Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1971-1972 — Page 14

Deeds Registration

21. Under the Land Registration Ordinance the Land Office is responsible for the registration of deeds and other instruments re- lating 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 regis- tration, 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 execution, 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.

22. Table IV shows the numbers of instruments registered in each year since 1962-63; Table V, the numbers of instruments by cate- gories in each year since 1967-68; and Table VI, the total considera- tions in the principal categories for each year since 1962-63.

23. A new record number of 77,552 instruments was registered in 1971-72, 6,759 (9.5%) more than the previous record total in 1970-71. The figures given in Table V show increases compared with 1970-71 in all the major categories of instruments except assignments of undivided shares, surrenders, judgments and court orders, verandah and balcony undertakings, deeds of covenants, and notices of final awards under the Demolished Buildings (Re-development of Sites) Ordinance. With the decrease in the number of assignments of un- divided shares the total number of assignments dropped by 997 (3.8%) from the 1970-71 record total to 25,050, which was never- theless the second highest yearly total ever recorded. Of these, 1,758 were assignments of whole lots, sections or subsections, and 23,292 assignments of undivided shares in land coupled with the right to use one or more units in the building erected thereon.

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