Section 41: Duties of notaries

41. Duties of notaries (1) A notary shall inform the parties to every notarial deed liable to a proportional duty of the penalties to which they expose themselves in case the full consideration or transaction giving rise to duty is not truly declared by them and expressed in the deed, and shall insert a clause in the deed stating that he has so informed the parties. (2) (a) In every document liable to proportional duty, the parties shall insert a clause declaring that to the best of their knowledge and belief the consideration or value of the transaction as expressed in the document represents the real value of the transaction or that the real value for the purposes of registration is estimated at a certain sum. (b) A declaration under paragraph (a) may be made by any party to the document. (3) Subject to sections 16 and 17, where the Receiver is satisfied that a document presented for registration contains a false expression of the consideration or transaction liable to duty, all the parties to the document shall be liable to a penalty equal to the amount of the duty unpaid on the true consideration or transaction liable to duty. (4) Notwithstanding any other enactment, every notary shall, when drawing up a deed of transfer, ascertain from the parties to the transfer the identity of the ultimate beneficial owner of the property. (5) Where the ultimate beneficial owner of the property referred to in subsection (4) is a non-citizen, the notary shall, forthwith, notify the Secretary for Home Affairs of the fact. [S. 41 amended by s. 6 of Act 9 of 1997 w.e.f. 30 July 1997; s. 27 (13) (b) of Act 33 of 2004 w.e.f. 1 July 2006; s. 4 (k) of Act 4 of 2006 w.e.f. 2 October 2004; s. 37 (c) of Act 14 of 2009 w.e.f. 30 July 2009.] R15 – 25 [Issue 7] Registration Duty Act