The Revocation of Irrevocable Deeds of Gift on the ground of Gross Ingratitude Act, no. 5 of 2017 took effect on the 4th of April, 2017.

The Revocation of Irrevocable Deeds of Gift on the ground of Gross Ingratitude Act, no. 5 of 2017 took effect on the 4th of April, 2017.

The new Act provides that an irrevocable deed of gift may be revoked on the ground of gross ingratitude, only on an Order made by a competent Court, in an action filed by the donor of such deed against the donee to have the said deed revoked.

Any such action must be instituted within ten years from the date of the execution of such deed of gift and within two years from the date on which the cause of action arose. Any such action must be registered as a lis pendens.

The Act sets out on a statutory basis the requirement for a Court action, which was also the accepted position in the common law until a judgment of the Court of Appeal in 2007.

It is expected that the enactment of the new Act will reduce uncertainties in regard to title to lands which had arisen due to the 2007 judgment.

According to the Law Reform Commission, the 2007 judgment had “given rise to a situation where lending institutions who had prior to this judgment accepted title of the Donee and taken the land as collateral in granting loans is now placed in a disadvantaged position as on unilateral revocation by the donor they will lose the security on which the loan was granted. There is also the possibility that the Donee in connivance with the Donor for the purpose of defrauding the lending institutions can now execute deeds of revocations without going to Court.”

The new law is meant to address an lay to rest this aspect of uncertainty of title to land.