National Land Code (Revised - 2020) · Updated to 15 Oct 2020 · Chapter 2 · Trusts
351. Reversion to or vesting in State Authority on proprietor’s death without successors
Feedback & supportWhere any Land Administrator—
Land Administrator
“Land Administrator” means a Land Administrator appointed under section 12, and includes an Assistant Land Administrator appointed thereunder; and, in relation to any land, references to the Land Administrator, or any Assistant Land Administrator, having jurisdiction in the district or subdistrict in which the land is situated;
receives evidence from which he is satisfied that the proprietor of any alienated land (in this section referred to as “the original proprietor”) has died; and
is also satisfied that no petition has been filed for a grant of representation to the estate of the original proprietor, and that no petition for the distribution of that estate has been lodged under the Small Estates (Distribution)
Act 1955, he may make, or cause to be made, an endorsement to that effect on the register document of title to the land.
Any endorsement made on the register document of title to any land pursuant to subsection (1)—
register document of title
“register document of title” means any document registered, or prepared for registration, under this Act and evidencing or, as the case may be, intended to evidence title to land, and any document evidencing title to land registered before the commencement of this Act under the provisions of any previous land law;
shall have the same effect as a Registrar’s caveat; and 352
shall cease to have effect, and be cancelled accordingly, on—
a finding by the Land Administrator that the original proprietor is in fact still alive, or
the registration of any other person or body as proprietor.
As soon as may be after the making of any such endorsement, the Land Administrator shall, by notice in the
Gazette in Form 23a, declare—
that the original proprietor of the land appears to have died without successors; and
that the land will revert to the State Authority, or in the case of an undivided share in land or parcel of a subdivided building, will become vested in the State
Authority at the end of the period of one year beginning with the date on which the notice is published unless by that time one of the following requirements has been fulfilled, that is to say—
it has been proved to his satisfaction that the original proprietor is still alive, or
some other person or body has been registered as proprietor of the land, or
a petition has been filed or lodged for a grant of representation to, or the distribution of, the original proprietor’s estate.
Copies of any notice under subsection (3) shall be published in accordance with section 433.
353
National Land Code 515
land
“land” includes— (a) that surface of the earth and all substances forming that surface; (b) the earth below the surface and all substances therein; (c) all vegetation and other natural products, whether or not requiring the periodical application of labour to their production, and whether on or below the surface; (d) all things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth, whether on or below the surface; and (e) land covered by water;
Provisions of the
National Land Code
Modification
Provisions of the
National Land Code
Modification
Subsection 352(1)
In its application to the Federal Territory of Labuan, substitute for the words “Land Office” the word
“Registry”.
National Land Code
National Land Code 517
The Land Administrator may, on an application made to him by any person before the end of the period specified in any such notice, grant such extension of that period as may appear to him reasonable.
grant
“grant” means a register document of title in Form 5b (that is to say, in the form appropriate under this Act to land held under Registry title in perpetuity);
If none of the requirements specified in any such notice has been fulfilled by the end of the said period or, as the case may be, the period as so extended, the land to which the notice relates shall thereupon (but subject always to the provisions of any law for the time being in force relating to Baitulmal) revert to the State Authority as if it had been forfeited pursuant to the provisions of Part Eight, or become vested in the State Authority, as the case may be.