Erunasani Kivumbi & 3 Ors v The Registrar of Titles (Miscellaneous Cause No. 102 of 2009) (Miscellaneous Cause No. 102 of 2009)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

Where letters of administration to an estate have been judicially revoked and re-granted to new administrators, and the former administrator had registered land titles in his name as part of the estate, the court will order the Registrar of Titles to cancel those registrations and rectify the certificates of title by substituting the names of the new administrators to enable proper administration of the estate.

Outcome

Consequential order granted; former administrator's name to be removed from land titles and replaced with names of new administrators

Facts

The applicants were granted letters of administration to the estate of the late Samuel Bategwanga Ssemwanga by the Chief Magistrate's Court of Mengo, replacing Hassan Bin Salim Lubega whose letters of administration had been revoked. During the period when Hassan Bin Salim Lubega held the letters of administration under Administration Cause No. 67 of 1982, he had registered himself as proprietor on certificates of title for land forming part of the estate, specifically land comprised in Kibuga Block 25 Plot 222. The applicants sought an order directing the Registrar of Titles to cancel Hassan Bin Salim Lubega's registration and substitute it with their names as the new administrators. The respondent was served with the application on 7 January 2010 but failed to file any response or appear. The court granted the applicants' request to proceed ex parte on 4 March 2010.

Issues

1. Whether the court should order cancellation of registration and rectification of certificates of title where letters of administration have been revoked and re-granted to different administrators.

Orders

• Application allowed without costs.
• Consequential order granted directing the Registrar of Titles to cancel all registration of Hassan Bin Salim Lubega on all certificates of title forming part of the estate of late Samuel Bategwanga Ssemwanga.
• Certificates of title to be rectified by substituting and replacing the names of Hassan Bin Salim Lubega with those of the applicants as administrators of the estate.

Rules and key headnotes

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.