News

The President of Survey and Land Registration Bureau (SLRB)His Excellency Shaikh Salman bin Abdulla Al Khalifa announced that the new Land Registration Law No. (13) of 2013, which was issued by His Majesty the King and published in the Official Gazette on 27^th June 2013 after being approved by the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives, will come into effect beginning from Sunday 29^th December 2013 in accordance with the Decree which stipulated that the law shall be effective after six months from the date of its issuance and publication in the Official Gazette.

His Excellency said that the new Land Registration Law is the result of hard work and great joint efforts by the government, represented by SLRB, and the legislative authority (the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives), Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Bahrain real estate associations who all took part in drafting it to produce such a comprehensive law.

 
He further stressed that the issuance of the new law was called for by the participants in the national consensus dialogue as one of the economic recommendations.

He added that the law contains many articles and provisions that have long been sought by citizens and dealers in this important economic sector. One of the most important features of the law was the unification and lowering of the registration fee to a flat 2%, instead of the previous 3-tier system which goes up to 3%.  

On the subject of fees, we would like to emphasize that the new fee structure will apply as from the date of the implementation of the law and not from the date of the notarization of the sale contract/ agreement if the contract/ agreement was executed before the effective date of the law. The law will be implemented as from next week.

His Excellency added that the law also contained other articles related to the process of registration at the Land Registry, issuance of land survey certificates and title deeds and the rights pertaining to them, as well as some new general provisions/ articles that were introduced in the new law.

We can summarise the main provisions of the law as follows:

With Regard to Fees:

1.Reducing the land registration fee to a flat rate of 2% of the value of the property. The fee will be reduced by 15% if the notarized sale agreement is submitted for registration in the Land Register within 60 days from the date of notarization.

2.Land exchange (swap) agreement fee will be 2% of the highest value of the two properties, instead of 3%.

3.Fees for grants other than royal grants and other than those between spouses and relatives up to the fourth degree:

a.BD5 (five Bahrain Dinars) if the value of the donated property is less than fifty thousand Bahrain Dinars.

b.2% if the value of the donated property is more than fifty thousand Bahrain Dinars.

4.The person who applies for registration of a property in the Land Register shall have the right to request a refund of what he had paid as fee in the event he wished to cancel the application for registration, if the property has not yet been registered in the Land Register.

5.The cases for exemption from the prescribed fees are now included in the law while previously were determined by edicts from the Council of Ministers.

With Regard to Title Deeds:

1.In case of common ownership, every owner shall have the right to obtain a title deed for his share in the property, while it was previously restricted to one of the partners only.

2.With the exception of Royal donations, SLRB shall not issue title deeds to donated properties or those under testament or endowment except after registering the certificates and presenting the title deeds of the donor, testator or endower.

3.A government body in whose favor a real estate property is appropriated for public benefit shall have the right to obtain a new title deed immediately after the publication of the appropriation orders in the Official Gazette, without the need to wait for presenting the original title deed.

4.A person who won an auction bid or if a final judgement is issued in his favor with respect to the validity or enforceability of a disposal or action related to the ownership of a property shall have the right to apply to the court to obtain a ruling for giving him a copy of the title deed to enable him register the property in the land register if the person against whom the judgement is issued refuses to give him the original title deed.

With Regard to Registration in the Land Register:

1.a. A registration application shall be deemed as if it did not exist if the necessary information were not given/ completed within a period of fifteen days from the date of the application.

b. An applicant shall be given a period of fifteen days from the date of the submitting of the application to present documents in support of the information contained in the application, if acceptable excuses are given.

2.The right to register the inheritance if the inheritance included in- kind real estate rights.

3.If under a court judgment, the common ownership of one of the heirs in a proven inherited property is registered in the Land Register, any one of the remaining heirs may apply to SLRB to register his share based on this judgement.

With Regard to Certificates:

Survey certificates will be issued only upon presenting the title deed of the property subject matter of the transaction, and such certificate may not be considered as an instrument of title.

With Regard to General Provisions:

1.The High Civil Court shall have jurisdiction over looking into any claims related to a property or original or consequential in-kind real estate rights related to a property.

2.Those who have interest and the public prosecutor shall have the right to see the real estate papers and land case files or obtain copies of them, while previously this was confined to the competent court only.

3.A separate title deed shall not be issued to a purchased corner, and such corner may not be disposed of independently of the adjacent property owned by the buyer.

4.Two copies of the statement of claim must be provided, one of which is to be given to the plaintiff to submit to the Court and the second to be kept in the case file.

5.If a law court or an execution court decides to place a constraint note or precautionary attachment on a property, it shall notify the notarization office as well as SLRB to enable them place such constraint or attachment when notarizing documents related to the property.

6.The law stipulates that the implementation regulations of the Law shall determine the procedures for registering the ownership of strata properties and the division of empty land.