Land Registration Act 2002

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Land Registration Act 2002

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Long title An Act to make provision

about land registration;
and for connected
purposes.

Citation 2002 c 9

Introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord

Irvine, 21 June 2001[1]

Territorial extent England and Wales[2]

Dates

Royal assent 26 February 2002

Commencement 13 October 2003

Repealed —

Other legislation

Amended by —

Repealed by —
 Relates to Land Registration Rules
2003
Land Registration
(Amendment) Rules 2005
Land Registration
(Amendment) (No.2)
Rules 2005

Status: Current legislation

Text of statute as originally enacted

Text of the Land Registration Act 2002 as

in force today (including any amendments)
within the United Kingdom,
from legislation.gov.uk.

The Land Registration Act 2002 (c 9) is an Act of the Parliament of the

United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation
governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925,
which governed an earlier, though similar, system. The Act, together with
the Land Registration Rules,[3][4][5] regulates the role and practice of HM
Land Registry.

Contents

 1Background
 2Land registration
o 2.1Grades of title
 3Registerable dispositions
 4Priority
o 4.1Restrictions
o 4.2Notices
 5Adverse possession
 6Objection and adjudication
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References
Background[edit]
Main article: History of English land law
The Land Registration Act 2002 was introduced in response to the Law
Commission and HM Land Registry report, Land Registration for the
Twenty-first Century (2001).[6] The Act:

 Simplified and modernised the law of land registration;

 Made the register reflect a more accurate picture of a title to land,
showing more fully the rights and subsidiary interests that affect it;
and
 Was intended to facilitate the introduction of e-conveyancing.
The Act made some major changes to the law regulating registered land.
Specifically, it:

 Enabled shorter leases to be registered;

 Further encouraged voluntary land registration;
 Changed the system of protection of third party rights; and
 Reformed and modernised the law of adverse possession (squatters'
rights).
 Repealed the Land Transfer Act 1875
 Repealed the Land Registration Act 1925

Land registration[edit]
Section 4 stipulates that registration of an estate in land is compulsory
when one of the following events occurs:

 Freehold estate is transferred, whether under a sale, gift or other

circumstances;
 Legal lease for more than seven years is granted;
 Legal lease with more than seven years to run is transferred; or
 Grant of a first legal charge (mortgage).
Failure to register when required, means that the purchaser or transferee
gains only an equitable title to the land and the seller or transferor
remains as the registered proprietor. A person with an equitable
title, i.e. who has failed to register, cannot take advantage of the priority
rules found in sections 29 and 30 of the Act and may be vulnerable if the
(still) registered proprietor attempts another dealing with the land.
Grades of title[edit]
On first registration, the registrar awards a grade of title to each
registered estate.
In the case of freehold estates, one of the following grades of title may
be awarded according to s. 11 of the Act:

 Absolute title – This shows there is nothing dubious about the title.
The estate is vested in the proprietor and is subject only to entries on
the register and unregistered interests which override (commonly
called an overriding interest). Title does not have to be perfect – if the
registrar believes that any defect will "not cause the holding under the
title to be disturbed", absolute title will be given – s.9(3) LRA.
 Possessory freehold title – there is no documentary evidence of title
(e.g. lost title deeds). Title depends on adverse possession. It
conveys no guarantee of title at the time of registration,
but subsequent problems (e.g. forgery of proprietor's signature) will
be covered by the guarantee. It can be upgraded into absolute title
after being in possession as proprietor for 12 years (s.62(1), (4)).
 Qualified freehold title – the title is subject to a fundamental defect.
There is no guarantee in respect of the specified defect. It may be
upgraded to absolute title if registrar is satisfied as to the title – s.62
LRA.
In the case of leasehold estates, one of the following grades of title may
be awarded according to s. 12 of the Act:

 Absolute leasehold title – same as absolute freehold except the

proprietor is also subject to covenants in the lease
 Good leasehold title – same as absolute leasehold except the right of
the landlord to grant the lease is not guaranteed
 Possessory leasehold title – same as possessory freehold
 Qualified leasehold title – same as qualified freehold

Registerable dispositions[edit]
These are proprietary rights which are only legal if registered.
Dispositions subject to registration according to s. 27 are:

 any transfer of a freehold, whether for value or by way of gift or on

death
 the grant of a legal lease for more than seven years
 the grant of a legal lease taking effect in possession in three or more
months from grant
 the grant of a legal charge (a mortgage)
 the express grant of legal easement
According to s. 27(1): "If a disposition is required to be completed by
registration it does not operate at law until the relevant requirements are
met."

