LAND TITLE REGISTRATION ACT, 1986 (P.N.D.C.L. 152) SS.127

(1) As between the Government and a proprietor, a claim for indemnity shall not arise and a suit shall not be maintained on account of a surplus or deficiency in the area or measurement of a land shown by a survey as compared with the area or measurement found in a previous survey or the area or measurement shown in the registry map.

(2) As between a proprietor and a person from or through whom the proprietor acquired the land, a claim for indemnity shall not be maintained on account of a surplus or deficiency in the area or measurement of the land as compared with the area or measurement shown in the land register or on the registry map until after the expiry of a period of six months commencing from the date of registration of the transaction by which the proprietor acquired the land.

                                                     Miscellaneous

The Registrar, a land registrar and any other officers of the registry are not liable for an act or omission done in good faith in the exercise of a power under this Act

There shall be charged in respect of a search, survey, plan, printed form and every other matter connected with registration the prescribed fees and the land registrar may refuse registration until the fees are paid.

(1) A person who

(a) fraudulently issues, makes or procures the issue or making of a document or registration or an erasure or alteration in a document kept in or issued by the Registry, or

(b) fraudulently removes from the registry a land register or part of a land register or any other document filed in the registry, or

(c) fraudulently defaces, obliterates or mutilates or causes to be defaced, obliterated or mutilated a land register or any other document kept in the registry, or

(d) fraudulently causes an unauthorised entry or alteration to be made in a land register or any other document kept in the registry,

commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than twenty-five penalty units and not more than two hundred penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(2) A person who without reasonable excuse, the burden of proof of which lies on that person, willfully neglects or refuses to indicate the land or land in which that person claims an interest or to assist in the demarcation of the land when required to do so by a surveyor or an officer under this Act, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than twenty-five penalty unit and not more than one hundred penalty units or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment.

(3) Proceedings or a conviction in respect of an act which is an offence under this section shall not affect a remedy which a person aggrieved or injured by that act is entitled to against the person who committed the act or against the estate of the aggrieved person.

(1) Where the Registrar or the land registrar refuses to perform an act or a duty which any of them is required or empowered by this Act to perform, or where a proprietor or any other interested person is dissatisfied with a direction, decision or an order of the Registrar or the land registrar in respect of an application, a claim, matter or thing under this Act, the proprietor or interested person may appeal to the High Court.

(2) A person aggrieved by a decision of the adjudication committee in respect of a matter referred to it under this Act may appeal to the High Court.

(3) A person aggrieved by a decision of the High Court in respect of an appeal lodged under subsection (1) or (2) may appeal to the Court of Appeal with a further right of appeal to the Supreme Court.

Where a person lodges an appeal under section 131, that person shall, within fourteen days give notice in writing of the appeal to the land registrar who shall make a note of the notice in the part or parts of the land register affected by the appeal, and without prejudice to the effect of the appeal on a previous entry in the land register, a subsequent registration shall have effect subject to the outcome of the appeal.

(1) Without prejudice to this Act, where on examination of an instrument lodged for registration under this Act the land registrar entertains a doubt as to a matter of law concerning the construction of the instrument, the land registrar shall refer the matter to the Registrar who may state a case for the decision of the High Court.

(2) A decision of the Court in respect of a matter referred to it under subsection (1) or, in the case of an appeal the final decision in the case, is conclusive and binding on the parties.

Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Minister may, by legislative instrument, make Regulations generally to give effect to the purposes and the provisions of this Act and in particular but without prejudice for prescribing the qualifications for land registrars and the forms to be used under this Act and the fees payable for anything to be done and for prescribing anything which may be prescribed under this Act.

(1) This Act is applicable in an area declared a registration district under section 5.

(2) Until this Act becomes applicable under subsection (1) to a particular area, the registration of instruments affecting land situated in the area shall continue to be done in accordance with the Land Registry Act, 1962 (Act 122).

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, any other law, practice or procedure relating to land shall not apply to a land registered under this Act to the extent that the law or procedure is unconstitutional with this Act.

