Law of Property Act 1922

Provisions as to Bankruptcy.

179 Provisions as to bankruptcy of registered proprietor.

(1) The registrar shall as soon as practicable after registration of a petition in bankruptcy as a lis pendens under Part I. of this Act register a notice (in this Act called a creditor's notice) under section fifty of the Act of 1875 (as amended) against the title of any registered proprietor of land or a charge which appears to be affected, and such notice shall protect the rights of all creditors, and unless cancelled by the registrar in the prescribed manner such notice shall remain in force until a bankruptcy inhibition is registered or the trustee in bankruptcy is registered as proprietor. No fee shall be charged for the registration of the notice.

(2) Until a creditor's notice is registered, a petition in bankruptcy filed after the commencement of this Act shall not, as respects any registered disposition for money or money's worth of land or a charge, be notice or evidence of any act of bankruptcy therein alleged.

(3) The registrar shall, as soon as practicable after registration under the Land Charges Registration and Searches Act, 1888, and Part I. of this Act, of a receiving order in bankruptcy against a registered proprietor of land or a charge, enter an inhibition (in this Act called a bankruptcy inhibition) against the title of the proprietor in the prescribed manner. No fee shall be charged for the registration of the inhibition.

(4) Prom and after the entry of a bankruptcy inhibition, no dealing affecting the estate or charge of the registered proprietor, other than the registration of the trustee in bankruptcy, shall be entered on the register until the inhibition is vacated as to the land or charge affected or some part thereof.

(5) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in subsection (6) of section nine of the Act of 1897, the trustee in bankruptcy shall not be entitled to deal with the land or charge by a registered disposition unless and until he is registered as proprietor thereof.

(6) If and when a registered proprietor of land or a charge is adjudged bankrupt, his registered estate or interest, if belonging to him beneficially, and whether acquired before or after the date of adjudication, shall vest in the trustee in bankruptcy in accordance with the statutory provisions relating to bankruptcy for the time being in force.

(7) The title of the trustee in bankruptcy acquired after the commencement of this Act shall as from the date of the disposition nevertheless be void as against a purchaser in good faith for money or moneys worth who is registered as proprietor of land or a charge after an available act of bankruptcy has been committed unless, at the date of such disposition, either a creditor's notice or a bankruptcy inhibition has been registered; but a purchaser who, at the date of the execution of the registered disposition, has notice of an available act of bankruptcy, or of the petition, receiving order, or adjudication, shall not be deemed to take in good faith.

(8) Where the estate of a bankrupt proprietor suffers loss by reason of the omission of the registrar to register a creditor's notice or bankruptcy inhibition, as required by this section, or on account of the execution or registration of a disposition after a petition is registered as a lis pendens or after a receiving order is registered and before the registration of a creditor's notice or bankruptcy inhibition, then the trustee in bankruptcy shall be entitled to indemnity as a person suffering loss by reason of an error or omission in the register.

(9) If neither a creditor's notice nor a bankruptcy inhibition is registered against a bankrupt proprietor, then nothing in this section shall prejudicially affect a registered disposition of a registered estate or charge acquired by the bankrupt after adjudication, which would have been valid by virtue of section forty-seven of the [4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 59.] Bankruptcy Act, 1914, if the land or charge had not been registered.

(10) If and when a bankruptcy inhibition is wholly or partially vacated, otherwise than by reason of the registration of the trustee in bankruptcy, any registered estate or interest vested in the trustee in bankruptcy shall, as respects the land or charge to which the vacation extends, be divested, and the same shall vest in the registered proprietor in whom it would have been vested if there had been no adjudication in bankruptcy.

(11) The official receiver or trustee in bankruptcy may inspect the register of any proprietor against whom a receiving order has been made, and any creditor, on behalf of himself and all other creditors, or the official receiver or trustee in bankruptcy may lodge a caution against a registered proprietor in respect of any minor interest affecting the registered estate.

(12) Rules shall be made under the Acts—

(a) For postponing the registration of a creditor's notice or bankruptcy inhibition, where the names, address and description of the debtor appearing in the application for the registration of the lis pendens or receiving order are not identical with those stated in the register until the registrar is satisfied as to the identity of the debtor;

(b) For requiring the official receiver to notify to the registrar any mistake occurring in the receiving order or any other fact relevant to any proposed amendment in the register; and for enabling the registrar to make any consequential amendment;

(c) For providing for the whole or partial vacation (subject to notice to the official receiver or trustee in bankruptcy and to his right to appeal to the court) of a bankruptcy inhibition, where the receiving order is rescinded or the bankruptcy is annulled, or the registrar is satisfied that the bankruptcy proceedings do not affect or have ceased to affect the statutory powers of the bankrupt to deal with the registered estate or charge.

180 Disclaimer of a lease by a trustee in bankruptcy.

Where a trustee in bankruptcy disclaims a registered lease under section fifty-four of the Bankruptcy Act, 1914, and an order is made by the court vesting the lease in any person, the order shall direct the alteration of the register in favour of the person in whom the lease is so vested, and in such case the registrar shall, on being served with such order, forthwith (without notice to the bankrupt or any other person and without requiring production of the land certificate) alter the register accordingly, and no right to indemnity under the Acts shall arise by reason of such alteration.