Australian Capital Territory

REGISTRATION OF DEEDS ACT 1957
This consolidation has been prepared by the ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office
Updated as at 24 June 1998
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
	1.	Short title
	2.	Interpretation
	3.	General Register of Deeds
	4.	Registration of deeds
	4A.	Priority according to registration
	4B.	Mistakes in registration
	5.	Index
	6.	Searches
	7.	Certified copies
	8.	Power of Minister to determine fees
THE SCHEDULE
Certificate of Copy of Deed

An Act providing for the Registration of deeds and other documents
1.	Short title
	This Act may be cited as the Registration of Deeds Act 1957.1
2.	Interpretation
	In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—
 “deed” includes any instrument or document,whether under seal or not, other than—
	(a)	a will; 
	(b)	an instrument (not being a lease, or a sub-lease, for a term of years not exceeding 3 years) that is in accordance with the provisions  of the Land Titles Act 1925 and purports to transfer or otherwise deal with or affect an estate or interest in land under the provisions of that Act; or
	(c)	a document that evidences, or purports to evidence, a change of the name of a person who has not attained the age of 18 years;
“determined fee” means a fee determined by the Minister under section 8 for the purposes of the provision in which the expression occurs;
“the Register” means the General Register of  Deeds;
“registration copy” means—
	(a)	in relation to a deed that is deposited with the Registrar-General upon the registration of the deed under this Act—the deed; and
	(b)	in relation to any other deed—the copy of the deed deposited with the Registrar-General upon the registration of the deed under this Act.
3. 	General Register of Deeds
(1)		The Registrar-General shall  keep a register, to be called the General Register of Deeds, in such form as the Minister directs.
(2)		The Register of Powers of Attorney established by the Powers of Attorney Act 1956 shall be incorporated with and form part of the Register.
(3)		A power of attorney that, immediately before the commencement of this Act, was, by virtue of section 10 of the Powers of Attorney Act 1956, deemed to be registered under that Act shall be deemed to be registered under this Act.
4. 	Registration of deeds
(1)		Subject to this section, a person may, upon payment of the determined fee, register a deed in the Register, whether the deed was executed before, or is executed after, the commencement of this Act—
	(a)	by depositing the deed with the Registrar-General;
	(b)	by producing the deed to the Registrar-General and depositing with the Registrar-General a copy of the deed verified as a true copy by the statutory declaration of a person who has compared the copy with the original deed of which it purports to be a true copy; or 
	(c)	if the person is unable to produce the deed to the Registrar-General  by reason  of the fact that the deed has been registered by, or filed or deposited with, an officer of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth under a law of that State or Territory—by depositing  with the Registrar-General a copy of the deed, being a copy of the deed certified as a true copy by the officer having the custody of the deed, or being a copy of the deed that is, by virtue of the law of the State or Territory under which the deed was so registered, filed or deposited, evidence of the contents of the deed in the State or Territory.
(2)		A deed shall not be registered under this Act by being deposited with the Registrar-General—
	(a)	unless the deed has endorsed on it, or attached to it, a statutory declaration made by a party to it verifying the due execution of the deed; and
	(b)	unless the deed and the statutory declaration verifying its execution, in the opinion of the Registrar-General—
	(i)	are legibly written;	
	(ii)	are on paper of a size and standard approved by him or her; and
	(iii)	will, if bound in the Register, be, and continue to be, easily readable.
(3)		The Registrar-General may refuse to accept the deposit, under paragraph (1) (b) or (c), of a copy of a deed if, in his or her opinion, the copy—
	(a)	is not legibly written; 
	(b)	is not on paper of a size and standard approved by him or her; or
	(c)	will not, if bound in the Register, be, and continue to be, easily readable.
(4)		Where, in the copy of a  deed, not being a copy which is, by virtue of the law of the State or Territory of the Commonwealth under which the deed was registered, filed or deposited, evidence of the contents of the deed in the State or Territory, there is an interlineation, alteration or erasure, the copy shall not be deposited with the Registrar-General under paragraph (1) (b) or (c) unless—
	(a)	the interlineation or alteration, not being an alteration by erasure, is authenticated by the initials of the person verifying or certifying the copy as a true copy; and
	(b)	in the case of an erasure, the words or figures appearing, at the time the copy was verified or certified to be a true copy, to be written on the erasure are re-written and signed or initialed in the margin of the copy by the person verifying or certifying it to be a true copy.
(5)		Upon registering a deed in the Register, the Registrar-General shall endorse on the registration copy of the deed a memorandum of the registration of the deed and of the date and time of registration and—
	(a)	shall, if the original deed has been produced to him or her but has not been deposited with him or her, endorse such a memorandum on the deed; or
	(b)	shall, if a copy of the deed has been deposited with him or her under paragraph (1) (c) and the person depositing the copy so requests and produces to the Registrar-General a further copy of the deed duly verified to be a copy, endorse such a memorandum on the further copy.
4A. 	Priority according to registration
(1)		All deeds affecting any land, estate or interest in land, or other property, in the Territory which are executed or made in good faith and for valuable consideration and are registered under this Act, shall have priority according to the sequence of their registration only.
(2)		A deed registered under this Act shall not lose any priority to which it would otherwise be entitled by reason only of bad faith in the conveying party if the party beneficially taking under that deed acted in good faith and there was valuable consideration given.
4B. 	Mistakes in registration
	The registration of a deed under this Act shall not be defeated or made ineffectual by reason of any omission, misdescription or error if the identity of the deed is established and the requirements of this Act have been substantially complied with in relation to the registration of that deed.
5. 	Index
	The Registrar-General shall keep an index of deeds registered in, or forming part of, the Register.
6. 	Searches
	A person may search in the index kept by the Registrar-General under section 5 and examine the registration copy of any deed registered in the Register.
7. 	Certified copies
(1)		The Registrar-General shall, upon receipt of an application specifying the particular deed, being a deed registered in the Register, of which the person making the application desires to have issued to him or her a certified copy and upon payment of the determined fee for every page included in the certified copy, issue to that person a copy of the registration copy of the deed certified by the Registrar-General, in accordance with the Form in the First Schedule, to be a true copy of the registration copy of the deed.
8. 	Power of Minister to determine fees
	The Minister may, by notice in writing published in the Gazette, determine fees for the purposes of this Act.

