A. When any instrument shall have been recorded in the office of the county clerk in the proper county for the period of five (5) years, and the instrument contains any of the following defects:

1. It has not been signed by the proper representative of a legal entity;

2. The representative is not authorized to execute the instrument on behalf of the legal entity;

3. A power of attorney has not been filed of record for an attorney in fact executing the instrument;

4. The seal of the legal entity has not been impressed on such instrument or the record does not show such seal;

5. The instrument is not acknowledged;

6. A deed or conveyance does not bear endorsement of approval by the appropriate governmental planning authority having jurisdiction; or

7. Any defect in the execution, acknowledgment, recording or certificate of recording the same,

such instrument shall, from and after the expiration of five (5) years from the filing thereof for record, be valid as though such instrument had, in the first instance, been in all respects duly executed, acknowledged, approved by the appropriate planning authority having jurisdiction, and certified. Such instrument or the record thereof or a duly-authenticated copy thereof shall be competent evidence without requiring the original to be produced or accounted for to the same extent that written instruments, duly executed and acknowledged, or the record thereof, are competent. However, nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect any rights acquired by grantees, assignees or encumbrancers subsequent to the filing of such instrument for record and prior to the expiration of five (5) years from the filing of such instrument for record.

B. This section shall apply to instruments recorded before or after November 1, 1995. However, with respect to those recorded before such date, the five-year period specified above shall not expire until one (1) year after the effective date of this act.

Added by Laws 1941, p. 56, § 1. Amended by Laws 1947, p. 81, § 1; Laws 1988, c. 168, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1988; Laws 1995, c. 232, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.