Registered Land Act

This provision says the Act may be cited as the Registered Land Act.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, such as charge, court, dealing, disposition, lease, and proprietor.

This section says inconsistent land-related laws and practices do not apply to land registered under the Act, except where the Act says otherwise, and the Act does not permit dealings forbidden by other laws or override required approvals.

The Minister may create land registration districts in Malawi, change their boundaries, and exclude certain land or dealings from registration.

Each registration district must maintain a land registry.

This section requires appointment of a Chief Land Registrar, allows related registrar posts to be appointed, and gives the Chief Land Registrar power to authorize, revoke, or vary delegated powers in writing.

The Registrar may require documents, summon people for information, refuse registration if requirements are not met, require oaths or declarations, and allocate investigation or hearing costs.

Registry officers are protected from liability for good-faith acts or omissions done while exercising, or apparently exercising, powers under the Act or its rules.

Each registry must have a seal. Instruments that appear to bear that seal are to be accepted as evidence and treated as issued by or under the Chief Land Registrar’s direction unless the contrary is shown.

The Land Register must include registers for required pieces of land and leases, show whether land is public or private, and be split into three sections.

After certain records become final and are delivered, the relevant land registrar must create the register and enter any registrable details.

This transitional rule preserves certain pre-existing security rights, liabilities, and remedies for qualifying mortgages, charges, and similar securities registered before land is registered under this Act.

This section sets out how first and later land registrations must be carried out, including Registrar sign-off, the land register entry form, and consent checks for some land transactions.

The Registrar may cancel a register entry if satisfied it has ceased to have effect.

The Registrar may open a new edition of a register at any time, keeping only subsisting entries and leaving out entries that have ceased to have effect.

The Director of Surveys must prepare and keep a registry map for every registration district, and the Registrar may step in where none exists.

The Registrar may correct boundary lines or positions on the registry map, or require the Director of Surveys to do so, subject to affected persons’ agreement and written instructions in the prescribed mutation form. The Registrar may also prepare a new edition of the registry map.

The Registrar may order a survey for any purpose connected with the Act. If the registry map is maintained by the Director of Surveys, the survey can be used to amend that map only with the Director of Surveys’ approval.

Registered land boundaries are generally treated as approximate unless fixed in the register, and the Registrar can determine disputed boundaries.

The Registrar may start boundary-fixing of a piece of land, but must notify adjoining owners and occupiers and then survey, record, and note the fixed boundaries in the register.

Land proprietors must keep boundary features in good order, and the Registrar may order boundary demarcation or assign responsibility for common boundary features.

A person must not deface, remove, injure, or otherwise impair a boundary feature unless authorized by the Registrar; doing so can lead to a £100 fine, two months’ imprisonment, and payment of restoration costs.

The Registrar may combine contiguous pieces owned by the same proprietor on application, and must divide a piece into two or more pieces when the proprietor applies for division.

The Registrar may approve a boundary change for contiguous pieces, cancel the old registers, and create new registers if the required applications and written consents are provided.

Registration of a proprietor of private land gives that person the owner’s rights in the land, and registration of a lease vests the leasehold interest in the registered proprietor.

Registration of a person as proprietor of private land with a provisional title does not prevent enforcement of earlier adverse interests, or interests recorded in the register; otherwise, the registration has the same effect as a normal registration.

A proprietor’s registered rights are protected from being defeated except as the Act and Land Act allow, but they remain subject to listed register entries and certain unnoted rights and liabilities.

A proprietor who receives land, a lease, or a charge without paying value must take it subject to existing unregistered rights and to the Bankruptcy Act and Companies Act winding-up rules.

Registered land is subject to specified overriding interests unless the register says otherwise, and the Registrar may direct registration of listed rights and interests.

A registered proprietor with provisional title, or another interested person, may apply to the Registrar to remove the qualification; the Registrar must act if satisfied and, in some cases, must delete “provisional” from the register.

A proprietor who acquires land, a lease, or a charge is treated as having notice of entries in the register for that land, lease, or charge.

Any person may inspect registry materials, ask for an official search, and is entitled to a certified copy on application in the prescribed form.

The Registrar must issue a land certificate or certificate of lease on request from the relevant proprietor, but only one certificate may be issued per parcel or lease and a certificate of lease is allowed only for a lease exceeding five years.

A land certificate or certificate of lease must be produced when a dealing with the land or lease is registered, unless it is already filed in the registry or the Registrar dispenses with production.

