Title 2, Natural Resources

Registration Areas: Designation. The Senior Land Commissioner shall designate a registration area or areas within which he or she believes it will be desirable and practicable to register within a year most of the land, including all that concerning which there are no major dispu…

Registration Area: Filing of Designation; Court Actions Concerning Designated Area. A copy of the Senior Land Commissioner’s designation of any registration shall be filed with the Recorder of the Commonwealth Trial Court. Thereafter, the court shall not entertain any action with…

Registration Area: Survey and Boundaries. Upon the designation of a registration area, the Senior Land Commissioner shall cause an accurate survey to be made of the exterior bounds of the area and thereafter to make such surveys of plots or claim and place such markers within the…

Land Registration Teams: Duties Generally. (a) A land registration team shall: (1) Upon its appointment, institute a preliminary inquiry regarding the title to all lands claimed by individuals, families, or otherwise, within the area for which it is responsible and, if satisfied …

Settlement of Disputed Claims. (a) Each land registration team shall endeavor to adjudicate the claims to as much land within the area for which it is responsible as is practicable within a year after that area has been designated. It shall endeavor to avoid becoming involved in …

Review of Record of Adjudication by Senior Land Commissioner. Upon receipt of an adjudication from a land registration team and the record on which it is based, the Senior Land Commissioner shall review the record and: (a) If satisfied therewith, make a determination of ownership…

Notice of Hearing. (a) Before commencement of a hearing with respect to any claim, notice containing a description of the claim and the date, time, and place of hearing shall be given at least 30 days in advance of the hearing as follows: (1) By posting such notice on the land in…

Authority to Administer Oaths, Take Testimony, etc. The Senior Land Commissioner and each of its land registration teams shall have the authority to administer oaths to witnesses, take testimony under oath, subpoena witnesses, order the production of papers and documents, and pun…

Conduct of Hearings. In conducting hearings, the Senior Land Commissioner and each land registration team shall be guided by its procedural regulations, if any, or in the absence thereof, the Commonwealth Trial Court Rules of Civil Procedure. The Senior Land Commissioner and each…

Hearings Involving Minors or Incompetents. If the Senior Land Commissioner or a land registration team finds that any party in interest is a minor or incompetent, the Senior Land Commissioner or team, as the case may be, shall appoint one person to act as guardian and represent s…

Notice of Determination of Ownership. Notice of all determinations of ownership by the Senior Land Commissioner shall be given promptly in the same manner as prescribed in 2 CMC § 4244 for notices of hearings. Source: PL 3-79, § 17. Commission Comment: With respect to the referen…

Review of Determination of Ownership. Any person who has actual or constructive notice of the determination of ownership and who claims an interest in the property which is the subject of the determination of ownership and who disagrees with the determination of ownership may fil…

Certificate of Title: Issuance. (a) After the time for appeal from a determination of ownership by the Senior Land Commissioner has expired without any complaint for review having been filed, the Senior Land Commissioner shall issue a certificate of title setting forth the names …

Certificate of Title: Registration. The original certificate of title shall be bound in a permanent register. This register shall remain in the custody of and under the supervision of the Senior Land Commissioner. All original maps, plats and subdivision maps registered with the …

Restrictions on Landing on Aguiguan. (a) No aircraft or personal landings on the island of Aguiguan shall be allowed without first obtaining the written permission of the Mayor of Tinian and Aguiguan, and such landings shall be subject to any reasonable and nondiscriminatory cond…

Penalty. Any person found guilty of violating this chapter shall be fined not more than $300, or imprisoned not more than three months, or both. Source: PL 1-18, § 4.

Creation of Condominium. (a) A condominium may be created pursuant to this division only by recording a declaration executed, in the same manner as a deed, by all persons whose interests in the real estate will be conveyed in whole or in part to the unit owners. The declaration s…

Unit Boundaries. Except as provided by the declaration: (a) If walls, floors, or ceilings are designated as boundaries of a unit, all lath, furring, wallboard, plasterboard, plaster, paneling, tiles, wallpaper, paint, finished flooring, and any other materials constituting any pa…

Construction and Validity of Declaration and Bylaws. (a) All provisions of the declaration and bylaws are severable. (b) The rule against perpetuities may not be applied to defeat any provision of the declaration or this division, or any instrument executed pursuant to the declar…

Description of Units. After the declaration is recorded, a description of a unit which sets forth the name of the condominium, the recording data for the declaration, the district in which the condominium is located, and the identifying number of the unit, is a sufficient legal d…

Contents of Declaration: All Condominiums. The declaration for a condominium must contain: (a) The name of the condominium, which must include the word “condominium” or be followed by the words “a condominium”; (b) The name of every district in which any part of the condominium i…

Contents of Declaration: Flexible Condominium. The declaration for a flexible condominium shall include, in addition to the matters specified in 2 CMC § 6205: (a) An explicit reservation of any options to create units, limited common elements, or both, within convertible real est…

Leasehold Condominiums. (a) Any lease the expiration or termination of which may terminate the condominium or reduce its size, or a memorandum thereof, shall be recorded, and the declaration shall state: (1) The recording data for the lease or a statement of where the complete le…

Allocation of Common Element Interests, Votes, and Common Expense Liabilities. (a) The declaration shall allocate a fraction or percentage of undivided interests in the common elements and in the common expenses of the association, and a portion of the votes in the association, t…

