|
|
Land registration
The Land Registry website provides lots of information, including application forms, practice guides, explanatory leaflets etc: www.landreg.gov.uk
On-line access to the register itself can be obtained at www.landregistrydirect.gov.uk.
Land Registration Act 2002
The Land Registration Act 2002 and the new Land Registration Rules 2003 were brought into force on 13 October 2003 (except for certain provisions relating to adverse possession - Sched 6, para 5(4) and (5) - i.e. relating to the boundary exception - which were brought into force on 13 October 2004). The Act replaced in its entirety the Land Registration Act 1925. The principal aim is to make the register as comprehensive as possible so as to facilitate e-conveyancing which is to be brought into being in stages.
Land Registration Act 2002 (Transitional Provisions) (No 2) Order 2003 (SI 2431) - adds a further overriding interest for a transitional period of 10 years in respect of liability to repair the chancel of any church.
Adjudicator
Disputes relating to land registration are now heard by an independent adjudicator; see sections 107 to 114. The first adjudicator is barrister, Edward Cousins. A number of deputy adjudicators have also been appointed.
Adjudicator to HM Land Registry (Practice and Procedure) Rules 2003 (SI 2171)
Land Registration (Referral to the HM Land Registry) Rules 2003 (SI 2114) - Deals with referrals to the registrar where it has not been possible to dispose of an objection to an action to be made by the registrar by agreement; see 73.
Land Registration (Acting Adjudicator) Regulations 2003 (SI 2342) - make provision for the carrying out of functions during any vacancy in the office of adjudicator.
Civil Partnership Act and land registration
Amendments to the Land Registry Rules and several Land Registry forms to take account of the changes which will be introduced by the Civil Partnership Act 2004./ Also to the Land Charges Rules for the same reason. This includes the prescribing of new forms for applications to register, renew and cancel land charges relating to home rights. (There are also amendments to the Land Charges Rules to change references from earlier legislation to the Family Law Act 1996).
Land Registration (Amendment) (No 2) Rules 2005 (SI 2005 No.1982)
The Land Charges (Amendment) Rules 2005 (SI 2005/1981)
Explanatory memorandum
Land Registry practice
For the Land Registry rules, forms, guides, explanatory leaflets and anything else you need to know in relation to Land Registry practice go to The Land Registry Website. See also in particular the page relating to fees.
For the registration requirements that relate to Commonhold see also the Commonhold section of the site.
Leases - prescribed clauses
The use of these clauses became compulsory on 19 June 2006. A set of standard details, known as prescribed clauses now need to appear at the beginning of any lease that needs to be registered. The prescribed clauses contain the information required by the Land Registry to complete registration of the lease. The clauses can be completed by setting out the necessary information on a front sheet at the beginning of the lease or (in most cases) by cross-referring on the front sheet to the relevant parts of the document. A full explanation is set out in the new Practice Guide 64, the link to which is below together with the rules themselves and other explanatory documents.
Land Registration (Amendment) (No 2) Rules 2005 (SI 2005 No.1982)
Explanatory memorandum
Land Registry Explanation
Practice Guide 64: Prescribed clauses leases
Addendum to PG 64 dealing with exempt leases.
Notices under the 2002 Act
Section 77 of the 2002 provides that a person must not exercise any of the following rights without reasonable cause i.e. (a) a right to lodge a caution against first registration; (b) the right to apply for the entry of a notice or restriction; and the right to object to an application to the registrar. Under subsection (2) the duty is owed to any person who suffers damage in consequence of this breach. If someone does make one of these applications is to possible to object and if there is a dispute about the objection the dispute will be referred to the new adjudicator, who may deal with the objection. However, the procedure before the adjudicator may take too long under the notice periods required by the rules. So, in this case, it was held that an application to remove the offending notice etc. may be made to the court. There was a contract for the sale of land where the completion date had passed after service of a notice to complete. The vendor now wanted to sell to someone else but the purchaser argued that there had been an agreed extension and applied for a unilateral notice. The court held that there was no agreed extension and that the vendor was not estopped in any way. It therefore made an order that the notice should be removed. The adjudication procedure under the LRA did not exclude the courts jurisdiction.
