Land Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1970

[F1 67A Protection of creditors prior to registration of trustee in bankruptcy. N.I.

(1) If a bankruptcy petition is presented by or against any person who appears to the High Court to be the registered owner of any land, the Court shall give notice to the Registrar of the presenting of the petition, in such manner as may be prescribed, and notice of the presenting of the petition shall thereupon be entered on the[F2 title register].

(2) A notice registered under subsection (1) shall protect the rights of all creditors, and unless cancelled by the Registrar in the prescribed manner such notice shall remain in force until a bankruptcy inhibition is registered or the trustee in bankruptcy is registered as owner.

(3) Where a bankruptcy order is made and the bankrupt is a registered owner of land, the official receiver or the trustee in bankruptcy shall notify the Registrar in the prescribed form and the Registrar shall thereupon enter an inhibition ( “a bankruptcy inhibition”) against the title of the registered owner of the land.

(4) No fee shall be charged for the entry of a notice under subsection (1) or a bankruptcy inhibition under subsection (3).

(5) From and after the entry of a bankruptcy inhibition (but without prejudice to dealings with or in right of interests having priority over the estate of the bankrupt owner), no dealing affecting the land of the registered owner, other than the registration of the trustee in bankruptcy, shall be entered on the[F2 title register] until the inhibition is cancelled as to the whole or part of the land dealt with.

(6) Without prejudice to section 34(4), where under a disposition of registered land to a purchaser in good faith for valuable consideration such purchaser is registered as owner of an estate, then, notwithstanding that the person making the disposition is adjudged bankrupt, the title of his trustee in bankruptcy shall, as from the date of the registration of such disposition, be void as against such purchaser unless at that date, either a notice under subsection (1) or a bankruptcy inhibition has been registered; but a purchaser who, at the date of the executiion of the registered disposition has actual knowledge of the bankruptcy petition or the adjudication, shall be deemed not to take in good faith.

(7) Nothing in this section shall impose on a purchaser a liability to make any search under the Registration of Deeds Acts.

(8) If neither a notice under subsection (1) nor a bankruptcy inhibition is registered against a registered owner of land, nothing in this section shall prejudicially affect a registered disposition of any registered land acquired by the bankrupt after adjudication.

(9) If and when a bankruptcy inhibition is wholly or partially cancelled, for any cause other than by reason of the registration of the trustee in bankruptcy, any registered estate vested in the trustee in bankruptcy shall, as respects the registered estate to which the cancellation extends, be divested and the same shall vest in the registered owner in whom it would have been vested if there had been no adjudication in bankruptcy.

[F2 (10) In this section references to a disposition of registered land include a lease, a charge and the creation or disposal of any interest in such land or in a charge of such land, and “purchaser” includes a lessee, a chargee and a person in whose favour such an interest is created or disposed of.]]

F1 1989 NI 19

F2 1992 NI 7