Registration of Deeds Act 1856

No memorial may be registered pursuant to this Act in respect of any land, whether Crown, freehold or leasehold, that is under the operation of the Transfer of Land Act 1893.

[Section 1 inserted: No. 59 of 2004 s. 135.]

That the Western Australian Land Information Authority established by the Land Information Authority Act 2006 section 5 (called the Authority in this Act) is to maintain in this State a public office for the registration of deeds, conveyances and other instruments, wills and judgments in manner hereinafter appointed, in which shall be kept for safe custody and reference all books, records, documents and papers relating to any such instruments, wills and judgments registered before the passing of this Act; and that the Registrar of Titles under the Transfer of Land Act 1893, shall, by virtue of his office, be the Registrar of Deeds and Transfers; and that all conveyances, deeds, wills, devises and other instruments in writing, now or hereafter to be made or executed, and all judgments now or hereafter to be obtained (by which conveyances, deeds, wills or other instruments in writing, and judgments, any lands, tenements or hereditaments in Western Australia or its Dependencies now are or shall or may be affected) may, if not registered under any previous Ordinance, be entered and registered in the said office in the manner hereinafter directed.

[Section 2 amended: No. 17 of 1974 s. 3 and 9; No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(2).]

That a person holding an office because of which the person is an assistant registrar under the Transfer of Land Act 1893, shall be, by virtue of that office, an assistant registrar of deeds and transfers for the purpose of this Act, and anything which is by this Act appointed or authorised or required to be done or signed by the Registrar of Deeds and Transfers may be lawfully done or signed by an assistant registrar of deeds and transfers.

[Section 2A inserted: No. 17 of 1974 s. 4; amended: No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(3).]

That all such judgments, deeds, conveyances or instruments in writing, registered in pursuance of this Act, shall have priority one over the other according to the priority of their respective dates of registration; and that all such judgments, deeds, conveyances, devises or instruments in writing not registered in pursuance of this or some former Act, shall (as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee of the same lands, tenements or hereditaments for valuable consideration) be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes: Provided that nothing herein contained shall extend to bona fide leases at rack rent for any term not exceeding 14 years.

[Section 3 amended: No. 17 of 1974 s. 9.]

That all judgments, deeds, wills, conveyances or instruments in writing which shall be duly registered within the respective times next mentioned, that is to say, all deeds, conveyances, and other instruments in writing, except wills, which, if executed in Western Australia or its Dependencies, shall be registered within 2 months, or which, if executed in any other place, shall be registered within 8 months after the time of execution thereof respectively, and all wills which, if the devisor die in Western Australia or its Dependencies, shall be registered within 2 months, or which, if the devisor die in any other place, shall be registered within 12 months after the decease of every devisor respectively, and all future judgments, which shall be registered within 2 months after the entry or recording thereof, shall severally be in like manner entitled to priority, and shall take effect respectively by relation to the date thereof only in the same manner as if this Act had never been made.

[Section 4 amended: No. 14 of 1974 s. 9.]

That in case of any concealment or suppression of any will no purchaser or incumbrancer for valuable consideration shall be defeated or disturbed in his purchase or of his debt by any title made or devised by such will, unless such will be actually registered within 3 years after the death of the devisor.

That the registration intended by this Act shall be made by delivering to the Authority a memorial containing the particulars hereinafter specified, and signed either by a lawyer or by any other person requiring the registration thereof: Provided that if such memorial is signed by some person other than a lawyer as aforesaid, their signature must be attested by a witness qualified to attest the execution of instruments under the Transfer of Land Act 1893.

[Section 6 inserted: No. 23 of 1923 s. 2; amended: No. 17 of 1974 s. 9; No. 65 of 2003 s. 60; No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(4); No. 21 of 2008 s. 697; No. 9 of 2022 s. 424.]

That any person claiming by affidavit to be sworn before any justice of the peace any estate or interest under any deed or other instrument, will or judgment affecting real property in the said State, may lawfully require the same to be registered, and his or her signature to the memorial thereof annexing such affidavit to such memorial shall be sufficient to authorise such registration.

That every memorial of any judgment shall contain the following particulars, that is to say, the names (and when known the additions) of the plaintiffs and defendants respectively, the sums thereby recovered or secured, the time of entry or recording of the same and the sum of money bona fide due thereon, and every memorial of any deed or conveyance, will or other instrument, shall contain and set forth the date of such deed, conveyance, will or other instrument and the particular nature and object thereof, the names (and when known the additions) of all the parties to such deed, conveyance and instrument and of the devisor and devisee or devisees of such will, and the names (and when known the additions) of all the witnesses thereto, and shall especially particularise and express the lands, tenements and hereditaments affected or intended to be affected by such deed, conveyance, will or instrument, and the proper and ordinary and accustomed names of the districts, towns or places where the same shall be situated and (except in case of wills) the pecuniary or other consideration for the same: Provided always that when there shall be more writings than one for perfecting the same conveyance, devise or security affecting the same lands, tenements or hereditaments, all such writings shall be stated in one and the same memorial, in which it shall be sufficient to particularise such lands, tenements and hereditaments only once.

That on delivery of any such memorial as aforesaid, the said Registrar shall number the same according to the order of time in which it shall have been so delivered, and shall give a receipt for the same, in which receipt shall be specified the certain day and time of day when such memorial shall have been so delivered, and the proper number thereof given by the Registrar; and he shall also in like manner immediately endorse on the back of such memorial a certificate containing the day and time of day when the same was so delivered, and the name and place of abode of the person delivering the same; and shall sign the said certificate when so indorsed; and such certificate shall be taken and allowed as evidence of the registration, and the time of registration of every such judgment, deed, will, devise, conveyance or other instrument whereof such memorial shall be so made.

[Section 9 amended: No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(5).]

That every such memorial shall as soon after the receipt thereof as practicable be carefully registered by the Registrar in regular succession as received, according to its proper number, in a particular book to be kept by him for that purpose, and shall afterwards be by him deposited in some secure place in the Authority’s office, and there kept for future reference when required; and he shall also keep an alphabetical index of the districts, towns and places mentioned in every such memorial, and also a like index or indexes of the names of the several parties to conveyances and other deeds or instruments, and of devisors and devisees in wills, and of the plaintiff and defendant in case of judgments, with accurate references in all such indexes respectively to the number and page of registry of the memorial to which any entry in such index or indexes shall relate, which said book of registry and index or indexes shall, as well as all other books of registry and indexes relating to registrations made before the passing of this Act, be open at convenient times in the said office to the inspection of persons desirous of searching the same.

[Section 10 amended: No. 17 of 1974 s. 9; No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(6).]

That in case of mortgages and judgments registered in pursuance of this Act, if at any time afterwards such verified certificate as is hereinafter next mentioned, shall be brought to the said Registrar, signed respectively by the mortgagee or any of the mortgagees, or by the plaintiff or any of the plaintiffs, or in case of the death or absence from the State of all such parties respectively, then by any personal representative or specially authorised agent of all or any of the said parties, and attested by at least 2 credible witnesses, whereby it shall appear that the whole of the moneys due on any such mortgage or judgment have been fully paid, or that such mortgage or judgment is otherwise satisfied, then the said Registrar shall make a short entry or memorandum thereof on the memorial, and on the margent of the registry of such mortgage or judgment, and shall afterwards carefully register the same certificate in one of the register books under this Act; and the said Registrar shall also make an entry thereof in his alphabetical index or indexes, referring accurately to the page of registry of such certificate.

[Section 11 amended: No. 17 of 1974 s. 9; No. 60 of 2006 s. 150(7).]