Conveyancing Amendment Act 1995
The Laws of Bermuda
Annual Volume of Public Acts 1995 : 42

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BERMUDA
1995 : 42

CONVEYANCING AMENDMENT ACT 1995

[Date of Assent 21 December 1995]

[Operative Date 21 December 1995]

WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Conveyancing Act 1983:

Be it enacted by The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House of Assembly of
Bermuda, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Short title
1 This Act which amends the Conveyancing Act 1983 (in this Act
referred to as "the principal Act") may be cited as the Conveyancing
Amendment Act 1995.

Deeds
2 After section 6 of the principal Act (description of deeds) there shall
be inserted—

"Deeds and their execution
6A (1) Notwithstanding any rule of law which—

(a) restricts the substances on which a deed may
be written;

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(b) requires a seal for the valid execution of an
instrument as a deed by an individual; or

(c) requires authority by one person to another to
deliver an instrument as a deed on his behalf to
be given by deed,

an instrument shall be a deed if it complies with the
requirements of subsection (2).

(2) Those requirements are—

(a) that it makes it clear on its face that it is
intended to be a deed by the person making it
or, as the case may be, by the parties to it
(whether by describing itself as a deed or
expressing itself to be executed or signed as a
deed or otherwise); and

(b) it is validly executed as a deed by that person or,
as the case may be, one or more of those parties.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), an
instrument is validly executed as a deed by an individual if, and
only if—

(a) it is signed—

(i) by him in the presence of a witness who
attests the signature; or

(ii) by some other person at his direction and
in his presence and the presence of two
witnesses who each attest the signature;
and

(b) it is delivered as a deed by him or a person
authorised to do so on his behalf.

(4) In subsections 2(a) and (3) "sign", in relation to an
instrument executed as a deed by an individual, includes
making one's mark on the instrument, and "signature" is to be
construed accordingly.

(5) Where an attorney, or an agent or employee of an
attorney, in the course of or in connection with a transaction
involving the disposition or creation of an interest in land,
purports to deliver an instrument as a deed on behalf of a party
to the instrument, it shall be conclusively presumed in favour of
a purchaser that he is authorised so to deliver the instrument.

(6) Where—

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(a) an instrument under seal that constitutes a
deed is required for the purposes of an Act
passed before the commencement of this Act;
and

(b) in the case of an individual, the requirements of
subsection (2) are complied with,

this section shall have effect in place of any provision of that Act
as to signing, sealing or delivery.

(7) The references in this section to the execution of a deed
by an individual do not include execution by a corporation sole
and the reference in subsection (6) to signing, sealing or delivery
by an individual does not include signing, sealing or delivery by
a corporation sole.

(8) In this section—

"disposition" includes a conveyance and also a devise,
bequest, or an appointment of property contained in
a will; and "dispose of" has a corresponding meaning;

"interest in land" means any estate, interest or charge in
or over land or in or over the proceeds of sale of land;
and

"purchaser" means a purchaser in good faith for valuable
consideration and includes a lessee, mortgagee or
other person who for valuable consideration acquires
an interest in property and, in reference to a legal
estate, includes a chargee by way of legal mortgage."

Covenants for title
3 (1) Section 19 of the principal Act (covenants for title) shall be
amended in accordance with subsections (2) to (4).

(2) In subsection (1), for paragraph (F) there shall be
substituted—

"(F) In any conveyance—

(i) a covenant by every person who conveys
and is expressed to convey as trustee or
mortgagee or as estate representative of a
deceased person, or under an order of the
Court, in the terms set out in Part VIA of
the Second Schedule to this Act, which
shall be deemed to extend to every such

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person's own acts only, and may be implied
in a vesting deed by an estate
representative in like manner as in a
conveyance by deed; and

(ii) a further covenant in the terms set out in
Part VIB of the Second Schedule to this
Act.

(G) In a voluntary conveyance, a covenant in the terms
set out in Part VIB of the Second Schedule to this Act."

(3) After subsection (1) there shall be inserted—

"(1A) Subsection (1)(F)(ii) applies to any conveyance, and
subsection (1)(G) applies to any voluntary conveyance,
whether made before or after the commencement of this
Act."

(4) In subsection (3), after the words "no covenant" there shall
be inserted ", other than the covenant set out in Part VIB of the Second
Schedule to this Act,".

(5) In the Second Schedule to the principal Act (implied
covenants), Part VI shall be renumbered as Part VIA; and after that Part
there shall be inserted—

"PART VIB

COVENANT FOR FURTHER ASSURANCE IMPLIED IN ANY
CONVEYANCE, BY EVERY PERSON WHO CONVEYS AND IS
EXPRESSED TO CONVEY AS TRUSTEE OR MORTGAGEE, OR
AS ESTATE REPRESENTATIVE OF A DECEASED PERSON OR
UNDER AN ORDER OF THE COURT AND BY EVERY PERSON
WHO MAKES A VOLUNTARY CONVEYANCE

That the person so conveying will, from time to time, and at all
times after the date of the conveyance, on the request and at the
cost of any person to whom the conveyance is expressed to be
made, or of any person deriving title under him, execute and do
all such lawful assurances and things for further or more
perfectly assuring the subject-matter of the conveyance to the

person to whom the conveyance is made, and to those deriving
title under him, as by them or any of them shall be reasonably
required, subject as, if so expressed, and in the manner in which
the conveyance is expressed to be made."

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Service of notice on mortgagor
4 In section 31 of the principal Act (regulation of exercise of power of
sale) after subsection (1) there shall be inserted—

"(1A) For the purposes of subsection (1)(i) notice may be served—

(a) by delivering it to the mortgagor;

(b) by leaving it at the usual or last known place of
abode of the mortgagor;

(c) by sending it by prepaid registered post
addressed to the mortgagor at his usual or last
known place of abode; or

(d) by affixing it to some conspicuous part of the
mortgaged land."

Registration of voluntary conveyance
5 In section 39(1) of the principal Act (voluntary conveyance to be
deposited for registration within six months of its making) for the words
"shall within six months of the making thereof" there shall be substituted
"shall, within thirty days of its being duly stamped in accordance with
the Stamp Duties Act 1976,".

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