Limited Common Elements. (a) Except for the limited common elements described in 2 CMC § 6202(b) and (d), the declaration shall specify to which unit or units each limited common element is allocated. That allocation may not be altered without the consent of the unit owners whose…

Plats and Plans. (a) Plats and plans are a part of the declaration. Separate plats and plans are not required by this division if all the information required by this section is contained in either a plat or plan. Each plat and plan must be clear and legible and contain a certifi…

Conversion and Expansion of Flexible Condominiums. (a) To convert convertible real estate or add additional real estate pursuant to an option reserved under 2 CMC § 6206(a), the declarant shall prepare, execute and record an amendment to the declaration (2 CMC § 6219) and comply …

Withdrawal of Withdrawable Real Estate. (a) To withdraw withdrawable real estate from a flexible condominium pursuant to an option reserved under 2 CMC § 6206(a), the declarant shall prepare, execute, and record an amendment to the declaration containing a legally sufficient desc…

Alterations of Units. Subject to the provisions of the declaration and other provisions of law, a unit owner: (a) May make any improvements or alterations to his or her unit that do not impair the structural integrity or mechanical systems or lessen the support of any portion of …

Relocation of Boundaries Between Adjoining Units. (a) Subject to the provisions of the declaration and other provisions of law, the boundaries between adjoining units may be relocated by an amendment to the declaration upon application to the association by the owners of those un…

Subdivision or Conversion of Units. (a) If the declaration expressly so permits, a unit may be subdivided into two or more units or, in the case of a unit owned by a declarant, may be subdivided or converted into two or more units, common elements, or a combination of units and c…

Easement for Encroachments. To the extent that any unit or common element encroaches on any other unit or common element, a valid easement for the encroachment exists. The easement does not relieve a unit owner of liability in case of his willful misconduct nor relieve a declaran…

Use for Sales Purposes. A declarant may maintain sales offices, management offices, and models in the condominium only if the declaration so provides and specifies the rights of a declarant with regard to the number, size, location, and relocation thereof. Any sales office, manag…

Easement to Facilitate Completion, Conversion, and Expansion. Subject to the provisions of the declaration, a declarant has an easement through the common elements as may be reasonably necessary for the purpose of discharging a declarant’s obligations or exercising special declar…

Amendment of Declaration. (a) Except in cases of amendments that may be executed by a declarant under 2 CMC §§ 6210(e) and (f), 6211(a) or 6212(a); the association under 2 CMC §§ 6107, 6207(d), 6209(c) or 6215(a); or certain unit owners under 2 CMC §§ 6209(b), 6214(a), 6215(b) or…

Termination of Condominium. (a) Except in the case of a taking of all the units by eminent domain (2 CMC § 6107), a condominium may be terminated only by agreement of unit owners of units to which at least 80 percent of the votes in the association are allocated, or any larger pe…

Rights of Secured Lenders. The declaration may require that all or a specified number or percentage of the mortgagees or beneficiaries of deeds of trust encumbering the units approve specified actions of the unit owners or the association as a condition to the effectiveness of th…

Short Title. This law may be cited as the Zoning Code of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Source: PL 6-32, § 1 (§ 7201), modified. Commission Comment: PL 6-32 took effect June 27, 1989. PL 6-32 § 1 (§ 7261) provides that the “Zoning Board and Office of the Zoning…

Purpose and Objectives. (a) The Sixth Northern Marianas Legislature finds that there is a developing awareness of the need to promote a rational pattern of growth, to provide for competing land uses, to abate nuisances, and to manage all environmental resources of the Commonwealt…

Policy and Jurisdiction. (a) It shall be the policy of the Commonwealth, implemented by the Zoning Board to: (1) Protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of and visitors to the Commonwealth; (2) Promote and encourage basic public services which meet the ne…

Definitions. As used in this chapter: (a) “Act” or “chapter” means this legislation and the regulations issued under its authority. (b) “Consistency” means zoning shall further enhance the goals and policies of the plan, further the aims and intent of the zoning districts by impl…

Zoning Board: Creation, Responsibilities, Composition, Term, Compensation, Meetings, Appeals. (a) Creation. There is established in the Commonwealth government a Zoning Board. (b) General Responsibilities. The Zoning Board shall be responsible for the following: (1) To educate th…

Zoning Administrator: Creation, Responsibilities, Staffing. (a) Creation of Position. There is established in the Commonwealth government the position of zoning administrator. The administrator shall serve at the pleasure of the Zoning Board. The administrator shall have at least…

Zoning Advisory Council. (a) There is established in the Commonwealth a Zoning Advisory Council. (b) Purpose. The Zoning Advisory Council is established to: (1) Advise the Zoning Board on the appropriate components of the zoning plan. (2) Advise the Zoning Board on any proposed i…

Land Use Districts. (a) Creation. Land use districts shall be established to preserve, protect and encourage the development of lands in the Commonwealth for those uses to which the lands are best suited in accordance with sound planning principles and in the interest of the heal…

Nonconforming Uses or Structures. (a) Continuance of Nonconforming Uses and Structures. Within the districts designated by the Zoning Board in its proposed zoning plan and which become law by enactment of the legislature or by popular initiative, as provided in 2 CMC § 7221, or w…