As enacted

Contents

2. Amendment of section 32 of Chapter 117

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Section 32 of the Registration of Documents Ordinance

(Chapter 117) (hereinafter referred to as the “principal enactment”) is hereby amended as follows:-

(1)

by the repeal of subsection (1) thereof and the substitution therefor of the following subsection: -

“(1) (a) A person (hereinafter referred to as the

“caveator”) who

(i)

has a right, title or interest; or

(ii)

claims to have a right, title or interest, to a land, an undivided land, a land parcel or a condominium parcel (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “land”) may present for registration a caveat substantially in

Form VIII of the Second Schedule hereto requiring him to be served a notice of the presentation for registration of any instrument affecting such land.

(b)

Every caveat presented for registration shall–

(i)

be in duplicate and accompanied by an affidavit of the caveator together with a certificate issued by an Attorney-at-law

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substantiating the right, title or interest in the land or claims to a right, title or interest in the land of the caveator;

(ii)

be accompanied by such number of copies of the notice set out in Form X of the Second Schedule hereto together with stamped envelopes, to be served on the owners of the land whose names and addresses are given in the relevant volume and folio in which such land is registered, where the caveator is not the owner;

(iii)

be accompanied by a certified copy of the original of the Power of Attorney duly registered with the Registrar

General or the Registrar of the relevant

Land Registry or the Registrar of Title

(hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Registrar”) where the caveator is a holder of a Power of Attorney

(hereinafter in this section referred to as the “attorney”); and

(iv)

contain the name, signature and the

National Identity Card number or the passport number or the driving licence number and address of the caveator in

Sri Lanka at which notices relating to the caveat shall be served, the date of the caveat, the names and addresses of the persons to whom the notice of the caveat shall be sent where the caveator is not the owner, the right, title or interest in the land claimed by the caveator, grounds in support of the claim and the description of the land, including the boundaries, indicating the correct volume and folio in which such land, is registered.

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(c)

For the purpose of this section-

(i)

“caveator” includes a body of persons, a beneficiary under any trust affecting a land, the lawful guardian or the next friend of a minor or of a person of unsound mind or mentally deficient person, an attorney of a person, a judgement creditor, an executor or an administrator of an estate of a deceased, or a legal heir, or an intended purchaser who has entered into an agreement with the owner of a land or a developer of a land;

(ii)

“condominium parcel” means a condominium parcel registered under the

Registration of Title Act, No.21 of 1998

in terms of section 10 of the Apartment

Ownership Law, No.11 of 1973 or registered under this Ordinance; and

(iii)

“interest” includes an interest arising from an unregistered deed or instrument relating to a land which is incapable of immediate registration, a trust, an inheritance either by testate or intestate succession, instruments relating to a mortgage or an agreement to sell, co-ownership, an ownership arising from a condominium parcel or the estate of a minor, or of a person of unsound mind or mentally deficient person.”;

(2)

by the insertion, immediately after subsection (1)

thereof, of the following new subsections: -

“(1A) The Registrar, on being satisfied that all required documents and information referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) are provided by the caveator, shall acknowledge

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the receipt of such caveat and record the prescribed particulars referred to in subsection (1) of section 27.

(1B)

Upon the acknowledgement, the

Registrar shall forthwith notify the persons, whose names and addresses have been furnished by the caveator under subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and shall make an endorsement in the Remark Column by inserting the date and the names of the persons to whom and the addresses to which the notices referred to in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b) in subsection (1) were sent.”;

(3)

by the repeal of subsection (3) thereof and the substitution therefor of the following subsection: -

“(3) A caveat shall be in force for a maximum period of two years.”;

(4)

in subsection (4) thereof, by the substitution for the words “The notice to be given to the caveator shall be in the prescribed form”, of the words and figures

“Where an instrument affecting the same land described in the caveat has been subsequently presented for registration, a notice shall be given to the caveator in Form XI of the Second Schedule hereto”;

(5)

in subsection (5) thereof, by the substitution for the words “a competent court within thirty days” of the words “a competent court within sixty days”.

Read on from s 3