Comment: This case is a bit of a blow for the new adjudication procedure, highlighting that it may not be able to respond quickly enough. Those who rush to put notices on the register should also note that s77 will apply where they are not being reasonable.
Loubatiers v Mornington Estates UK Ltd decided 24 March 2004
Article: Misuse of notices by Paul Letman, 3 Hare Court Explains the full implications of the case. (Solicitors Journal 11 June 2004, p692). (The above note is based upon the article. The case is not reported and the transcript is not available).
Overriding interest under 1925 Act
A person who purchased land from a wrongdoer and had been entered on the register as legal owner took the title subject to the right of the lawful owner to seek rectification of the register. The rightful owner has sufficient standing to sue for trespass without rectification. It was in occupation and so had an overriding interest within section 70(1)(g) of the Land Registration Act 1925.
Malory Enterprises Ltd v Cheshire Homes (UK) Ltd, [2002] EWCA Civ 151 The Times, 21 March 2002.
Section 70(1)(g) of the Land Registration Act 1925 refers to the rights of every person in actual occupation of the land or in receipt of the rents and profits thereof . In this case the person claiming an overriding interest had a beneficial interest in the property under a bare trust and was receiving weekly payments under a tenancy by estoppel.
Held: The beneficial interest did not fall within the definition of land in s3(viii) and the sums payable under the tenancy by estoppel were not rent issuing out of or charged upon land within the definition of rent in s3(xxv). There was therefore no receipt of rents within s70(1)(g) and no overriding interest.
UCB Group Ltd v Hedworth [2002] EWCA 708; [2002] 46 EG 200.
Note: Under the Land Registration Act 2002 the definition of overriding interests has changed substantially; and no longer includes a person receiving rents schedules 1 and 3).
Rectification
Rectification sought by person with no private interest in the land - not allowed
Wells v Pilling Parish Council
[2008] EWHC 556 (Ch)
Summary
The right to be registered as proprietor of land at H. M. Land Registry is a private, not a public, right, and as such, any party seeking to challenge a person’s registration must have the necessary standing to do so.
Facts
The Council challenged the registration at H.M. Land Registry of Mr Wells as proprietor of land at Morecambe Bay with possessory title, on the grounds that he had not established title by adverse possession. However, the Council itself was not able to show that it had a right to the land adverse to that of Mr Wells, nor that its original application was made in exercise of a statutory power or function. The Council argued that any person could apply for alteration of the register, and this was upheld by the adjudicator.
Mr Wells appealed to the High Court, where the issue was one of whether the application to alter the register was one of private law or public law. The parties agreed that, if the application were a matter of private law, the Council would need to have standing to make the application but had no such standing, whereas if the application were a matter of public law, then the Council had a sufficient interest to make the application.
The decision
Lewison J. held that registration of land under the Land Registration Act 2002 is a private law matter (despite the fact that such registration is recorded in a register that is open to the public) and, as such, the Council did not have standing to make the application. Closing Mr Wells’ registered title would deprive him of a freehold estate in land, which was clearly a matter of private law.
Voluntary registration
Article: “Are you ready to beat the 2012 rush?” by Louise Crawford, Denton Wilde Sapte – A practical explanation of the Land Registry’s plans to effect comprehensive registration of all property in England and Wales by 2012. Louise explains the various methods the Land Registry is using to persuade land owners, particularly the large ones, to register on a voluntary basis now. These include much reduced fees and the use of the “Land Registry secondee”, ie a staff member who will sometimes be sent out to the landowner’s office to help sort out the deeds and prepare the applications. (Property Law Journal, 15 May 2006, p5). (See also this Land Registry webpage: Registering your land.
Back to top
|
|
|