Ve­nee­ta Ram­s­ingh

Stu­dent, Hugh Wood­ing Law School

The Mo­tor Ve­hi­cles and Road Traf­fic Act Chap. 48:50 iden­ti­fies the pro­ce­dure for chang­ing the own­er­ship of a ve­hi­cle or trans­fer­ring it to an­oth­er per­son. Sec­tion 19 of the act sets out the in­stances where a per­son may do so oth­er than by death.

The pro­ce­dure is gen­er­al­ly as fol­lows:

The ve­hi­cle must not be used for more than sev­en days af­ter the change of own­er­ship un­less the new own­er has been reg­is­tered as such.

With­in sev­en days af­ter the change of own­er­ship, the reg­is­tered own­er and the new own­er must sub­mit a writ­ten ap­pli­ca­tion signed by both of them to the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty. This ap­pli­ca­tion gives de­tails of the name and ad­dress of the new own­er and the date of change of pos­ses­sion. The ve­hi­cle's cer­tifi­cate of reg­is­tra­tion and the pre­scribed fee must ac­com­pa­ny this ap­pli­ca­tion.

An of­fi­cer of the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty will en­dorse the cer­tifi­cate of reg­is­tra­tion and pro­ceed to sub­sti­tute on the reg­is­ter the name of the new own­er for that of the reg­is­tered own­er. The of­fi­cer will then date and ini­tial the change and from that date the new own­er will be deemed the reg­is­tered own­er of the ve­hi­cle de­scribed on the reg­is­ter and on the cer­tifi­cate of reg­is­tra­tion.

The reg­is­tered own­er and the new own­er must both present them­selves to the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty. The ve­hi­cle that is be­ing trans­ferred must al­so be present at the time of the trans­fer to al­low for prop­er in­spec­tion.

Can a com­pa­ny trans­fer own­er­ship of a ve­hi­cle?

Yes. A di­rec­tor of the com­pa­ny is re­quired to write a let­ter of au­tho­ri­sa­tion per­mit­ting a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the com­pa­ny to act on be­half of it. This let­ter is to be giv­en to the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty be­fore the pro­ce­dure to trans­fer own­er­ship can be­gin.

Can an ill or dis­abled per­son trans­fer own­er­ship of a ve­hi­cle?

Yes. Where due to ill­ness or dis­abil­i­ty a per­son is un­able to be present for the trans­fer of the ve­hi­cle, an of­fi­cer of the li­cens­ing di­vi­sion ap­point­ed by the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty must vis­it the ill or dis­abled per­son and the ve­hi­cle, wher­ev­er they are lo­cat­ed, to al­low for the trans­fer. A fee must be paid by or on be­half of the ill or dis­abled per­son to ef­fect the trans­fer.

Can a per­son who is out of the ju­ris­dic­tion trans­fer own­er­ship of a ve­hi­cle?

Yes. Where the per­son is out of the coun­try, the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty may trans­fer the reg­is­tra­tion of the ve­hi­cle. To do so, the par­ty who is at­tend­ing at the li­cens­ing au­thor­i­ty must pro­duce a sworn af­fi­davit stat­ing that the oth­er par­ty is out of the coun­try.

n This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult a le­gal ad­vis­er.