Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914

PART III Registration of Deeds of Arrangement

4 Registrar and office for registration

(1) The Registrar of Bills of Sale shall be the registrar for the purposes of this Act.

(2) The Bills of Sale Department of the Central Office of the Supreme Court shall be the office for the registration of deeds of arrangement.

5 Mode of registration

(1) The registration of a deed of arrangement under this Act shall be effected in the following manner :—

• A true copy of the deed, and of every schedule or inventory thereto annexed, or therein referred to, shall be presented to and filed with the registrar within seven clear days after the execution of the deed (in like manner as a bill of sale given by way of security for the payment of money is required to be filed), together with an affidavit verifying the time of execution, and containing a description of the residence and occupation of the debtor, and of the place or places where his business is carried on, and an affidavit by the debtor stating the total estimated amount of property and liabilities included under the deed, the total amount of the composition (if any) payable thereunder, and the names and addresses of his creditors.

(2) No deed shall be registered under this Act unless the original of the deed, duly stamped with the proper inland revenue duty, and in addition to such duty a stamp denoting a duty computed at the rate of one shilling for every hundred pounds or fraction of a hundred pounds of the sworn value of the property passing, or (where no property passes under the deed) the amount of composition payable under the deed, is produced to the registrar at the time of such registration.

6 Form of register

The registrar shall keep a register wherein shall be entered, as soon as conveniently may be after the presentation of a deed for registration, an abstract of the contents of every deed of arrangement registered under this Act, containing the following and any other prescribed particulars :—

(a) The date of the deed ;

(b) The name, address, and description of the debtor, and the place or places where his business was carried on at the date of the execution of the deed, and the title of the firm or firms under which the debtor carried on business, and the name and address of the trustee (if any) under the deed ;

(c) A short statement of the nature and effect of the deed, and of the composition in the pound payable thereunder ;

(d) The date of registration ;

(e) The amount of property and liabilities included under the deed, as estimated by the debtor.

7 Rectification of register

The High Court or a judge thereof, upon being satisfied that the omission to register a deed of arrangement within the time required by this Act or that the omission or misstatement of the name, residence, or description of any person was accidental or due to inadvertence, or to some cause beyond the control of the debtor and not imputable to any negligence on his part, may, on the application of any party interested, and on such terms and conditions as are just and expedient, extend .the time for registration, or order the omission or misstatement to be supplied or rectified by the insertion in the register of the true name, residence, or description.

8 Time for registration

Where the time for registering a deed of arrangement expires on a Sunday, or other day on which the registration office is closed, the registration shall be valid if made on the next following day on which the office is open.

9 Inspection of register and registered deeds

Any person shall be entitled, at all reasonable times, to search the register on payment of one shilling, or such other fee as may be prescribed, and subject to such regulations as may be prescribed, and shall be entitled, at all reasonable times, to inspect, examine, and make extracts from any registered deed of arrangement, without being required to make a written application or to specify any particulars in reference thereto, upon payment of one shilling, or such other fee as may be prescribed, for each deed of arrangement inspected :

Provided that the extracts shall be limited to the dates of execution and of registration, the names, addresses, and descriptions of the debtor and of the parties to the deed, a short statement of the nature and effect of the deed, and any other prescribed particulars.

10 Local registration of copy of deeds

(1) Where the place of business or residence of the debtor who is one of the parties to a deed of arrangement, or who is referred to therein, is situate in some place outside the London Bankruptcy District, the registrar shall, within three clear days after registration, and in accordance with the prescribed directions, transmit a copy of the deed to the registrar of the county court in the district of which such place of business or residence is situate.

(2) Every copy so transmitted shall be filed, kept and indexed by the registrar of the county court in the prescribed manner, and any person may search, inspect, make extracts from, and obtain copies of, the registered copy, in the like manner and upon the like terms, as to payment or otherwise, as near as may be, as in the case of deeds registered under this Act.