Registration of

Untitled Land
Untitled Lands Unregistered Lands, lands not covered by Torrens titles
All lands recorded under the registration system provided by
the Spanish Mortgage Law which are not yet registered under
the Torrens system and not yet covered by Torrens title shall be
considered as unregistered lands. (PD 1529, Sec. 3)

Registration of Untitled
Land

Governing Laws:
Section 194 of the Revised Administrative Code, as
amended by Act No. 2837 and later Act No. 3344,
December 8, 1926 Recording of instruments or deeds
relating to real estate not registered under Act No. 496
(Land Registration Act) or under the Spanish Mortgage
Law
Section 113 of Property Registration Decree (PD 1529,
June 11, 1978) Recording of Instruments relating to
unregistered lands

Registration of Untitled
Land
Act No. 3344 No instrument
or deed establishing,
transmitting, acknowledging, modifying or extinguishing
rights with respect to real estate not registered under the
provisions of The Land Registration Act (Act No. 496), and
its amendments, or under the Spanish Mortgage Law, shall
be valid, except as between the parties thereto, until such
instrument or deed has been registered, in the manner
hereinafter prescribed, in the office of the Register of
Deeds for the province or city where the real estate lies.

Registration of Untitled
Land

Sec. 113 of PD 1529 - No deed, conveyance, mortgage, lease, or other

voluntary instrument affecting land not registered under the Torrens system
shall be valid, except as between the parties thereto, unless such instrument
shall have been recorded in the manner herein prescribed in the office of the
Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land lies.

P.D. 1529
Sec. 113 (a)
PRIMARY ENTRY BOOK or DAY BOOK
REGISTRATION or REGISTER BOOK
Sec. 113 (b)
If instrument is sufficient in law Register of Deeds shall
record the instrument
In case instrument has defects and its recording is refused
Register of Deed shall advise the parties in interest of the
grounds for his refusal
must be made in writing

P.D. 1529
Sec. 113 (b)
Appeal may be made in accordance with Sec. 117 of PD 1529
Any recording made under this section shall be without prejudice to a third party
with a better right.

Better right right which must have been acquired by a third party
independently of the unregistered deed, and that it has no reference to
rights acquired under that unregistered deed itself

P.D. 1529
Sec. 113 (c)

After recording on the Record Book, the Register of Deeds shall

endorse among other things, upon the original of the recorded
instruments, the file number and the date as well as the hour and
minute when the document was received for recording as shown
in the Primary Entry Book,
return to the registrant or person in interest the duplicate of the
instrument, with appropriate annotation, certifying that he has
recorded the instrument after reserving one copy thereof to be
furnished the provincial or city assessor as required by existing
law.

P.D. 1529
Sec. 113 (d)
Tax sale, attachment and levy, notice of lis pendens, adverse claim
and other instruments in the nature of involuntary dealings with respect to
unregistered lands, if made in the form sufficient in law, shall likewise be
admissible to record under this section.

*provision not found in Act No. 3344

P.D. 1529
Sec. 113 (e)
For the services to be rendered by the Register of Deeds under this
section, he shall collect the same amount of fees prescribed for similar services
for the registration of deeds or instruments concerning registered lands.

Case Notes
Priority of rights
Registration under Act No. 3344 by the first buyer of an untitled land can
have the effect of constructive notice to the second buyer that can defeat his
right as such buyer

Only affects rights or interests subsequent to the registration

a notice only to future dealers of the land

Case Notes
Sale; Donation of untitled lands the rule in priority in registration does not
apply to unregistered land, whether the transaction be voluntary or involuntary
By express provision of the law, registration of the deeds of unregistered lands
is without prejudice to third party with a better right

Case Notes
Radiowealth Finance Company vs. Palileo, G.R. No. 83432.
May 20, 1991
Execution sale of unregistered land
Article 1544 of the Civil Code governing double sales of the
same land does not apply to land not registered under the Land
Registration Act
Under Act 3344, registration of instruments affecting
unregistered lands is without prejudice to a third party with a
better right. The mere registration of a sale in ones favor does
not give him any right over the land if the vendor was not
anymore the owner of the land having previously sold the same
to somebody else even if the earlier sale was unrecorded.