The Land Registration Act

This section concerns judicial notice of the Registrar's signature.

Section 7 is titled “Indemnity of officers.”

This section gives power to make orders requiring registration in certain areas.

This section is titled “Investigation of title” and references the Land Registration Act.

The Registrar has discretion to suspend a compromise.

This section concerns the Registrar’s decision being evidence in other proceedings.

The Registrar must record the reasons for his decision.

Registration may be deferred in certain cases.

Section 24 is titled “Conditions imposed by former German Government to run with land.”

Section 25 is titled “Incumbrances subsisting at first registration.”

Section title about disposal of documents of title in the context of grants of public land.

This section defines what counts as a “registrable estate” and lists several property interests that are treated as freehold or leasehold for this Part.

The Registrar may order people with claims to unregistered land to apply for registration of their title within a stated period.

People claiming an interest in unregistered land may apply for first registration, but applicants must file the title documents they control, and certain defaulting persons need the Registrar’s leave first.

An application for first registration does not end because the applicant dies, becomes bankrupt, becomes disabled, or makes a disposition; it may be taken over and continued by the applicant’s representative or successor.

The Registrar must advertise every first registration application and, when practicable, notify adjoining landowners, with stated exceptions.

A person who claims an estate or interest in land under first registration may give the Registrar a written notice objecting to the registration and stating the grounds.

The Registrar must investigate the claimed title and may use broad evidence and issue or withdraw requisitions.

The Registrar may treat certain older land records and grants as a good root of title, and in some cases must accept them or look behind them for conditions or restrictions.

A person who claims to have acquired title to a registrable estate through adverse possession or prescription may apply for first registration.

The Registrar may suspend an objection before deciding a first registration application, and may adjourn proceedings.

The Registrar must allow an application when satisfied that good title has been shown, but not before two months after publication of the Gazette advertisement, and not on an objected application unless the objector is heard or the objection is withdrawn or the application is amended.

If the Registrar is not satisfied that title has been shown, the Registrar must dismiss the application.

A Registrar’s decision on an application is conclusive evidence against objectors in later civil cases, and prima facie evidence against people who did not object.

If a first registration application is dismissed, the same person (or someone claiming through them) cannot file another application for the same estate unless the Registrar allows it.

If an objection notice under section 13 has been given and not withdrawn, or if the Registrar dismisses an application, the Registrar must record reasons when allowing or dismissing the application.

If the Registrar allows an application, the estate must be registered in the applicant’s name. If there is a notice of objection, registration is delayed, and a timely appeal notice extends the delay until the appeal is decided.

On first registration, subsisting covenants or conditions tied to certain land grants or dispositions must be recorded in the land register.

At first registration, certain interests must be entered in the land register, and the Registrar may record a memorial about third-party ownership of items on the land.

The Registrar must keep title documents submitted for first registration applications, but if the documents also relate to unregistered land not in the application, they must be noted and returned to the person who submitted them.

This section concerns registration of grants of public land and certificates of occupancy.

This section concerns covenants and conditions in grants and certificates of occupancy.

29. Mortgages of agreements for rights of occupancy. PART IV MANNER AND EFFECT OF REGISTRATION

The Registrar must register the estate in delivered government-lease grants and certificates of occupancy, but must not register certain short-term certificates unless they meet the stated option or fixed-term exceptions.

Covenants and conditions in a public land grant or certificate of occupancy must be recorded in the land register when the grant or certificate is registered, and the Registrar may decide how they are recorded.

If a person has mortgaged or charged an interest under an agreed right of occupancy and that mortgage or charge is still in force when the certificate of occupancy is delivered for registration, the Registrar must register it as an incumbrance on the title.

The estate of the registered owner has paramount status.

Section title: “Memorials to give actual notice.”

The land register is to contain folios for each estate in each parcel, and the Registrar may replace a folio with a new one when needed.

First registration of an estate must be done by preparing a land register folio and having the Registrar sign or initial the ownership and incumbrance particulars; later registrations or entries are made by memorials in the land register.

This section sets deeming rules for when land registration documents count as received, registered, or entered.

An estate owner is generally entitled to hold the land free of other interests, except for listed registered, statutory, possession-based, way, charge, crop-security, and easement exceptions.

