18A—Legal assistance costs may be secured by charge on land
(1) Where, pursuant to
a condition on which legal assistance is granted, legal assistance costs
payable to the Commission are to be secured by a charge on land, the Director
may lodge with the Registrar-General a notice (in a form approved by the
Registrar-General) specifying the land to be charged and certifying that legal
assistance costs are to be charged on the land.
(2) Where a notice is
lodged under subsection (1), the Registrar-General must register the
notice by entering a memorandum of charge in the register book or register of
Crown leases.
(3) If the land to be
charged is not under the Real Property Act 1886 a notice specifying the
land to be charged and certifying that legal assistance costs are to be
charged on the land may be registered in the General Registry Office.
(4) Where a notice is
lodged with the Registrar-General or registered in the General Registry Office
under this section, the Director must inform the assisted person in writing of
the action so taken.
(5) On the
registration of a notice under this section, legal assistance costs payable to
the Commission are a charge on the land for the benefit of the fund (and the
notice is, for the purposes of section 56 of the Real Property
Act 1886 , treated as if it were an instrument presented for registration
at the time the notice was lodged).
(6) If any default is
made in the payments towards legal assistance costs, the Commission has the
same powers of sale over the land charged as are given by the
Real Property Act 1886 to a mortgagee under a mortgage in respect of
which default has been made in the payment of principal (and a sale by
the Commission is, for the purposes of that Act, treated as if it were such a
sale by a mortgagee).
(6a) If the charged
land is sold by a mortgagee or encumbrancee, the charge is, for the purposes
of sections 135 and 135A of the Real Property Act 1886 , to
be treated as if it were an encumbrance referred to in those sections.
(7) Where the amount
secured by a charge registered under this section is paid or recovered or
the Commission determines that such a charge is no longer required,
the Director must—
(a) in
the case of a charge on land under the Real Property Act 1886
—request the Registrar-General to remove the charge;
(b) in
the case of a charge on land not under the Real Property Act 1886
—register a notice of the removal of the charge in the General Registry
Office.
(8) The
Registrar-General must, on receipt of a request for the removal of a charge on
land under the Real Property Act 1886 , register a memorandum of the
removal of the charge in the register book or register of Crown leases.
(9) No stamp duty or
fee is payable in respect of any notice lodged or action of the
Registrar-General pursuant to this section.