The Short Title of this Act is the Deeds Registration Act 1908.
(2)
This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in Schedule 1 hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:
(a)
All districts, offices, appointments, seals, regulations, rules, Proclamations, Orders in Council, orders, warrants, registers, books, registrations, records, instruments, and generally all acts of authority which originated under any of the said enactments, and are subsisting or in force on the coming into operation of this Act, shall enure for the purposes of this Act as fully and effectually as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of this Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated:
(b)
All matters and proceedings commenced under any such enactment, and pending or in progress on the coming into operation of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced under this Act.
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Instruments excepted from Act
This Act does not apply to land subject to the provisions of the Land Transfer Act 1952, or of any Act heretofore in force for like purposes, or to any certificate of title for land now or hereafter issued under any such Act in lieu of a Crown grant for such land, or to any other instrument within the meaning of any such Act affecting such land.
The Land Transfer Act 1952 has been substituted, as from 1 January 1953, for the repealed Land Transfer Act 1908.
In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—
Instrument includes any grant of land by the Crown, deed, contract, will, codicil, exemplification or certified copy of will, probate, testamentary order, certificate, notice, memorial, map, plan, or other document of any kind affecting land and authorised by this or any other Act to be registered under this Act or any other Act heretofore in force for like purposes
Land includes every estate or interest in land over which the Maori title is extinguished, except land under the Land Transfer Act 1952
Land: this definition was amended, as from 27 November 1947, by section 2(2) Maori Purposes Act 1947 (1947 No 59) by substituting the word “Maori” for the word “Native”.
The Land Transfer Act 1952 has been substituted, as from 1 January 1953, for the repealed Land Transfer Act 1908.
Registration district or district means a district constituted under this Act.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 3
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Registration districts
(1)
Each provincial district shall be a registration district for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that every registration district in existence immediately before this Act comes into operation, whether created by or under any special or by or under any general Act, shall be deemed to be a district constituted under this Act:
Provided also that the Governor-General by Order in Council may from time to time define and alter the boundaries of any district, and may create new districts.
(2)
Every such Order in Council shall come into operation on and from a day to be fixed by the Order, and shall be gazetted.
Compare: 1868 No 51 ss 4, 5
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Deeds Register Office
(1)
For every district there shall be an office called the Deeds Register Office for registering such instruments affecting land as are by law authorised to be registered.
(2)
A Deeds Register Office may be the office for more than 1 district.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 6
Section 5 was amended, as from 1 June 2002, by section 65(3) Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 11), by substituting the word “For” for the word “In”.
Subsection (2) was inserted, as from 1 June 2002, by section 65(3) Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 11).
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Registrar of Deeds
(1)
The Registrar-General of Land appointed under section 4 of the Land Transfer Act 1952 is the Registrar for every Deeds Register Office.
(2)
The Registrar may delegate any of the Registrar's powers and duties under this Act in accordance with section 5 of the Land Transfer Act 1952.
Section 6 was substituted, as from 1 June 2002, by section 65(3) Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 11).
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Registrars to give security
Where the fidelity of the Registrar is not guaranteed under any Act for the time being in force relating to the Civil Service of New Zealand, the Registrar shall give security for the due execution of the duties of his office in such manner and to such amount as the Governor-General thinks fit.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 11
Section 7 was amended, as from 1 June 2002, by section 65(3) Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 11), by substituting the words “the Registrar” for the words “any Registrar or Deputy Registrar”.
Section 7 was amended, as from 1 June 2002, by section 65(3) Land Transfer (Computer Registers and Electronic Lodgement) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 11), by substituting the words “the Registrar” for the words “such Registrar or Deputy Registrar”.
In every Register Office there shall be kept a seal, of the impression whereof judicial notice shall be taken in all Courts without any evidence of such seal having been impressed or any other evidence relating thereto.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 12
What may be registered
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Instruments affecting land
Every Crown grant of land within New Zealand, and every instrument whereby land in New Zealand is affected, may be registered in the Register Office of the district wherein such land is situate:
Provided that no lease or agreement for a lease for any term not exceeding 7 years from the date thereof, and no assignment thereof, shall be registered.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 14
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Crown grants to be registered before delivery to grantee
(1)
Every Crown grant of land shall, before the same is delivered to the grantee or other the person entitled to receive the same, be registered in the registration district within which the land comprised in such grant is situate.
(2)
It shall be the duty of every Commissioner of Crown Lands, or other officer or person charged with the delivery of Crown grants, to transmit the same for registration accordingly on payment of the registration and other fees payable in respect thereof.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 15
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Instruments made before the issue of Crown grants
Instruments relating to waste lands of the Crown purchased of or acquired from either the Crown, the New Zealand Company, or the Canterbury Association for founding a colony in New Zealand may be registered notwithstanding the non-issue of a Crown grant or conveyance of such land; provided that the position and boundaries of the land so dealt with appear to be accurately laid down upon some map of the Crown Lands Office of the district in which such land is situate, and that the map is marked with the sectional number or other designation by which it is intended to describe the land in the Crown grant or conveyance of the same.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 16
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Effect of such registration of instruments under last preceding section
Notwithstanding such non-issue as aforesaid, all instruments that have been or hereafter are registered shall have the same force and effect as between the parties to such instrument, and all persons claiming by, from, through, under, or in trust for them, but no further or otherwise, as if the Crown grants or conveyances last aforesaid had been duly issued prior to such registration.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 17
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Effect of issue of Crown grant on such registration
The issue of a Crown grant of land subsequent to the registration of any instrument relating to such land shall give and be deemed to have given to such instrument the like operation and effect as if such registration had taken place subsequent to the issue of the Crown grant.
