Pennsylvania Act 1919-396 — DEEDS AND TITLES TO REAL ESTATE, SYSTEM FOR REGISTRATION ESTABLISHED

Act text

DEEDS AND TITLES TO REAL ESTATE, SYSTEM FOR REGISTRATION ESTABLISHED
                 Act of Jul. 17, 1919, P.L. 1001, No. 396             Cl. 08
                                  AN ACT

     Authorizing boroughs and incorporated towns to establish systems
        for the registration of deeds and titles to real estate;
        imposing certain duties upon sheriffs, prothonotaries, and
        recorders of deeds; and providing penalties.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 4701 of Act 317 of 1931 provided
            that Act 396 is repealed insofar as it relates to
            boroughs.
        Compiler's Note:  Section 9 of Act 110 of 2008, known as the
            Uniform Municipal Deed Registration Act, provided that
            Act 396 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with
            Act 110.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That, for the purpose of
     procuring accurate information in reference to the ownership of
     real estate, the council of each borough and incorporated town
     may provide by ordinance for a registry thereof. The secretary
     or the town clerk of such borough or incorporated town in which
     such registry shall be established shall, under the direction of
     the council, cause to be made all necessary books, maps, and
     plans as will show the situation and dimensions of each property
     thereon, which books, maps, or plans shall be so prepared as to
     show the location and the name of the owner or owners thereof,
     with blank spaces for the name of the owner of each lot, and
     with provision for the names of future owners and the dates of
     future transfers of title.
        Section 2.  For the purpose of establishing such registry,
     the secretary or town clerk shall have access, without charge,
     to any public records wherein the necessary information may be
     obtainable, and may also cause a search to be made in other
     places for any muniments or evidences of title not reported to
     him as herein provided and requisite for the completion of such
     books, maps, or plans.
        Section 3.  That said books, maps, and plans shall be
     carefully preserved, and shall be so kept, by additions from
     time to time, as to show the ownership of every lot or piece of
     real estate or subdivision thereof within the limits of such
     borough or incorporated town, with the succeeding transmissions
     of title from the time of the commencement of such plans, but
     nothing contained therein shall at any time invalidate any
     municipal or tax claim by reason of the fact that the same is
     not assessed or levied against the registered owner.
        Section 4.  It shall be the duty of all owners of real estate
     within the limits of such borough or incorporated town, within
     one month after the date of the approval of any ordinance
     establishing such registry, and of every subsequent purchaser,
     devisee or person, within one month after acquiring title in any
     manner whatsoever to any real estate in such borough or
     incorporated town, to furnish to the said secretary or town
     clerk at his office descriptions of their respective properties
     upon blanks to be furnished by the borough or incorporated town,
     and at the same time to present their conveyances to be stamped
     as evidence of the registry thereof.
        Any person neglecting or refusing to comply with the
     provisions of this section for a period of thirty days after
     public notice shall be liable to a penalty of five dollars, to
     be recovered with costs of suit in the name and for the use of
     the borough or incorporated town, as penalties of like amount
     are now recoverable.
        Section 5.  The sheriffs of the respective counties in which
     any such borough or incorporated town is situated shall present
     for registry the deeds of all properties within such borough or
     incorporated town sold by them at judicial sales; and the
     prothonotaries and recorders of deeds of such counties shall not
     admit for record any deed of any property in such borough or
     incorporated town bearing dates subsequent to the approval of an
     ordinance providing for the establishment of such registry,
     unless same shall first have been duly stamped as herein
     provided.