Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1969-1970 — Page 14

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Deeds Registration

20. Under the Land Registration Ordinance the Land Office is responsible for the registration of deeds and other instruments relating to land in Hong Kong, Kowloon, portions of New Kowloon, and a number of lots in the New Territories which have been exempted from the provisions of Part II of the New Territories Ordinance. The Ordinance provides that all such deeds, etc., so registered shall have priority according to the priority of their respective dates of registration, and that with the exception of bona fide leases at rack rents for any term not exceeding three years, all such deeds, etc., which are not registered shall, as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration, be absolutely null and void. No notice, actual or constructive, of any prior unregistered instrument affects the priority of any duly registered instrument. Where, however, deeds etc. are registered within one month of execution, if executed in the Colony, or, if executed elsewhere, within twelve months of execu- tion, they take priority according to the respective dates thereof. Legally the system is one of registration of deeds and not of title; but in view of the above provisions instruments relating to land are always registered promptly after execution, and the Land Registers show the devolution of title to each property and all incumbrances on it.

21. Table IV shows the number of instruments registered in each year since 1960-61; Table V, the numbers of instruments by categories in each year since 1965-66; and Table VI, the total considerations in the principal categories for each year since 1960-61.

22. A new record number of 58,968 instruments was registered in 1969-70, 8,953 (17.9%) more than the previous record total in 1968-69. The figures given in Table V show increases compared with 1968-69 in all the major categories of instruments except deeds of surrender, judgments and court orders, verandah and balcony undertakings, pro- bates and letters of administration, and re-development notices and orders. Assignments rose by 1,916 (8.6%) over the 1968-69 total to reach the new record figure of 24,210. Of these, 1,347 were assign- ments of whole lots, sections or subsections, and 22,863 assignments of undivided shares in land coupled with the right to use one or more units in the building erected thereon.

23. With the increase in the number of assignments the total of the considerations mentioned therein jumped by $568,602,000 (51.9%) to $1,664,725,000, of which $1,149,317,000 represents the total considera-

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