Section 49 — Priority of unregistered interests

(1)Except in the case of fraud, the entry of a caveat protecting an unregistered interest in land under the provisions of this Act gives that interest priority over any other unregistered interest not so protected at the time when the caveat was entered.

(2)Knowledge of the existence of an unregistered interest which has not been protected by a caveat is not of itself imputed as fraud.

(3)For the purposes of this section, the lodgment of an instrument for registration under the provisions of this Act has the same effect as the entry, on the date of such lodgment, of a caveat protecting the interest claimed under that instrument.

(4)Nothing in this section otherwise gives to any unregistered interest any greater effect than it may have under the instrument by which it was created.

(5)Any priority conferred by this section on an unregistered interest is lost if the caveat or other instrument in respect of which it is claimed lapses, or is withdrawn, or is otherwise disposed of.