The main changes to the Act were made to facilitate the conversion of land from the Deeds System to the Land Titles System of registration. Currently, lands under private ownership in Singapore are held under one of the two systems of land registration:

	i.	the 'old' system under the Registration of Deeds Act; and
	ii.	the 'new' system under the Land Titles Act.

Background

Before 1 December 1960, lands in Singapore under private ownership were held under the 'old' system of registration. The 'old' system is not satisfactory as registration of land transactions is not compulsory and therefore the records in the Register of Deeds may not show all the relevant transactions affecting the lands. On 1 December 1960, the Land Titles Act came into operation with the aim of simplifying the transfer of lands as well as other dealings affecting lands.

Since then, lands under the 'old' system were gradually brought under the 'new' system. Under the 'new' system, a certificate of title is issued to replace the old deed as the legal document evidencing ownership of the land.

Benefits of the 'new' system

Reliability

The 'new' system makes registration compulsory. Therefore, all transactions are recorded and reflected on the certificate of title.

'New' system is simpler

A certificate of title under the 'new' system is convenient and easier to read. It shows relevant details like the name of the owner, land tenure (eg freehold, leasehold), area and existing encumbrances (eg mortgages or charges). Whereas, under the 'old' system, a deed is lengthy and a 15-year search is required to be made to establish a clear title.

Government guarantee

Under the 'new' system, the Government (apart from certain statutory exemptions) guarantees title. With the new amendment providing for the automatic lapsing of cautions, most titles would be guaranteed titles within a decade. This leads to greater certainty in conveyancing transactions.

Lost documents can be replaced

Under the 'new' system, if a certificate of title is lost, a replacement can be obtained as a record of the document is kept in our computer system. Under the 'old' system, a deed which is lost cannot be replaced as the deed is not issued by us. Only a certified true copy of the deed can be obtained.

Computerised system

The 'new' land titles system is a computerised system of registration. So the land register is available for remote on-line searches. The public can obtain information on the ownership, tenure and even the last transacted price of a piece of land from the comfort of their homes or offices.

Flat Units Under The 'Old' System

Because the Titles System of registration is simpler and more efficient, the Land Registry (now part of the Singapore Land Authority), decided to speed up the rate of conversion. In 1996, the Land Registry started a project to convert all the lands still under the 'old' system to the 'new' system. Since then, it has been converting landed properties. Now it intends to convert flat units which are still under the 'old' system.

There are about 3,000 such flat units in various parts of Singapore - like the Tiong Bahru area, along River Valley and Kim Tian Roads, the Katong area and the Geylang area. The leases to the flat units were registered during the 1950s and 1960s before the Land Titles (Strata) Act came into force in 1968. After the Land Titles (Strata) Act came into operation, all developments with more than two flat units are required to be registered under the 'new' system.

The problem

Currently, the law only allows for the conversion of developments with at least 3 flat units. Those with only 2 units cannot be converted to the 'new' system. Two-unit flats are mainly shophouses located in the Chinatown and Little India areas. Even conversion of developments with 3 units or more can take place only if the owners of at least 25% of the flat units apply for the conversion. Most owners do not apply either because they do not know about the benefit of conversion to the new system or because it is costly as they have to pay survey fees for a registered surveyor to survey the floor area of the flat and the common area as well.

The amendments

The amendments to the Land Titles Act will now allow the Registrar of Titles to initiate the conversion of all flat units under the 'old' system. The new provision allows the Registrar to simultaneously convert the land and the leasehold title for all the flats so that the entire development can be brought under the 'new' system. This exercise will be carried out with no cost to the owner. They will not have to pay for conversion. Neither will the flat owners be required to engage a surveyor to survey their flats.

During this exercise, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) will write to the owners to notify them of the proposed conversion of title from the 'old' system to the 'new' system. Then they will place an advertisement in the English and Chinese newspapers. After 21 days from the date of the advertisement and if no valid objection is received, SLA will issue a subsidiary certificate of title for each of the flats. Thereafter, a collection letter will be sent to the owner. When collecting the subsidiary certificate of title, the owner will have to produce his original title deeds for inspection. These will be returned to him right away. If the owner has lost his title deeds, he can make a statutory declaration as to the loss before SLA's Commissioner for Oaths. This service too is provided free of charge. SLA will then release the subsidiary certificate of title based on the statutory declaration.

The title conversion exercise will not change the tenure of the title. It will also not affect the amount of property tax payable which remains the same as before.

Other Amendments to Facilite The Conversion of Lands

(a) Deceased Proprietors

The problem

When a landowner dies, his personal representatives will have to obtain a Grant of Probate empowering them to administer the deceased owner's estate. If there are difficulties in settling the estate, the issue of the Grant of Probate could take a very long time. Sometimes there are family disputes which hold up the application for a Grant of Probate. In other cases, the personal representatives are away and are not free to attend to the estate matters of the dead owner. The Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) practice is to hold back conversion until the Grant of Probate is extracted and registered at the Registry of Deeds. As a result, there are cases where conversion has been held up for months and years.

