Coverage: real property documents covered
- Section 1 bars registration of any voluntary document by which real property or an interest therein is sold, transferred, assigned, mortgaged or leased if real estate taxes are delinquent.
- The bar applies to registration in the registry of property (i.e., the register of deeds system for property registration).
- Section 2 applies to every document of transfer or alienation of real property that is filed with the Register of Deeds.
Substantive rule: tax-payment requirement
- Section 1 requires that real estate taxes levied and actually due on the real property must be fully paid before a covered voluntary document may be registered.
- The requirement operates as a registration precondition tied to the tax status of the real property for real estate taxes that are levied and actually due.
- Section 1 recognizes a qualifying evidentiary method through a tax-status certification by the treasurer.
Evidence of payment and cancellation rule
- Section 1 requires that evidence of full payment be presented within fifteen days from the date of entry of the document in the primary entry book of the register of deeds.
- If the required evidence is not presented within fifteen days, Section 1 provides that the entry shall be deemed cancelled.
- Section 1 allows a certificate of the provincial, city or municipal treasurer showing the real property is not delinquent in taxes as sufficient evidence for purposes of the Act.
Additional filing-and-notification duty
- Section 2 requires that every document of transfer or alienation of real property filed with the Register of Deeds be accompanied with an extra copy of the document.
- Section 2 directs that the Register of Deeds must transmit the extra copy to the city or provincial assessor.
- Section 2 imposes this transmission duty irrespective of whether said document has been registered or denied registration.
- Section 2 provides a limitation: failure to furnish the Register of Deeds with the extra copy shall not invalidate an otherwise valid agreement.
Penalties and sanctions; separability; repeals
- Republic Act No. 456 provides a registration bar and an entry-cancellation mechanism for failure to present evidence within fifteen days under Section 1.
- Republic Act No. 456 imposes an evidentiary certification requirement under Section 1 for non-delinquency.
- Republic Act No. 456 contains no separate penalty or fine provisions beyond the registration and cancellation consequences expressly provided in Section 1.