denoted by their official denomination, and not by their- own proper names," thus avoiding any difficulty as to " trusts," which, as far as their precise definition on the register is concerned, are not recognised under the Torrens' system. This amendment implies that the Land Transfer Act of last session did not sufficiently provide for this class of dealings. Those persons, therefore, who mortgage their properties to Building Societies will now be able to take advantage of the low scale of charges prescribed by the act for such transactions, while the Societies themselves will have the satisfaction of knowing that in all such cases they have the security of guaranteed titles. The 28th section of the Act does away with the necessity of registering Crown grants in the Deeds Registry, (and consequently with the fees,) in all cases where the land has not been dealt with," and the grantee applies to have his land brought under the act at the time when the grant is transmitted to the Registrar of Deeds. Any person, therefore, who is the purchaser from the Crown, previous to the coming into operation of the Land Transfer Act, of land for which the grant has not yet issued, may, by making application to

the Registrar immedia'tely upon its issue, have it registered under the act for a sum of Bs, added to the contribution to the Assurance Fund of £d in the £ on the value. This is an advantage which should not be lost sight of by those persons whose grants are in arrears. The act contains a number of other amendments of a less important nature than those to which we have referred, such, for instance, as giving power to the Registrar-General of Lands to make regulations for the guidance of the department, and to modify the fees prescribed by the original act. We have thought it worth while, albeit boasting no professional knowledge, to call special attention to this act, in order that those who have dealings with real estate, and who are therefore directly interested in seeing the tennre of land placed on a secure basis, may be made aware of the large additional facilities which are now afforded for effecting transactions in landed property in a manner that is at once cheap, expeditious, and safe.