If a land certificate or certificate of lease is lost or destroyed, the proprietor may apply for a new certificate and must provide evidence of the loss or destruction.

Certified copies of registry materials are admissible as evidence, and certain fiduciaries are protected from liability when relying on them.

Land, leases, and charges may be dealt with only in line with this Act and the Local Land Boards Act; certain land-contract claims also require writing and signature, subject to stated part-performance exceptions.

A person dealing for value with a registered proprietor does not have to investigate prior registration details, follow the money, or search Deeds Registration Act registers. A bona fide purchaser for value is protected against a trustee’s or family representative’s disposition being challenged for breach of trust or non-custom compliance.

If registration is delayed more than three months from the instrument date, an extra fee is payable; the Chief Land Registrar may reduce or waive it.

If the Registrar is satisfied that someone wilfully failed to register a registrable instrument, the Registrar may order that person to present it for registration. If the order is not complied with within one month, a £25 fine applies.

Registered interests take priority based on when the registration papers were presented, not the date on the instrument.

If someone dealing with registered land applies for an official search with the proprietor’s written consent and states the proposed dealing’s details, registration of affected instruments is stayed for 14 days.

Registered interests do not merge just because they vest in the same proprietor, unless a surrender/discharge is registered, the pieces are combined, or there is a declaration of merger.

A land proprietor may lease land or part of it to anyone, for a definite or terminable indefinite period, on conditions the proprietor chooses.

If a lease has no stated term and no notice-to-terminate clause, or if land is occupied at rent without a written agreement, the arrangement is treated as a periodic tenancy.

Leases over three years, or leases with an option that can extend the term beyond three years, must be in the prescribed form and registered in the specified way.

A lease dealing cannot be registered until the lessor’s consent has been produced, and the lease agreement must be noted in the register.

A lease of charged land cannot be registered unless the proprietor of the charge gives prior written consent, unless the charge expressly removes that requirement.

This section sets how to calculate lease duration: exclude the start day if a lease starts on a particular day, start from the execution date if no start day is named, and for yearly leases the term runs through the anniversary unless agreed otherwise.

A lease can start on a future date, but not more than 21 years after it is executed, and it has no effect unless registered.

If a lessee stays in occupation after the lease ends with the lessor’s consent, the person is treated as a tenant on a periodic tenancy.

A lease is taken to include implied promises by the lessor to let the lessee quietly enjoy the premises, and not to interfere with them through the lessor’s nearby land, unless the lease says otherwise.

A lease is taken to include implied promises by the lessee to pay rent and other charges, allow inspections, carry out responsible repairs after notice, and not assign or sublet without the lessor’s prior written consent.

This section defines “in repair” in a lease as a standard of repair a prudent owner would reasonably keep, with allowance for the building’s age, character, and locality; it does not imply a duty to improve the building beyond its condition at the start of the lease.

The lessor may forfeit the lease if the lessee breaches the lease, becomes bankrupt, or a company lessee goes into liquidation, subject to the stated exceptions.

If a lease is forfeited, the subleases and other registered interests linked to it end, unless the court sets aside the forfeiture for fraud by the lessor or grants relief under section 52.

A lessor cannot forfeit a lease breach until the lessee has been given a written notice with the breach identified and, where possible, time to fix it.

A lessee served with a section 51 notice, or facing forfeiture proceedings, may ask the court for relief; the court can grant or refuse relief and can set conditions.

A registered lease can be changed or extended if the lessor and current lessee execute an instrument and register it before the current term expires, subject to section 51.

If the Registrar is satisfied that the lessee is already the registered proprietor of a prior lease on the same land, the Registrar must cancel the prior lease registration and register the new lease subject to the existing incumbrances.

A registered leaseholder may sublease for a shorter period than the remaining lease term, subject to the lease and prescribed form requirements.

If the lessor and lessee agree to end a lease, they must prepare and sign the surrender document or mark the lease as surrendered, the Registrar must cancel the lease registration, and the document must then be filed.

A lease and related registered interests end when specified termination events occur and the lessor has recovered possession; the lessor may then ask the Registrar in writing to cancel the registration.

The Registrar must not register a lease unless it is in the prescribed form or in a form the Registrar approves, and for a sublease, all superior leases meet that form requirement and are registered first.

A proprietor may create a charge over land or a lease in the prescribed form, but the instrument must include a special acknowledgement about section 68 unless excluded, be signed as specified, and the charge is completed by registration and filing; a charge is security only, not a transfer.

