As of the 4th September 2015, any buyer who has a pending, registered contract with the Lands Office, and has either paid in full or partially, can now apply directly to the District Land Registry Officer requesting the transfer of the title deed into his/her name regardless of the existence of any legal or financial obstacle which, in the past, would have obstructed the transfer.
Buyers of properties without separate, individual title deeds may apply the same way but these applications will be suspended until the individual title is issued for the property in question.
For those buyers whose deeds are not yet issued the government will follow a shortcut/speedy process and issue the deeds for all projects for which an application for sub-division has been submitted – even in cases where there are technical omissions and/or irregularities on those projects. Individual deeds will be issued with the notation that they have technical irregularities and buyers will have the option to correct these irregularities after taking their deeds.
This new legislation bypasses all memos (liens) registered by individuals or the government and any other impediment which, under the previous legislation, prevented the transfer of the title deeds.
Buyers are now given the option of paying the transfer fees to the Lands Office in 12 equal monthly installments.