LAND TITLES (AMENDMENT) BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

2.54 p.m.

The Prime Minister (Mr Lee Kuan Yew): Mr Speaker, Sir, this Bill and the following Bill which I will be moving for Second Reading concern certain esoteric points in the law of conveyancing.

As regards the Land Titles Ordinance, I would like to remind the House that it was first passed in 1956 and it was not brought into operation until 1st December, 1960. As from that date, under section 8 of the Ordinance, all land alienated by the Crown will be brought under the provisions of the Ordinance and certificates of title will be issued in lieu of Crown instruments. However, since 1956, there have been a number of surrenders by land developers under section 11 of the Crown Lands Ordinance for the purpose of sub-dividing their land into smaller lots for building purposes. Some 1,200 lots in the case of the Sembawang Hill Estate and another 1,000 odd lots in the case of the Serangoon Garden Estate have already been sub-divided. In both these cases, Crown grants have not yet been issued for each subdivided lot as time is taken for the survey of the land to be completed. However, in the meantime, buildings which have been erected on the lots have been sold and most of these properties are under mortgage. Under section 8 of the Land Titles Ordinance, there is no provision for the registration of mortgages or other encumbrances created before the issue of the Crown grants. The purpose of the present Bill is to provide the machinery whereby these mortgages or other encumbrances can be protected by notification on the land register kept in the Land Titles Registry.

The new section 8A. (b) [clause 2] of the Bill puts the responsibility of informing the Registrar of the existence of any mortgage or other encumbrance on the person interested, and paragraph (c) enables the purchaser of the mortgaged property to be registered as proprietor without an order of the Court. This provision is similar to section 13 (6) of the Ordinance.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole Assembly.

Assembly immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [The Prime Minister].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.