(2) Unless otherwise provided, this Act shall not be construed

(a) to permit a land transaction which is forbidden by the express provisions of any other law, or

(b) to override a provision of any other law requiring the consent, concurrence or approval of any other person, body or authority to that transaction as a condition of its validity or otherwise.

Subject to any other enactment, this Act binds the Republic.

Sections 4 to 11 of the Conveyancing Act, 1973 (N.R.C.D. 175) are hereby repealed

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

“adjudication committee” means the land title adjudication committee as provided for in section 22;

“Board” means the Title Registration Advisory Board as provided for in section 10;

“Court” means a court of competent jurisdiction;

“demarcation map” means a demarcation index map prepared under section 26;

“disposition” means an act inter vivos by a proprietor of land or of an interest in land by which the rights in or over the land of the proprietor, are affected, other than an agreement to do that act;

“easement” means a right capable of existing as an easement under the rules of common law attached to land and allowing the proprietor of the land or of an interest in land to use another land in a particular manner or to restrict its use to a particular extent, but does not include a right capable of existing as a profit or a restrictive agreement;

“encumbrance” includes a lease, mortgage or charge capable of being registered under this Act;

“family” includes a group of persons recognised by an applicable customary law as constituting a family and any other corporate person with the capacity to be the single proprietor of land or an interest in land, and “family land” includes land or an interest in land owned by a family;

“file” means to place in the appropriate record in the Registry;

“infant” means a person who has not attained the age of twenty-one years;

“instrument” includes a writing affecting land situated in the Republic and a judge’s certificate and a memorandum of deposit of title deeds;

“interest in land” means a right or an interest in or over land which is capable of registration under this Act;

“land” means land as defined in section 32 of the Interpretation Act, 1960 (C.A. 4);

“land certificate” has the meaning assigned to it in section 51;

“land register” means the register of proprietors of land and interests in land kept in accordance with this Act;

“land registrar” includes principal land registrars, land registrars and assistant land registrars;

“lease” includes a sublease or any other tenancy whether granted under customary law or otherwise registrable under this Act;

“licence” means a permission given by a proprietor of land or of an interest in land which allows the licensee to do certain acts in relation to the land which would otherwise be a trespass, but does not include an easement or a profit;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for Lands;

“mortgage” has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Mortgages Act, 1972 (N.R.C.D. 96);

“parcel” means an area of land which has been or will after registration be separately delineated in the registry map;

“personal representative” has the meaning assigned to it in subsection (1) of section 108 of the Administration of Estates Act, 1961 (Act 63);

“prescribed” means prescribed by or under this Act;

“profit” means the right to go on the land of another person to take a particular type of object from that land, whether part of the soil or a product of the soil;

“proprietor” means in relation to a land or an interest in land, the person named in the land register as the proprietor of the land or interest; and the donee of a power to appoint or dispose of the land or the interest;

“Registrar” means the chief registrar of lands appointed under section 3;

“registration district” includes a district declared under section 5 for the purposes of registration of land and a registration section;

“registration section” means a division of a registration district constituted under section 7;

“registry” means the land title registry established under section 1;

“registry map” means the map or series of maps referred to in section 34;

“Regulations” means Regulations made under this Act;

“stool” includes a skin as well as a person or body or persons having control over skin or community land including family land, as a representative of the particular community;

“stool land” includes a land or an interest in or a right over a land controlled by a Stool or the head

of a particular community, including a family as known to customary law, for the benefit of the subjects of that Stool or the members of that community;

“surveyor” includes an official surveyor or a licensed land surveyor authorised by the Director of Surveys to perform a function under this Act, and the agents and workmen of the surveyor;

“tacking” means the process by which a loan, advanced subsequently to the creation of a second mortgage of a parcel, may be secured on the first mortgage of that parcel and thereby take priority over the second mortgage;

“transfer” means the passing of land or an interest in land by an act of the parties and not by operation of law, and the instrument by which the passing is effected;

“transmission” means the transfer of land or an interest in land from one person to another by operation of law or death, bankruptcy, insolvency or otherwise or by virtue of appointment or succession to an office and by compulsory acquisition of land under any enactment.