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that Act 396 is repealed insofar as it relates to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Act 396 is repealed insofar as it is inconsistent with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.