Where any registration district has been duly constituted, no instrument affecting land included therein shall, if registered after the constitution thereof, be or be deemed to have been duly registered so far as relates to such land unless and until the same has been registered in the register for such district.
(2)
Notwithstanding any alteration of the boundaries of any registration district, every instrument duly registered before such alteration in the Register of Deeds for the original district shall be deemed to have been duly registered.
Compare: 1868 No 51 ss 58 and 59
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Certified copies of registered instruments
(1)
A certified copy, verified by the seal of any Deeds Register Office as a copy of an instrument registered in such office, or as a copy of a recorded copy of any such registered instrument, may be registered in any other district wherein the original instrument might have been registered, and in the same manner as the original instrument might have been registered.
(2)
The registration of any such certified copy so verified as aforesaid shall, from the time or respective times of registration, have the same force and effect as if the original instrument had been in each case so registered.
Compare: 1868 No 51 ss 19 and 20
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Powers of attorney
Every power of attorney by which any person is authorised to deal with land may be registered, with the accompanying affidavits and declarations (if any), by causing the same to be recorded in any Register Office.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 23
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Judgments, etc
Every judgment, decree, or order of the High Court, every entry of satisfaction of a judgment registered under this Act whereof satisfaction has been duly entered up in the office of the Registrar of the High Court, every suit pending in the High Court, every petition for the winding up of a company by the Court, every bankruptcy, and every private Act may, where the same respectively affect any land or the title to any land, be registered by causing a memorial thereof to be deposited and entry thereof to be made in the Deeds Register Office of the district wherein the land is situate.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 24
The words “High Court” were substituted for the words “Supreme Court”, as from 1 April 1980, pursuant to section 12 Judicature Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 124).
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Memorials
(1)
The memorial of every “suit pending” shall express the date of the commencement thereof, the title of the action, the nature and object of the proceeding, and shall be certified by the Registrar of the High Court.
(2)
The memorial of every petition for the winding up of a company by the Court shall express the name of the petitioner, the name of the company, and the date of the presentation of the petition, and shall be certified by the Registrar of the High Court.
(3)
The memorial of every judgment, decree, or order whereby the title to any land is affected shall express the date thereof, the title of the action, and so much of the judgment, decree, or order as relates to the land affected thereby, and shall be certified by the Registrar of the High Court.
(4)
The memorial of every judgment, decree, or order for the recovery of a sum of money shall specify and contain such particulars as are required in that behalf by the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure of the High Court relating to charging orders affecting land, so far as the same are applicable.
(5)
The memorial of the entry of satisfaction of any judgment registered under this Act shall set forth the names of the plaintiff and defendant, the time when such entry was so made, the amount of the judgment debt of which satisfaction has been so entered, and shall be certified by the signature of the officer authorised to make such entries.
(6)
The memorial of every bankruptcy shall express the name, place of abode, and condition or calling of the bankrupt, and the date on which he was adjudged bankrupt, and shall be certified by the signature of the proper officer of the adjudging Court.
(7)
The memorial of every private Act shall express the title, date, and number thereof.
(8)
Every memorial shall also describe the lands to which the same relates, by reference to the number of the section or other distinguishing number given or assigned in the register books to the parcel of land whereof such land constitutes the whole or a part, and by reference to the number (if any) assigned thereto in the book of consecutive numbers hereinafter mentioned.
Compare: 1868 No 51 ss 25-31
The words “High Court” were substituted for the words “Supreme Court”, as from 1 April 1980, pursuant to section 12 Judicature Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 124).
Where, on summary application in that behalf, it appears to the satisfaction of a Judge of the High Court that any will or other instrument affecting land cannot be produced for the purpose of being registered, but there is produced a copy of the will or instrument authenticated to the Judge's satisfaction, he may, by writing under his hand endorsed on the copy, authorise the same to be registered instead of the original will or instrument in like manner as the original will or instrument might have been registered.
(2)
In such case the registration of the copy shall have the same force and effect as if the original will or other instrument had then been registered.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 32
The words “High Court” were substituted for the words “Supreme Court”, as from 1 April 1980, pursuant to section 12 Judicature Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 124).
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Instrument in Maori to have translation
Every instrument in the Maori language presented for registration shall be accompanied by a translation of the same into English, the correctness of which shall be certified to the satisfaction of the Registrar by some Interpreter licensed under the the Maori Affairs Act 1953, or other qualified person, and the translation shall be recorded as part of the original deed.
Compare: 1868 No 51 s 33
The Maori Affairs Act 1953 has been substituted for the repealed Native Land Court Act 1894.