	THE SCHEDULE  	Section 7
THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Registration of Deeds Act 1957
CERTIFICATE OF COPY OF DEED
I,								 Registrar-General,
hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the copy of the *			               †							which was registered in the General Register of Deeds at the hour of 		on the 	
day of			, 19   , and I further certify that I have the custody of the General Register of Deeds.
Witness my hand and seal this
day of 			, 19     .
	Registrar-General
* Strike out the words “copy of the” if inapplicable
† Insert nature of deed, instrument or other document, parties to it and date thereof

NOTES
1.	The Registration of Deeds Act 1957 as shown in this reprint comprises Act No. 13, 1957 amended as indicated in the Tables below.
	Citation of Laws—The Self-Government (Citation of Laws) Act 1989 (No. 21, 1989) altered the citation of most Ordinances so that after Self-Government day they are to be cited as Acts.  That Act also affects references in ACT laws to Commonwealth Acts.
2.	The Legislation (Republication) Act 1996 (No. 51, 1996) authorises the Parliamentary Counsel in preparing a law for republication, to make certain editorial and other formal amendments in accordance with current legislative drafting practice.  Those amendments make no change in the law.  Amendments made pursuant to that Act do not appear in the Table of Amendments but details may be obtained on request from the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
Table 1
Table of Ordinances
Ordinance	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Registration of Deeds Ordinance 1957	13, 1957	21 Nov 1957	21 Nov 1957		
Ordinances  Revision (Decimal Currency) Ordinance 1966	19, 1966	23 Dec 1966	23 Dec 1966	—	
Ordinances Revision (Administrative Arrangements) Ordinance 1977	18, 1977	21 June 1977	21 June 1977	S. 29 (2)	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment)  Ordinance 1977	49, 1977	27 Sept 1977	3 Oct 1977	—	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment) Ordinance 1978	25, 1978	5 Sept 1978	3 Oct 1978	—	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment) Ordinance 1980	14, 1980	15 May 1980	1 July 1980	—	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment) Ordinance 1982	79, 1982	1 Oct 1982	1 Oct 1982	—	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment) Ordinance 1983	40, 1983	29 Sept 1983	1 Oct 1983	—	
Registration of Deeds (Amendment) Ordinance 1985
	22, 1985	7 June 1985	7 June 1985	—	
Self-Government day 11 May 1989

Table 2
Table of Acts
Act	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

(Reprinted as at 31 October 1990)	
Registrar-General (Consequential Provisions) Act 1993	64, 1993	6 Sept 1993	Ss. 1 and 2:  6 Sept 1993
Remainder:  1 Oct 1993 (see 
s. 2 (2) and Gazette 1993, No. S207)	Part III
(ss. 6-13)	
Land Titles (Consequential Amendments) Act 1995	54, 1995	20 Dec 1995	20 June 1996 (see s. 2)	—	
(Reprinted as at 31 January 1998)	
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration (Consequential Provisions) Act 1997	113, 1997	24 Dec 1997	Ss. 1 and 2:  24 Dec 1997
Remainder:  24 June 1998 (see s. 2 (2))
	—	

Table of Amendments
ad. = added or inserted      am. = amended     rep. = repealed      rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision	How affected

S. 2	am. No. 40, 1983; Act No. 64, 1993; No. 54, 1995; No. 113, 1997
S. 3	am. No. 18, 1977; Act No. 64, 1993
S. 4	am.  No. 19, 1966; No. 49, 1977; No. 25, 1978; No. 14, 1980; No. 79, 1982; No. 40, 1983; Act No. 64, 1993
Ss. 4A, 4B	ad. No. 22, 1985
S. 5	am. Act No. 64, 1993
S. 6	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 49, 1977; Act No. 64, 1993
S. 7	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 49, 1977; No. 40, 1983; Act No. 64, 1993
S. 8	ad. No. 40, 1983
The Schedule	am. Act No. 64, 1993