Origin of Species, Registry Style

Here’s a story that describes how condominiums are handled in Registered Land and how that process has changed over the years. Of course, this account might be more myth than fact, but it’s the best I can do. If you know otherwise, please use the comment feature to clear things up. When condominiums first became popular in the late 1960s, the Land Court decided that certificates of title for condominiums should be placed in separate certificate books with each condominium complex in a separate book. That was certainly a logical approach: the master deed that created the condominium would be the first certificate in the book. As each unit was sold or resold, a unit certificate would be placed within the same book. At some point, probably in the mid-1980s when the Wang computer system was installed, the Middlesex South Registry in Cambridge received court permission to handle condominium certificates differently. In the Wang system, all master deeds were placed in separate certificate books that contained only master deeds. These certificate books became known as “C” (for condominium) books. Then, certificates of title for individual condominium units would be placed in another set of books, known as “U” (for unit) books. When the Wang system spread to Lowell, Worcester and Greenfield, those registries all adopted the Cambridge way of organizing registered land condominium certificates of titles. Most of the remaining registries, however, retained the original “separate book for each condo complex” method. When ACS arrived in Massachusetts in the spring of 2002 with instructions to duplicate the existing registered land method of operation, ACS duplicated the Cambridge system since four of the five registries that first received the ACS system all were operating Wang computers. Now, as more and more registries switch to the ACS system, they must transition to the Cambridge system of organizing registered land condominium certificates of title. That’s where we now stand. If anyone has a different version of events, please share it.