Shared plot title sheets
This section covers the shared plot title sheets.
Q1. What is a shared plot?
A shared plot is a plot of land owned in common by the proprietors of two or more other
plots of land by virtue of their ownership of those other plots. For example, where a driveway
is in common ownership of two adjacent unregistered properties, on receipt of an application
for registration of one of the properties after designated day, the driveway and house plot are
registered as separate plots of land, each being a separate cadastral unit with a corresponding
title sheet. The title sheet for the driveway is designated a shared plot title sheet, the
registered house plot is known as a sharing plot.
Q2. Must an area owned in common be registered as a separate plot of land?
Under the 2012 Act, the Keeper must make up and maintain a title sheet for each registered
plot of land. A plot of land is defined as an area or areas of land all of which are owned by one
person or one set of persons. The provisions for the cadastral map state that a cadastral unit
represents a single registered plot of land and also that the same area of land cannot form
part of more than one cadastral unit.
From designated day, each new plot of land being registered must have a separate cadastral
unit and title sheet. The Keeper's 1979 Act practice of including areas owned in common in
multiple registered titles (albeit with a note explaining that only a share in the common area is
included in each title), therefore cannot continue.
There are limited exceptions to these provisions, namely for flatted properties registered
under the provisions of section 16 or for those common areas covered by the transitional
provisions set out in schedule 4 to the 2012 Act.
The transitional provisions allow the Keeper to continue with the registration style of the
1979 Act, i.e. to include a common area in multiple title sheets, where the area of land forms
part of two or more titles registered prior to designated day.
Q3. Will all areas of land owned in common become shared plot title sheets?
No. To be designated as a shared plot the area owned in common must meet two conditions:
it must (a) be shared by two or more proprietors, and (b) ownership of the shared or common
area must be as a consequence of owning another area, the sharing plot. For example,
ownership of the shared plot which forms a driveway arises only by ownership of one of the
sharing plots, a house served by the driveway.
Q4. How will I know if a shared area in the title deeds will be created as a shared
plot title sheet?
Designating a title sheet as a shared plot title sheet is at the Keeper's discretion. The Keeper's
policy is to designate those areas that meet the conditions set out in section 17(1) of the Act
as shared plot title sheets. Therefore, where an area is owned in common by the proprietors
of two or more other plots of land, ownership of which relates to ownership of the common
area, these plots will be designated shared plots.
However, the 2012 Act provides transitional provisions for common areas that fall within
developments commenced before the designated day, where the common areas form part of
existing title sheets.
Under the transitional provisions, if the development has already been started and partly
registered under the provisions of the 1979 Act, registration of applications from the
development submitted after the designated day may continue to be mapped using the style
which has already been set-up, i.e. shared plot title sheets will not be created. The Keeper's
policy is to follow the style of the existing titles registered under the 1979 Act.
However, for new developments where the first plots sold are submitted for registration after
the designated day the Keeper will apply the rules of the 2012 Act, with common areas where
appropriate, being designated shared plot title sheets.
Q5. The Disposition for the subjects to be registered conveys shares in more than
one area of ground. Does this mean multiple shared plot title sheets will be
created?
Provided that the areas owned in common are all owned by the same group of proprietors,
the areas will grouped as a single cadastral unit and shared plot title sheet. However, the
Keeper has discretion to split areas owned in common into multiple shared areas if
circumstances require it.
Where the common areas are shared by different groups of proprietors, the areas will be
registered as separate cadastral units and shared plot title sheets, according to the various
groups of owners. For example if 10 proprietors share a parking area in one-tenth shares, the
parking area will be designated as a shared plot. If 5 of the 10 proprietors share a lane with a
further 5 proprietors on the other side of it, it will be designated as a separate shared plot
because although they again have a one tenth share it is with a different group of proprietors.
Q6. Will a shared plot title sheet be referred to in the title sheet for the main
subjects?
The property section of the sharing plot title sheet will contain a schedule narrating the title
numbers of the shared plot title sheets in which the sharing plot title sheet has an interest.
This means that in a deed affecting a sharing plot, the shared plot title number(s) will not need
to be referred to. Only the title number of the sharing plot needs to be narrated and its
interests in the shared plot are carried without express reference.
Q7. In a shared plot title sheet, how will the Keeper narrate that the main subjects
have a share in that shared plot?
The proprietorship section of a shared plot title sheet must narrate the title numbers of the
sharing plots, along with the respective share each has in the shared plot. The proprietorship
section of the shared plot title sheet will not identify the individual names and designations of
the sharing plot proprietors.
This means that when a sharing plot is transacted upon the shared plot title sheet will not
need to be amended as it will still show the correct detail i.e. the title number of the shared
plot(s), in the proprietorship section.