A person who acquires an estate or interest in registered land is treated as having actual notice of existing memorials in the land register, and in some cases of filed documents referred to by those memorials.

The owner is entitled to receive a certificate.

This section is about the endorsement of certificates of title.

The Registrar may require someone to produce certificates of title.

Mutilated certificates are to be replaced.

Certificates of title are evidence.

An estate owner is entitled to a certificate of title, and co-owners may ask for separate certificates for their shares.

The Registrar must not register or enter a notice of deposit unless the certificate of title is produced, and must make the required memorial or replace the certificate when acting on a registration or entry.

The Registrar may notify a person believed to hold a certificate of title to produce it for endorsement or cancellation, and the notice must give reasons and allow at least 14 days.

The Registrar may issue a new certificate of title if the old one is lost, destroyed, or there is other sufficient cause, after any required indemnities and public notice. If someone later finds the old certificate, that person must give it to the Registrar for cancellation.

If a certificate of title is mutilated, soiled, damaged, or illegible, the Registrar may choose to issue a replacement certificate and may destroy the old one.

A certificate of title may be used as evidence of the matters stated in it.

Section 45 is titled “Joint tenancy and tenancy in common.”

Deeds must not include unregistered land.

Section heading about retaining original deeds in relation to transfers.

This section is about transfers made in exercise of a power of sale.

Section heading about transfers being vertical and special provisions relating to leases.

This section is titled “Implied covenants and powers” and refers to mortgage-related special provisions under the Land Registration Act.

Section 59 is titled “Mortgages by companies and co-operative societies.”

This section is titled “Creation of liens by deposit” and mentions special provisions relating to partitions.

Section heading: Parcels are to be divided vertically.

Land dispositions must be registered by the Registrar, and the applicant must submit the relevant documents with the prescribed fee.

The Registrar may refuse to register a deed if it is improperly drafted, unclear, imprecise, or otherwise unsuitable for registration.

A deed may expressly state that implied provisions, covenants, and powers are excluded or changed.

The excerpt says a covenant in a deed made by two or more people is treated as binding them jointly and severally unless the deed says otherwise.

If a deed says it is made in consideration of money, the deed is taken to include a receipt for that money.

A deed may cover two or more parcels, but it cannot be registered if it relates to both unregistered and registered land.

The Registrar must keep all registered deeds and, for registered leases or mortgages filed in duplicate or triplicate, endorse the copies and return them to the person who submitted them.

When a registered lease is transferred, the transferee is implied to take on the lease rent and covenant obligations and to indemnify the transferor. If only part of the land is transferred, the obligation is limited to the apportioned rent and the obligations affecting that part only.

When a registered estate subject to mortgage is transferred, the transferee is treated as covenenting with the transferor to pay the mortgage interest and protect the transferor from the mortgage principal and related liability.

This section concerns the registration of legal personal representatives.

Section 68 is titled “Dispositions and assents by legal personal representative.”

This section concerns registering the survivor of joint owners.

Section heading about cancellation of a lease determinable on death and other transmissions.

The Registrar must record changes that happen by operation of law.

Section 72 is titled “Titles acquired by adverse possession” and appears under Part VIII, Orders of Court.

This section concerns the entry of prohibitory orders and injunctions.

This section is titled “Authorities and directions” and cites the Land Registration Act.

Section 77 is titled “Appointment of receivers and managers generally” and appears under Part IX on caveats and injunctions.

The Registrar must enter certain court orders or injunctions in the land register as an incumbrance, and must cancel the memorial when an annulling or rescinding order is served.

A court order under this Act does not need to be registered or entered, but an office copy must be attached before the deed, application, or other document is presented for registration or entry.

A receiving order can be filed with the Registrar, who must record it as an encumbrance. The memorial blocks later dealings in the estate or interest, except for registration of the official receiver or a bankruptcy trustee as owner.

If a company is being wound up by the High Court and an order vests a registered estate or interest in the liquidator, the liquidator may file an office copy of the order with the Registrar and is then entitled to be registered as owner in the liquidator’s official name.