The amendment

The amended provision allows the Registrar to issue a certificate of title in the name of a deceased proprietor. A certificate of title will be created and it will remain in the Registrar's custody and only be released to the personal representatives after the deceased proprietor's estate has been settled. SLA will verify the particulars of the personal representatives before releasing the certificate of title to them.

The title conversion will benefit the family of the deceased owner as well. It will be much easier for them to deal with the property (eg. If they wish to sell the property after they have settled the estate matters) they wish because all the information about the land is clearly set out in the certificate of title. If it is an unqualified title, the transaction will be simpler and cheaper and possibly more attractive to a potential buyer who can safely assume that it is a clean title other than those encumbrances shown on it.

(b) Leases With No Commencement Dates

The problem

There are a number of common law private leases which do not state a commencement date for the lease. Most of these are old leases created in the 1800s. They indicate the tenure but not the commencement date, which is necessary for the issuance of titles upon conversion of the lands.

The amendment

The new provision allows the Registrar, for the purposes of converting the lands, to assume that the lease commenced from the date of the lease. The owners will not lose out because generally the commencement date for such leases is the date of the lease itself. With this amendment, it will now be possible to compute the expiry date of the lease. This information becomes important especially when transacting with the property. For instance, in a proposed en-bloc sale negotiation, the potential buyer will want to know the end date of the lease. So would the bank or the financial organisation. Both the buyer and bank would also be happier to know that the property is under the 'new' system of registration and so has a guaranteed title or will have one in time to come.

Automatic Lapsing of Caution

The problem

Land converted from the common law system is held with a caution stating that the title is subject to pre-existing claims or encumbrances. This means that the State does not guarantee the title to be free from encumbrance and a buyer of qualified title must still investigate the pre-existing common law deeds, making the conveyance more expensive. It is only when the caution lapses that the title becomes indefeasible, backed by a State guarantee. Under the present law, a caution lapses only if there is a sale of the land after title conversion. In many of the mature estates like Serangoon Gardens and Sennett Estates, the owners tend to remain in the properties for many years before they consider a sale. Title to such properties can remain qualified up to 20 or 30 years.

The amendment

The amendment provides for the automatic lapsing of cautions 10 years after the land was converted, or after 2 years from the commencement of this amendment, whichever is later, even if there has been so sale after title conversion. This will result in more unqualified titles, which benefits the public, as the title investigations are easier and therefore cheaper. This amendment will reduce the number of qualified titles from about 13% to about 7% after 2 years and completely eliminate the number of qualified titles after 10 years.

For the individual landowner too, the process is simplified. Previously, even when there is a sale, the owner or his lawyer will have to put in an application to lapse the caution and pay lodgment fees so that title will become unqualified. Today, with this amendment, the Singapore Land Authority will monitor the titles and lapse the cautions as they become due. There is no need for the owner to come in with an application or pay any registration fee.

Bankruptcy Searches

The problem

When a landowner is made bankrupt, under the Bankruptcy Act his property will automatically vest in the Official Assignee. The bankrupt is barred from further dealing with the land. Any sale or disposal of the property by the bankrupt will be void unless done with the consent of the court.

The Official Assignee can lodge an application at the Land Registry to update the land register to show that the land is now vested in him because the owner is a bankrupt. However, he can do this only if the bankrupt truthfully discloses the properties that he owns or if the Official Assignee is able to obtain the information from the creditors. So there may be cases where the land register will not show that the owner is a bankrupt. A purchaser who relies solely on the land register may unwittingly transact with a bankrupt and risk having his purchase of the property being declared void.

The amendment

The amendment will now make it necessary for anyone dealing with a landowner to conduct bankruptcy searches. They can no longer rely on the land register alone. The amendment will not make things onerous for say, a prospective purchaser, because in practice lawyers invariably make bankruptcy searches during property transactions. These searches are easy to carry out as the Official Assignee's records are computerised and available for remote on-line search.

Lasping of Restrictive Convenants

The problem

A restrictive covenant is an agreement made by one landowner with the owner of the neighbouring land not to do certain acts or things on his land such that it would adversely affect the neighbouring land. The following are some examples of restrictive covenants:

(a) Not without the written consent of the vendor to erect or permit to be erected on the said land any buildings or fences.
(b) No dwelling house or other building erected or to be erected upon the said land shall be used otherwise than as a private dwelling house only and no such house or building shall be used for any business purpose.
(c) That no signboards shall be displayed on any part of the said land save one giving the number of the house and the name of the occupier and the street.
For registered lands under the Land Titles Act, the restrictive covenant will last for 20 years from the date of its creation or notification on the land register. It can be extended for 10 years each time. For lands registered under common law, a restrictive covenant can last forever unless it is released by the owner of the neighbouring lots or extinguished by an order of court. Most of the existing restrictive covenants created at common law are obsolete as they have been superseded by planning and other regulatory laws.

The amendment

The amendment provides that restrictive covenants created at common law in respect of unregistered land may, unless extended, be extinguished automatically after the expiration of 20 years from the date of its creation or the expiration of 5 years from the date of notification on the land register or 2 years from the date of the commencement of this amended provision, whichever is the latest.