A proprietor whose land, lease, or charge is already subject to a charge may create a second or later charge, and it is treated like the first charge.

If there is a question whether a payment by the chargor was for principal or interest, it is presumed to be interest up to the amount of interest due and payable when the payment was made.

A charge is taken to include certain agreements by the chargor, unless the charge says otherwise, and those agreements are whatever the Minister prescribes.

If a charge includes a consent-to-transfer term, the chargor must get the chargee’s written consent before transferring the land, lease, or charge, and the Registrar must not register the transfer until that consent is produced.

A charge’s secured amount, repayment method, interest rate, or term may be changed by registering an executed instrument of variation.

A chargor may redeem charged land or a lease, but must meet payment, interest, notice, and timing conditions.

Certain third parties may require the chargee to transfer the charge to them if they tender the sums that would have been payable on redemption.

If a chargor defaults and the default lasts one month, the chargee may serve written notice. If the chargor still does not comply within three months, the chargee may appoint a receiver or sell the charged property, but sale is restricted after appointing a receiver. The chargee may also sue for the secured money only in specified cases.

This section sets out how a receiver is appointed, what the receiver can do, and how the money is used and paid.

A chargee with a receiver may grant and surrender leases and sign lease documents, but any lease granted must meet specific timing, rent, term, and disclosure requirements.

A chargee selling charged land must act in good faith and consider the chargor’s interests; the Registrar may approve sale terms; and a transfer after sale must be in the prescribed form.

A chargee who sells charged property must distribute the sale money in a set order.

Sections 66(2), (3), 68, 69, 70 and 71 may be varied or added to for a charge, but the change cannot be acted on unless the court orders it.

A chargee is not entitled to foreclose or take possession of charged land, or receive its rents and profits, just because there has been a default.

A discharge of a charge may be endorsed as “Discharged” for a whole charge, and the chargee must execute and date that endorsement.

The Registrar must cancel a charge in the register once satisfied that the secured money has been paid or is no longer payable and nothing is owed.

A chargee may be allowed to make further advances or give credit to the chargor on a current or continuing account, but those further advances do not get priority over a later charge unless the provision is noted in the register and the later charge’s proprietor gives written consent.

A chargee may not consolidate a charge with another charge unless the right is expressly reserved and noted in the register against all the charges.

A proprietor may transfer land, a lease, or a charge by prescribed instrument, and the transfer is completed by registration of the transferee and filing the instrument.

The Registrar must not register certain land-transfer or land-lease instruments unless the rating authority provides a written statement showing all rates and other charges for the last 12 years have been paid, with stated timing requirements.

A transfer that takes effect on an event, condition, or future time cannot be registered.

Some conditions on land transfers are void, including absolute restraints on transfer, conditions ending the transferee’s interest on a future event, and directions that the land be used in a particular way, except as allowed by Division 5 of this Part.

A part of land in a register cannot be transferred unless the land has first been subdivided and new registers opened for each subdivision.

When a lease is transferred, the transferor is implied to warrant past rent and lease conditions, and the transferee is implied to take on payment and performance from the next day after the transfer date unless the transfer says otherwise.

When a lease is transferred, the transferee takes on the transferor’s lease rights and liabilities, and the transferor stops having rights or obligations under the lease.

In transfers of land or leases subject to a charge, the transferee is implied to agree to pay the secured interest and to indemnify the transferor.

A land transfer subject to a lease remains valid even if the lessee does not acknowledge the transferee as lessor.

A transfer of an unregistered lease does not itself need registration, but the Registrar must not register the transfer unless it is in the prescribed form and the lease and earlier dealings have been registered.

A land proprietor or lessee may grant an easement, and a transferor/lessor may grant or reserve one in the transfer or lease, if the instrument is in the prescribed form.

If a restrictive agreement is presented to the Registrar, the Registrar must note it in the land register and file the instrument. If it is not noted, it is not binding; if it is noted, proprietors and successors in title get the benefit and are subject to the burden, unless the instrument says otherwise.

A land owner or lessee may grant a profit by prescribed instrument, and the grant must be registered and filed.

An easement, profit, or restrictive agreement can be cancelled from the register when a signed release is presented, and it is then extinguished. The Registrar may also cancel registration if an affected person applies and proves expiry, the terminating event, or abandonment.

The court may, on application, extinguish or modify an easement, profit, or restrictive agreement if the stated conditions are met.

A licence cannot be registered, and a land-use licence may not bind a bona fide purchaser for value unless the licensee lodges a caution.