A receiver or manager appointed by court order, where the order does not vest the owner’s property, may lodge a caveat.

The Registrar has power to enter injunctions.

This section is titled “Settled land.”

Certain claimants may file a caveat over registered land, but it must be backed by a statutory declaration.

The Registrar may enter an injunction in the land register to stop dealing with affected land, and the High Court may be asked to remove it or make another order.

This section concerns combinations or divisions subject to lease.

This section is titled “Reparcellations.”

The Registrar may combine contiguous parcels on application by the owner, if the stated conditions are met.

The Registrar may divide a parcel into smaller parcels if the application is in the prescribed form and has the required consents.

The Registrar may combine or divide parcels, even if a parcel is under a lease.

The Registrar may approve a layout change for contiguous parcels and issue new land register folios if the required application and written consents are provided.

The Registrar has power to rectify the index map.

Section title: Plans to support applications, dispositions, and mutations.

This provision only identifies section 90, titled “Foreshore,” within the Land Registration Act and Part XIII on execution of deeds.

This section concerns a presumption of due execution when a corporation seal is used.

Section 96 is titled “Filing of powers of attorney.”

A deed counts as executed if it is signed and delivered, or if a corporation seals and delivers it, or if authorised persons sign and deliver it for a corporation without a common seal.

A deed is treated as attested only if it is witnessed and the witness signs the attestation clause and adds their address and qualification.

The Registrar may accept a deed as duly executed if a corporate seal appears to have been affixed and the required attestations are present.

The Registrar must file certain powers of attorney and revocation notices, and must reject documents signed under a revoked power.

Section 98 is titled “Copies” and appears in the part on rectification of the land register and indemnity.

Any person may inspect certain land registry records during business hours and may request an official search for any parcel.

Any person may apply to the Registrar to get certified or uncertified copies of certain land registry records.

Section 100 is titled “Right to indemnity in certain cases.”

The land register may be rectified by the High Court or by the Registrar in listed cases, but the Registrar must keep the original memorial intact and note the rectification date.

People who lose money because of certain land register errors may be entitled to indemnity from the Government, but fraud, negligence, and some specified losses are excluded.

Section 102 is titled “Appeals to High court.”

The Registrar has power to record acts done in exercise of powers.

The Registrar has power to require witnesses to attend.

The Registrar has power to take statutory declarations.

The Registrar has power to make orders about costs.

This section gives a power to register without requiring fees to be paid first.

This section is titled “Power to destroy obsolete documents.”

This section says the provisions of the Registration of Documents Act are excluded.

This section is titled “Repeal of laws.”

The Registrar may record a variation or ending of an estate or interest by registration or entry if satisfied it happened by lawful power or by the passage of time.

The Registrar may refer a question to the High Court, and the High Court must give an opinion that is binding on the Registrar.

The Registrar may require a person to attend, answer on oath, and produce relevant documents when deciding questions about registrations, entries, or land-register corrections/cancellations.

The Registrar may take statutory declarations for this Act, and qualifying statutory declarations are exempt from stamp duty.

The Registrar may order that investigation, hearing, or inquiry costs be paid by a person in proportions the Registrar thinks fit.

The Registrar may register or refuse to register certain land registration matters even if fees are unpaid, and may sue to recover unpaid fees.

The Registrar may destroy documents or plans in his possession or custody if, in his opinion, they are obsolete or have ceased to have effect.

A notice is treated as served if it is delivered personally, left at the person's last known address, or sent by registered post to that address. A person is only entitled to notice from the Registrar if they have given the Registrar a postal address for service in Tanzania.

The Registrar may enter a memorial in the land register for an estate that may be subject to estate duty, and may later cancel it if a certificate shows the duty is paid or not payable.

Registering a document under the Registration of Documents Act does not affect a person who acquires an estate or interest in registered land, if they have notice.

This section says amendments are incorporated in the relevant ordinances and refers to Rules G.N. No. 478 of 1962.

The High Court may make court rules, and the Minister may make rules under the Act, including rules about land registry procedure, opening hours, forms, and fees.

This section repeals the Land Registry Ordinance and the Land Registry (Amendment) Ordinance, 1947-1949, and includes transitional and consequential provisions.