Illustration

Taking 2001 as the year in which the amendment comes in force, the table below will apply:

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This amendment will facilitate urban redevelopment of the land. It is the Government's policy to encourage the development of scarce land resources in Singapore. Old or obsolete restrictive covenants hinder redevelopment. An order of court to lift such restrictive covenants is needed before development of the land can commence. In some cases, the difficulty is compounded because it is not easy to identify the dominant lands enjoying the benefit of the restrictive covenant. A servient landowner must apply to court to extinguish or vary the restrictive covenants. The amendment is necessary to bring restrictive covenants registered under the Registration of Deeds Act on the same footing as restrictive covenants registered under the Land Titles Act.

Singapore is not alone in this approach. In New South Wales, Australia, the Registrar-General has the power to clear the land register of obsolete restrictive covenants. This can be done on his initiative.

Unilateral Serverance of Joint Tenants and Tenants in Common

The problem

Many people in Singapore buy property and register it in joint names. This form of co-ownership, called a joint tenancy, is very common in Singapore, especially among newly married couples who pool their financial resources together to buy their homes. In law, each co-owner owns or co-owns the whole of the property. When one dies, his or her undivided share is extinguished and the survivor becomes the sole owner. This is known as the rule of survivorship in joint tenancy.

A joint tenancy has certain advantages as a means of owning land. For example, for probate purposes, no further vesting of title in the other co-owner is required. For sale or mortgage purposes, only one title needs to be investigated. For succession purposes, it is unnecessary for one co-owner to make any testamentary gift of his or her share to the other. Those are the advantages.

However, a joint tenancy, by its very nature, also has some serious disadvantages. Take the simple example of a father and son who are joint tenants of a house. The son subsequently marries. Unfortunately, later on, let us assume the son dies and the father becomes the sole owner because of the nature of the joint tenancy; father is unable to get along with the daughter-in-law and her children, and the father ejects her and her family from the house, which can be done because the daughter-in-law does not inherit the share of her husband.

So, there will be cases where one co-owner, (eg. the husband in the above case) for good reasons, does not wish the survivor to take the whole of the property. To achieve that, he has to destroy the right of survivorship by severing the joint tenancy. The effect of the severance is to create a tenancy in common under which each co-owner holds a distinct share in the property. In cases where the joint tenants are father / child or husband / wife, the law will presume that each owns a 50% share.

Originally the law permitted the severance of joint tenancy in very limited circumstances. In 1993, a new way to sever a joint tenancy was introduced, that is, severance by unilateral declaration. A person who co-owns property as a joint tenant is able to sever the joint tenancy by a simple unilateral notice in writing. At law, severance usually results in equal shares. But there have been owners claiming to unilaterally sever joint tenancies into unequal shares. The Registrar is not in a position to verify the truth of such claims.

The amendment

The new provision now states very clearly that unilateral severance of a joint tenancy can only be in equal shares. The amendment also clarifies that tenants in common can convert their holdings by way of declaration to joint tenancy only if they are tenants in common in equal shares. Co-owners with unequal shares who wish to hold as joint tenants should do so by way of a transfer as there is in effect a transfer of some of the interest of the co-owner with the larger share to the one with the lesser share.

With this amendment, the law is better able to take care of both parties' interests. It maintains the simpler mechanism for the joint tenant who wishes to sever to effect the severance. At the same time, it also protects the person on whom the severance operates because he is not in a position to objection. The same holds true for tenants in common who wish to convert to become joint tenants.

Defination of "Land"

There are 2 limbs to the definition of "land". The first defines "land" as the surface of any defined parcel of earth, all substances under and the column of airspace above. This is the conventional definition. The second defines it as any defined parcel of airspace or subterranean space held apart from the surface of the earth. This second limb was added to allow title to be issued for MRT stations.

Under the current definition, title can be issued for a parcel of land as defined under both limbs. However, there is doubt whether title can be issued for a parcel comprising both airspace and subterranean space as such a parcel could not be said to be held apart from the surface of the earth.

Currently, there are mixed use developments which require title to be issued for a parcel comprising both airspace and subterranean space. There are 2 examples. One is the Sengkang development The other is the Dhoby Ghaut development.

The Sengkang Development
The development comprises 4 components as follows:

(a) A private commercial-cum-residential strata development;
(b) A bus interchange;
(c) (i) Part of the Sengkang MRT / LRT station; and
(ii) Link tunnel below the station.
Although an integrated development, the 4 components are not intended to form part of one strata development. The proposal is for the State to issue separate titles for each component, except for the bus interchange which will remain as State land.

The MRT / LRT station is 4 levels above and 2 levels below the ground level. The station is neither an airspace nor a subterranean space, but rather is a combination of both.

The Dhoby Ghaut Development
The development comprises 3 components:
(a) An aboveground commercial building;
(b) An underground Civil Defence shelter; and
(c) The new underground Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

Similarly, though an integrated development, the 3 components are also not intended to form part of one strata development. It is proposed that the State issue a title for each of the 3 components. However, the same issue that confronts the Sengkang development also arises in this development. The MRT station will comprise both airspace and subterranean space (very much like the Sengkang MRT / LRT station). .

Issued by:
Singapore Land Authority
30 July 2001