Heirs who sought to register the land they inherited in the Land Registry discovered that their land was sold not by the true owner and based on a forged probate order.
The court accepted the claim in part, due to non-compliance with the land registration regulations and in light of the general rule of the market regulation. The land regulations stipulate that in order to register real estate based on inheritance, an original inheritance order or at least a copy certified by a notary must be presented, and the land registrar is also obliged to double-check any application submitted with all its documents. However, even if an application was registered on the basis of inauthentic documents, the market regulation recognizes the ownership of the purchaser when the transaction was made in good faith. Here, no examination was carried out by the land registrar, the seals, dates and inheritance file number were incorrect, and the registrar approved the application on the basis of a document that purported to be a copy of the inheritance order, without requiring the production of the original order or at least a notarized copy. However, the purchaser of the land who was unaware of the forgery and relied on the register in good faith. Therefore, despite the registrar’s forgery and negligence, the purchase was not canceled, but the state was required to pay financial compensation.
