Once a conversion order has been made and the Registrar has registered a fee simple, the land is on the Register. But it is not quite like any other registered land.
Section 26(a) — the starting point
Subject to this section, the registered proprietor is competent to transfer or otherwise deal with the land in the same way, and to the same extent, as any other registered proprietor.
So the ordinary machinery of the Land Registration Act applies: transfers, leases, mortgages, caveats, and indefeasibility under section 33.
Section 26(b) — the limitations on the title
The Registrar of Titles shall register against the proprietorship a limitation that:
(i) the land may be transferred or leased for a longer period than 25 years only with the consent of the Land Board; and
(ii) the land may be mortgaged or charged, but — notwithstanding any law in force to the contrary — the mortgagee or chargee is not entitled to remain in possession for more than 25 years.
And under section 11(2), the Registrar shall endorse on the title a statement that it is subject to the conditions and restrictions imposed by this Act. So the limitations are visible on a title search, and they bind a purchaser as an encumbrance notified on the folio under section 33(1)(b).
Limitation (i) — Land Board consent over 25 years
A transfer, or a lease for more than 25 years, requires the consent of the Land Board.
Do not confuse this with Ministerial approval of a controlled dealing under Part XVII of the Land Act 1996, which applies to State leases. Converted land is freehold, not a State lease. The consent required here comes from section 26(b)(i) of this Act and is endorsed on the title.
Anyone acting on a dealing in converted land should read the endorsement and identify precisely which consents are needed.
Limitation (ii) — the cap on a mortgagee’s possession
Converted land can be mortgaged — which is one of the practical arguments for conversion, since it makes the land available as security. But the lender’s position is limited.
Under section 74(1)(a) of the Land Registration Act, a creditor may on default enter into possession by receiving the rents and profits. Section 26(b)(ii) caps that at 25 years, notwithstanding any law in force to the contrary — words which override the general position.
The cap is on remaining in possession. It does not on its face remove the other Part VII remedies — notice and sale under sections 67 and 68, distraint under section 75, ejectment, or foreclosure under section 74(3).
But a lender should read limitation (ii) together with the Part III fragmentation rules before treating converted land as ordinary security, and should take advice on how the two interact with a power of sale.
The Part III limits still apply
Section 25 prevents approval of a dealing that would produce:
- (a) a parcel less in area or frontage than the prescribed standard for the purpose for which the land is likely to be used; or
- (b) an interest owned by more than six persons as joint tenants or tenants in common — except where the land is owned by a business group or a land group (s 25(2)).
So a subdivision, or a distribution among a large family, can be blocked by these rules years after conversion. See the rules against fragmentation.
The freehold restriction applies to it
Section 56(1)(b) of the Constitution reserves the acquisition of freehold to citizens. Converted land is an estate in fee simple, so a later sale is subject to that restriction — and an ordinary company is not a citizen corporation.
And under section 16A, land the subject of a conversion order cannot be converted into a substitute lease under the Freeholds Act. There is no route from converted freehold into a more freely dealable leasehold.
That combination materially narrows the market for converted land, and it is one of the more important things a group should weigh before applying.
Succession changes too
Before conversion, the land devolved according to custom. Afterwards it is registered land, and it passes under a will or on intestacy, administered under the Wills, Probate and Administration Act (Chapter 291) and recorded by transmission.
Conversion moves the land out of the Land Courts and into the ordinary courts and the probate jurisdiction. A family that has always resolved land questions by custom and mediation will, after conversion, be resolving them by title searches, wills and litigation.
And the six-owner limit means the land cannot simply be registered in the names of everyone entitled — unless it is held by a land group.
Dealing with converted land — checklist
- Search the title and read the section 11(2) endorsement and the section 26(b) limitations.
- Identify which consents are needed — Land Board consent for a transfer or lease over 25 years.
- Check the buyer’s status against section 56(1)(b) of the Constitution.
- Check any subdivision against the minimum area and frontage, and the six-owner limit.
- Lenders: price in the 25-year possession cap and the fragmentation limits.
- Inspect the land — short tenancies and tenants in actual occupation bind regardless of the Register.
- Take advice — the Public Solicitor, or a firm from the law firms directory.
Sources
- Land (Tenure Conversion) Act 1963 — ss 11, 16, 16A, 23–26; Part III
- Land Registration Act (Chapter 191) — ss 33, 67, 68, 74, 75; Part VII
- Land (Ownership of Freeholds) Act (Chapter 359)
- Constitution — s 56
- Wills, Probate and Administration Act (Chapter 291)
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Land Act 1996 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.