Amendments on Land Title Fees and Costs

Section 1 amends Section 17 of Act No. 2259.
Section 2 amends Section 18 of Act No. 2259, as amended by Act No. 2508.
Section 2(b) references Act No. 496, titled “The Land Registration Act.”

Section 17 requires that, for purposes of the section, the value of the property shall be its last assessed value; if none exists, its market value.
Section 17 makes the fees authorized under this section payable to the register of deeds upon delivery of the titles to the owners.
Section 17 allows the fees to be payable to the provincial treasurer or his deputies when those officials deliver the titles through delegation by the register.

Section 18(a) provides for a division of the costs of registration proceedings and the cadastral survey and monumenting under the Act:
- One-tenth is borne by the Insular Government.
- One-tenth is paid by the province concerned.
- One-tenth is paid by the city, municipality, municipal district, township or settlement where the land is situated.
- The city of Manila is treated for this purpose both as a province and a municipality.
- The remaining seven-tenths is taxed by the court against each and all of the lots included in a cadastral proceeding.
Section 18(a) requires that the seven-tenths taxed against lots be apportioned according to area, but no case may the court tax less than five pesos against each lot.
Section 18(a) allows the provincial board to permit a municipality (municipal district, township, or settlement) to pay its share through the province when it lacks sufficient funds.
Section 18(a) converts the taxed amounts against each lot into a special assessment of taxes against the parcel.

Section 18(a) establishes that the special assessment amounts taxed against lots constitute a first lien upon the land.
Section 18(a) requires collection of the lien by the Director of Lands or his duly authorized representatives.
Section 18(a) provides that collection is in equal installments within a period of five years.
Section 18(a) imposes interest at the rate of six per centum per annum on the installment payments.
Section 18(a) makes the first installment due and payable at the same time as the general land taxes for the year next succeeding the year in which the Court of First Instance rendered its decision apportioning the costs.
Section 18(a) provides that the first installment is collected in the same manner as general land taxes.
Section 18(a) makes each succeeding installment due at the same time as the general land taxes for the corresponding current year, collected in the same manner.

Section 18(a) requires the clerk of the court to send the officer in charge of collection a copy of the order of apportionment of costs.
Section 18(a) makes this transmission part of the collection mechanics for the Director of Lands’ collection role.

Section 18(a) provides that proportional cost shares do not constitute a lien and are not collected from owners for lots that fall under any of the following categories:
- Lots surveyed at the request and expense of their owner, with a plan other than the cadastral plan made by a duly authorized surveyor prior to the decision in the cadastral proceeding.
- Lots registered in accordance with Act No. 496 prior to the decision in the cadastral proceeding.
- Lots declared to be public lands by the court.

Section 18(a) grants every owner of a lot the right, if desired, to pay any installment of the costs taxed against the lot at any time before it becomes due.

Section 18(b) covers sales, transfers, or conveyances for a pecuniary consideration of any property registered by virtue of a decree issued in a cadastral proceeding.
Section 18(b) requires that the costs taxed against the property, before total payment, appear as an incumbrance or lien endorsed on each cadastral certificate of title.
Section 18(b) requires the vendor (or his legal representatives) to pay the costs in their entirety when the sale/transfer/conveyance occurs:
- In cases where the order apportioning the costs has already been issued in the cadastral proceeding that includes the property being conveyed.
Section 18(b) empowers the register of deeds to demand, before registering the deed, that the vendor exhibit a receipt signed by the Director of Lands or his duly authorized representative showing the lien has been paid.
Section 18(b) provides that when the order apportioning the costs has not yet been issued, the register of deeds shall endorse on the certificate of transfer the incumbrance or lien appearing on the former certificate as guarantee of payment of the costs.

Section 18(c) defines the costs of registration proceedings under the Act as a sum equivalent to ten per centum of the cost of the survey and monumenting of the land.
Section 18(c) provides that the taxed costs cover:
- All services rendered by the General Land Registration Office and the clerk (or his deputies) in each cadastral proceeding; and
- The expense of publication, mailing, and posting notices, including notices of the decision and the order apportioning the costs.
Section 18(c) assigns the bearing of those publication-related expenses to the General Land Registration Office.

Section 18(d) requires that all amounts collected by the Director of Lands (or duly authorized representatives) from owners as costs of proceedings, survey, and monumenting be covered into the Insular Treasury.
Section 18(d) authorizes provincial or municipal governments to assume and pay the costs taxed and apportioned against lots and owners when they do so in their discretion with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
Section 18(d) provides that when a provincial or municipal government assumes and pays the costs, owners’ payments shall be made as provided under the section and the sums assumed/handled for government purposes shall be covered into the provincial or municipal treasury as part of the general funds.

Section 18(e) requires the Chief of the General Land Registration Office to forward to the Insular Auditor and Insular Treasurer a statement of each collection of costs from cadastral proceedings.
Section 18(e) authorizes the Insular Treasurer to pay the General Land Registration Office a sum equal to the amount of costs proceedings collected.
Section 18(e) appropriates from funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated the sums necessary for these payments.
Section 18(e) provides that the amounts paid are credited to the appropriations for the General Land Registration Office for disbursement in other cadastral registration proceedings.