If a registration is in favour of two or more people, it must state whether they hold as joint proprietors or proprietors in common, and if they hold in common, each person’s share. The Minister may also set limits on how many proprietors may be registered together or on the fraction denominator used for shares.

Joint owners of land, leases, or charges have no separate share; dealings generally require all joint proprietors, and joint ownership can be severed by a prescribed instrument and registration.

Co-owners each have an undivided share in the whole, and a proprietor in common cannot deal with that share to anyone else unless the other co-proprietors consent in writing.

Certain people may apply to the Registrar to partition land held in common, and the Registrar must carry out the partition subject to the Act and related laws.

If partition is not possible or would harm proper use of the land, and someone asks for sale, the Registrar must value the land and shares and may order sale by public auction or make another disposal order. A co-owner may buy the land or share offered for sale.

If a partition would leave one proprietor with a share below the minimum allowed area, the Registrar must add or distribute that share among other proprietors, assess its value, and require payment; the Registrar may also secure payment by charge.

Certain family members or the Minister may apply to partition family land, and the Registrar and Local Land Board must process the application and complete the partition steps.

This section says the Act does not affect testate or intestate succession, subject to Part VII.

This section requires certain land documents to be in approved form, filed in triplicate where stated, and to include truthful consideration details.

Instruments evidencing a disposition must be executed by the listed proprietors and other parties, unless the Registrar dispenses with execution for a particular party. The provision also says when an instrument is treated as executed by a natural person or a corporation.

A person executing an instrument must appear before the Registrar, and the Registrar verifies execution unless verification is dispensed with or the instrument is already verified in an accepted way.

An instrument that must be stamped by law cannot be accepted for registration unless it is duly stamped.

The Registrar must keep accepted instruments in the registry, note registration details on duplicates, return the duplicate and triplicate to the person who presented them, and may destroy instruments linked to old entries after six years or more.

A person under 21 may have their name entered in the register, but that registration does not let the minor deal with land or land interests; if the Registrar knows a minor is registered, the Registrar must enter a restriction.

The Registrar may accept documents signed by an agent only if the agent had a properly executed and verified power of attorney, unless the disability rules in subsection (3) apply.

A person under a disability who received land, a lease, or a charge as a gift may repudiate it within six months after the disability ends, unless the subject matter has already been disposed of.

This section requires certain powers of attorney over land to be registered and filed, lets the donor or other interested persons notify the Registrar of revocation, and lets the Registrar ask for proof and refuse registration until proof is given.

A registered power of attorney is treated as still in force for certain good-faith land purchasers, and good-faith payments or acts under it are protected from liability if revocation, death, disability, or bankruptcy was not known.

If a joint proprietor of land, a lease, or a charge dies, the Registrar must delete the deceased person’s name from the register once satisfied of the death.

When a sole proprietor or co-proprietor dies, the personal representative(s) can be registered by transmission, and the Registrar may also register certain related transfers, surrenders, or discharge actions on production of a grant.

A registered personal representative, or a person beneficially entitled after transfer from one, must hold the land, lease, or charge subject to enforceable unregistered liabilities, rights, and interests; registration by transmission relates back to the owner’s death.

When a proprietor is adjudged bankrupt, the trustee must be registered in the proprietor’s place and described accordingly in the register.

When a company is being wound up, the liquidator must give the Registrar the resolution or order appointing the liquidator, and the Registrar must record and file it. Registration documents submitted after that entry must be sealed or signed in the stated way.

If an interested person applies with evidence the Registrar requires, the Registrar must register the Government or the entitled person as proprietor.

This section lets trust-related capacity be noted in land-related acquisition documents and allows trust instruments to be deposited with the Registrar for safe custody, but it keeps trust details out of the register.

Two or more registered trustees or trustees in bankruptcy must hold as joint proprietors, and the Registrar must enter a restriction if the survivor cannot exercise the vested powers alone.

Family land is to be registered in the head of the family’s name as “family representative,” and a family representative has control rights but must act for the family and consult other family members.

The Registrar must refer replacement matters to the appropriate Local Land Board when notified of a family representative’s death, incapacity, absence, imprisonment or detention, or loss of family support. After a new nomination is received, the Registrar must replace the registered name and file the nomination.

The court may issue an inhibition order stopping registration of dealings with land, leases, or charges for a set time, event, or until further order. The Registrar must register the inhibition, and it does not take effect until registered.

While an inhibition is registered, an inconsistent instrument must not be registered.

