Waiting for the Transfer: What a Taiwan Provisional Registration Protects

A signed land contract leaves the seller's name on Taiwan's register until the transfer is registered. Civil Code Article 758, paragraph 1 says that acquiring a real property right through a juristic act has no effect without registration. The buyer holds the agreed transfer claim (Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 1, item 1). Ownership has yet to change.

A loan approval, and a seller who could still sell

An American engineer in Hsinchu and his Taiwanese wife agree to buy a plot outside the city from an acquaintance. She is the buyer; the contract calls for transfer after her bank approves a loan (an invented example).

During the loan review, the seller's name stays on the register under Civil Code Article 758, paragraph 1. What if the seller agrees to another sale before then?

Land Act Article 79-1 provides for 預告登記, called a "registration of caution" in the official English translation. If the husband buys in his own name, foreign buyer eligibility is a separate question.

The owner's consent comes first

Article 79-1 of the Land Act, paragraph 1, lists the claims a provisional registration can preserve: claims for the transfer of a land right or for its extinguishment (item 1), claims to change the content or priority of a land right (item 2), and claims subject to a condition or a time limit (item 3). The wife's claim to receive the land once the loan comes through is a transfer claim under item 1. Item 3 separately names claims that hang on a condition. A pending loan approval does not take her claim off the list.

The claimant must apply with the registered owner's written consent under Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 1. In this example, the wife is the claimant and the seller is the registered owner. Article 137, paragraph 1, of the Regulations of the Land Registration also requires the consent letter, in addition to the documents specified in Article 34. Article 137(2) requires the registered owner to appear in person and follow the Article 40 procedure unless a listed exception applies. If the seller cannot attend, the couple needs to check whether an exception applies.

Without the owner's letter, the claimant cannot meet the application requirement in Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 1. A contract that postpones the transfer should also address when the owner will provide that letter and what claim it will identify. Even after the letter is signed, the effect in paragraph 2 depends on an actual registration.

What if the seller offers to sign only once the loan is approved? Until then there is no provisional registration, and paragraph 2 of Article 79-1 does nothing for her. The gap she was worried about stays open.

Before filing, the wife should make sure the consent and application describe the claim she intends to record. Paragraph 2 of Article 79-1 protects "所登記之請求權", the claim as registered. The consent and the application should identify the parcel, the right to be transferred and the loan condition, so that any later argument about whether a disposition hinders the claim has a fixed reference point. The condition in the contract and the wording of the consent should match.

When the seller disposes of the land

Paragraph 2 of Article 79-1 is where the registration gets its force: before the provisional registration is cancelled, a disposition of the land by the registered owner is void if it hinders the registered claim. After cancellation, paragraph 2 no longer applies. A disposition that does not hinder the recorded claim also falls outside it. The provision does not freeze every later entry.

What if the seller transfers the same plot to a third party after the provisional registration is entered? That is the buyer's worst case. A third party in that position is buying land whose register already shows the provisional registration. While the registration remains uncancelled, a transfer that hinders the wife's registered claim is void under Article 79-1, paragraph 2.

Mortgages pose a separate question. The register extract may show a mortgage entered after the provisional registration, but that alone does not settle whether it hinders the recorded transfer claim. Read the entry alongside the contract and the claim as registered. Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 2 requires both an uncancelled registration and a disposition that hinders that claim.

Expropriation, judgments and compulsory execution

Paragraph 3 of Article 79-1 sets the outer edge: a provisional registration has no effect of excluding a new registration made because of expropriation, a court judgment or compulsory execution. If one of the seller's creditors enforces against the plot, the new registration that follows is not excluded. The same holds for a new registration based on a court judgment, or one that follows an expropriation of the land. The register is not frozen. That is one reason to look into the seller's debts before signing.

The provisional registration preserves the wife’s transfer claim under Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 1. It does not give her ownership. Civil Code Article 758, paragraph 1 still requires the transfer to be registered.

When the loan comes through

An application to cancel the provisional registration must include the original claimant's consent letter. Article 146, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Regulations of the Land Registration also require that claimant to appear in person and follow the Article 40 procedure unless a listed exception applies. These requirements matter even if the seller applies for cancellation. If the wife is asked to consent before the transfer, she should check what will happen next. Once the provisional registration is cancelled, the effect of Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 2 ends.

For a registration preserving a transfer claim, Article 146, paragraph 3 provides another route. If the claimant joins in applying for the transfer registration and states in the application's remarks column that the provisional registration will be cancelled at the same time, the procedures in paragraphs 1 and 2 need not be followed. The wife must keep the provisional registration uncancelled if she wants Land Act Article 79-1, paragraph 2 to apply during the loan review. Once the loan is approved, she and the seller can consider the joint transfer and cancellation application.

What a Taiwan lawyer can be retained for

In this situation a Taiwan lawyer can review the sale agreement, the land-register extract and the seller's draft consent together, and define the claim to be recorded: which parcel, which right, which condition. The work can include checking the entries already on the register, drafting or checking the consent letter and the application, and advising on how the contract should fix the date the consent is delivered. If the seller cannot attend in person, a lawyer can check whether an exception under Article 137, paragraph 2, of the Regulations applies. After registration, the lawyer can assess whether a later disposition by the seller hinders the recorded claim and, at closing, check the transfer application's cancellation remark under Article 146, paragraph 3.

For a consultation with an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei, you can write to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan. Bring the contract showing the loan condition and a current land-register extract.

Official sources

• Land Act (土地法), Art. 79-1, full text, and the official English translation, used for the term "registration of caution" (the Chinese text governs)
• Civil Code (民法), Art. 758
• Regulations of the Land Registration (土地登記規則), Art. 34, Art. 40, Art. 137, Art. 146

Checked: October 16, 2026 (current texts of all three laws)