This Act may be cited as the Land Registration Act.

This section defines key land-registration terms and says the Act does not override other laws or consent requirements.

A land registry must be maintained at Dar es Salaam or another place the Minister declares by order, and the Registrar must keep a land register there.

The Minister must appoint a Registrar of Titles and may appoint a Deputy Registrar and any number of Assistant Registrars.

Courts, judges, and persons acting judicially must recognize the Registrar’s signature as authentic.

The land registry has a seal, and documents said to bear that seal may be used as evidence.

The Registrar and people acting under the Registrar’s authority are not personally liable for acts or omissions done in good faith under this Act or related rules.

The Registrar must notify the owner, pause registration for one month, and then register the transfer unless the High Court orders otherwise.

Any person may make a transfer to himself and another person, or with any other person to himself alone.

A lease cannot be registered unless it meets one of the stated conditions, including a term over five years or a qualifying renewal option.

A lease of registered land may start on a future date, but that start date must be no later than 21 years after the lease is executed.

Registered leases include implied covenants for the tenant and landlord, including rent payment, maintenance, inspection access, peaceful possession, and landlord re-entry for arrears or breach.

A registered mortgage is security, not a transfer; the lender gets default remedies and may be subject to transfer-style obligations, with a special limit for registered-lease mortgages.

A mortgage of a registered estate may be used to secure an existing, future, or contingent debt or obligation.

A mortgage created by certain companies or co-operative societies cannot be registered under this Act unless proof is given to the Registrar that it was registered under the relevant earlier Act.

Mortgages of the same estate rank by registration order, unless the prior lender agrees in writing or a prior mortgage gives a right to tack further advances.

A lender may have a mortgage-consolidation right, and the Registrar must record that right in the land register when the lender applies.

In every registered mortgage, the borrower is bound to pay the debt and interest, maintain and insure the property, and not lease it for more than one year without the lender’s written consent.

If a lender cannot deal with a mortgage because of disability, absence from Tanzania, or unknown whereabouts, the Registrar may receive the mortgage money and arrears in trust, and may cancel the mortgage memorial.

A person holding a deposited certificate of title for a lien may notify the Registrar, and the Registrar must record the notice as an incumbrance.

A partition of a registered estate with a mortgaged undivided share cannot be registered unless the lender’s written consent is produced to the Registrar.

A legal personal representative may be registered as owner after the owner’s death if they apply to the Registrar in the prescribed form and provide the required probate or administration documents.

An assent to the vesting of a registered estate or interest cannot be registered unless the estate or interest is registered in the name of the legal personal representative, and the assent must be in the prescribed form.

When a joint owner of an estate or interest dies, an interested person may apply to have that person’s name deleted from the land register, with proof of death.

If a registered lease ends when the tenant dies, the land register memorial must be cancelled when an interested person applies and provides proof of death.

The Registrar may record a person’s entitlement to an estate or interest in registered land by registration or entry, if satisfied the entitlement arose under written law or operation of law, and subject to the Law of Limitation Act.

A person claiming title by adverse possession or prescription may apply to the Registrar for registration, and the Registrar must advertise and notify affected owners before acting on the application.

This section lets certain representatives and trustees be registered as owners of land interests, and restricts trust-related memorials in the land register.

A tenant for life of settled land cannot be registered as the owner of any estate. Trustees of a settlement with registered land must carry out a disposition of that land when directed by the tenant for life, if the tenant for life could lawfully have done so without registration.

The Registrar must keep an index map of registered land, divide Tanzania into blocks, number each block and parcel, and may vary, combine, or divide block boundaries.

The Registrar may amend the index map, prepare a new edition of it, and omit matter considered obsolete.

The Registrar may temporarily waive the approved-plan requirement if the land can still be identified for survey, and must arrange a survey in certain cases.

The Registrar may accept an approved plan to fix a boundary more precisely, and must note that action on the index map.

If the Registrar makes a decision, order, or act under this Act, the Registrar must give written reasons, and on application by an affected person must provide the decision or order in writing as well.

A person aggrieved by a Registrar decision, order, or act may appeal to the High Court within three months, but must give notice within one month and file the appeal as a written petition with supporting documents.