A registration of an inhibition must be cancelled only in the listed cases.

Certain persons may lodge a caution with the Registrar to block registration of dealings affecting the relevant land, lease, or charge.

The Registrar must give written notice of a caution to the affected proprietor.

A caution may be withdrawn by the cautioner, or removed by the court or Registrar in stated cases.

The Registrar may refuse to accept another caution from the same person, or someone acting for that person, if it concerns the same matter as a previous caution.

A person who wrongfully lodges or keeps a caution without reasonable cause can be liable to pay compensation to the person who suffered damage.

The Registrar may make a restriction on dealings with land, a lease, or a charge to prevent fraud, improper dealing, or for another sufficient reason.

When a restriction is entered, the Registrar must notify the affected proprietor in writing. While the restriction remains registered, inconsistent instruments cannot be registered unless the court or Registrar orders otherwise.

The Registrar or the court may remove or vary a restriction in specified circumstances.

Land ownership may be acquired through twelve years of peaceable, open, uninterrupted possession without permission, but not for customary or public land; a claimant may then apply to the Registrar for registration.

This section sets rules for when land possession is presumed or deemed continuous, interrupted, or held on behalf of another, and it bars fiduciary possessors from acquiring the land by prescription against the beneficiary.

The Registrar must notify affected land owners and may advertise the application. After one month, and if satisfied the applicant owns the land claimed, the Registrar may allow the application and register the applicant as proprietor, subject to surviving registered interests.

Easements and profits can be acquired by 12 years’ peaceable, open, uninterrupted enjoyment, except on customary or public land; a claimant may apply to the Registrar for registration.

The Registrar may correct the register or a registration instrument in specified cases, and must notify interested people before correcting an incorrect dimension or area after a resurvey. The Registrar must also record a proprietor’s name or address change when proof is shown and the proprietor applies in writing.

The court may order the register corrected by cancelling or amending a registration if fraud or mistake is shown.

People who suffer damage from certain register errors or rectifications can be indemnified by the Government, unless they caused the damage through fraud or negligence.

An indemnity for loss of an interest in land must not be more than the interest’s value, measured either at the time of the mistake or omission, or immediately before rectification of the register.

The Registrar may decide whether an indemnity right has arisen on an interested party’s application, and may award indemnity and add properly incurred costs and expenses.

The Minister may recover indemnity money paid under this Part from a person whose fraud or negligence caused or substantially contributed to the loss, and may enforce related rights or agreements.

Survey-related indemnity claims and suits are barred in specified cases involving land area or measurement differences.

The Registrar may refer a question to the High Court for an opinion, and the High Court’s opinion binds the Registrar.

This section lets affected people appeal land registration refusals or decisions, and gives the Chief Land Registrar and the Court powers in the appeal process.

An appeal does not stop a good-faith, valuable-consideration disposition that was registered before notice of the appeal is delivered to the Registrar.

The Chief Justice may make court rules about applications and appeals under this Act, including the fees payable for them.

People who register certain land-related documents, or who own land, leases, or charges, must give the Registrar a written postal address in Malawi and report any change in that address. The Registrar may waive this requirement for a particular registration or type of registration.

A notice under this Act counts as served if it is personally delivered, left at the person's last known residence or business in Malaŵi, sent by registered post to the last known postal address, served on an authorized attorney, or, if those methods fail, displayed prominently on the affected land.

This section explains when a person is treated as having had an opportunity to be heard, and gives the Registrar power to adjourn or still hear the person.

This section makes it an offence to mislead, fraudulently use or alter registration documents or records, and to ignore a summons from the Registrar without reasonable cause.

Fees are payable for listed registration-related matters, and the Registrar may refuse registration until those fees are paid.

Unpaid fees or expenses incurred by the Registrar can be recovered by the Registrar as a civil debt in a magistrate’s court.

A magistrate’s court can enforce a Registrar’s money order made under the Act.

Civil suits and proceedings about certain land-related ownership, possession, lease, charge, or registered/registrable interests are to be tried by the High Court; if the disputed value does not exceed £200, a subordinate court held by a Resident Magistrate may also hear them.

The Minister may make rules to carry out this Act, including rules about forms, fees, and other matters the Act allows to be prescribed.

This provision says the Act does not take away rights, powers, interests, or privileges already given to the Minister or the Government by other written law.

The Act binds the Government, except where another provision says otherwise.

Matters not covered by this Act or by other written law on registered land, leases, charges, and related interests are to be decided according to justice, equity, and good conscience.