138
LAND AND HOUSING
levels, the decision was taken to extend the ordinance for a further one year only. On 21st December 1965, it was announced that the ordinance would expire on 30th June 1966. Under the ordin- ance, increases are generally limited to not more than 10 per cent of the existing rent except in the special circumstances of particular tenancies. Applications for certificates of increase are made to the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation who has wide powers under this ordinance, as well as the right to consult a rent increases advisory panel. During 1964-5 the Commissioner received some 2,862 applications of which 16 per cent were in respect of agreed increases, 67 per cent for increases in rent of not more than 10 per cent, and 6 per cent for increases exceeding 10 per cent.
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LAND OFFICE
The Land Office, which is a branch of the Registrar General's Department, is responsible for the registration of all instruments affecting land; the settling and registration of conditions of sale, grant and exchange of Crown land; the issue, renewal, variation and termination of Crown leases; the granting of mining leases; and for advising the government generally on matters relating to land.
On 28th August 1965, a notable milestone was reached in the history of the Land Office when the 500,000th memorial was regis- tered since the system of land registration was introduced in 1844. The system is broadly similar to that in the Yorkshire Deeds Regis- tries in England. The Land Registration Ordinance provides that all deeds and instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration, and also that deeds and instruments not registered (other than bona fide leases at rack rent for any term not exceeding three years) shall be abso- lutely null and void as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration. Registration is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.
Early in the year the sellers' market which had prevailed for many years in the real estate business came to a sudden end, and units in new buildings could no longer readily be sold before com- pletion. The changed conditions were reflected in the Land Office statistics for the year, though not perhaps fully, because there were