Priority[edit]
According to s. 29 of the Act, a person acquiring an interest under a
registrable disposition for valuable consideration (being usually a
freehold or leasehold, but also including a legal mortgage) and having
been registered successfully as owner of the interest, takes it subject to
only:

 an entry on the register, mainly a Notice in the charges register

 unregistered interests which override (overriding interests)
 interests excepted from the effects of registration (a category now
otiose)
 and if the estate is a lease, to burdens incidental to the lease
All other interests are postponed to the interest under the disposition –
i.e. the successfully registered purchaser's interest gets priority over all
other interests.
Note: if the transferee is not a purchaser (such as the recipient of a gift,
or under a will), he or she takes the title subject to all pre-existing
proprietary interests affecting the land – see s.28 LRA 2002
Restrictions[edit]
A restriction on the proprietorship register prevents the registration of a
disposition unless complied with.
This is the appropriate way of alerting a purchaser of the existence of an
equitable family interest which arises under a trust of land. A restriction
does not protect the priority of that interest, nor any right of occupation –
it notifies the purchaser of the interest. In any event, in the normal case,
the purchaser will overreach and in such cases it is immaterial whether
the purchaser knows of the equitable family interest or not. (Law of
Property Act 1925; Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act
1996)
Restrictions are also useful to control dealings with the land as a
secondary means of protection. For example, a person with an option to
purchase land (e.g. a developer) should protect that interest by means of
a Notice. However, they may also enter a restriction to prevent, or to be
alerted to, any attempt to transfer the land in breach of the option.
Notices[edit]
According to s. 32 of the Act: "A notice is an entry on the [charges]
register in respect of a burden of an interest affecting a registered estate
or charge."
According to s. 33, the following interests cannot be protected by a
notice:

 the interest of a beneficiary under a trust of land

 a lease granted for less than three years
 restrictive covenants in a lease
 and certain other minor property rights.
In all cases, these interests are protected against a purchaser by other
means.
According to s. 34, all other interests may be protected by a notice.
Examples include:

 equitable easements
 freehold restrictive covenants
 equitable leases
 estate contracts, including options to purchase and rights of pre-
emption.

Adverse possession[edit]
The Act is known for the changes it has made to the rules
regulating adverse possession in relation to registered land (the rules
applicable to unregistered land remain the same, and 12 years
possession is still required to obtain title).
The Act provides that anyone who occupies registered land without
permission from the owner and treats it as his own for 10 years is
entitled to apply to be registered as owner, although the system
introduced by the Act means that few claims will succeed. Specifically,
according to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 6 to the Act:
A person may apply to the registrar to be registered as the
proprietor of a registered estate in land if he has been in adverse
possession of the estate for the period of ten years ending on the
date of the application.
The Land Registry is obliged to notify the registered proprietor of the
land that an application for possessory title has been made. The
registered proprietor then has 65 business days to object to the
registration. The objection may dispute the applicant's right to be
registered as owner or, more usually, the registered proprietor will
claim the benefit of the process found in paragraph 5 of Schedule 6.
This provides that a registered proprietor who objects has a further
two years to evict the adverse possessor. It will be enough to secure
eviction within these two years that the registered proprietor relies on
their registered title. No other reason need be given. Failure to secure
the eviction of the adverse possessor within these two years gives
the adverse possessor the right to re-apply to be registered and such
a second application will be successful.
In three special cases, the adverse possessor may be registered as
proprietor without having to wait for two further years and even if the
proprietor objects. These special cases usually arise because the
adverse possessor has some other reason for claiming ownership in
addition to their possession for (at least) 10 years.
The new rules regulating adverse possession can be found in Part
9 of the Act, and the rules regulating the procedures for registration of
an adverse possessor can be found at Schedule 6 to the Act.
These rules are much more difficult to satisfy than the common
law with regard to adverse possession, although it is now clear that
all rules of adverse possession (in unregistered land, under the LRA
1925 and under the LRA 2002) are human rights compliant, see
generally the judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court
of Human Rights in J. A. Pye (Oxford) Ltd and Another v United
Kingdom. Cobb and Fox's article[7] argues that the 2002 Act unjustly
favours landowners in claims of adverse possession (through
paragraphs 2 and 3 of Schedule 6), whilst overlooking the moral
issues surrounding squatting. The reform brought by the 2002 Act
holds the view that intentional squatting "...at least in some cases, is
tantamount to sanctioning a theft of land'". [8] Meanwhile, the
registered proprietor is deemed 'blameless' even where the property
has been forgotten,[9] with the 2002 Act "...designed to protect
registered proprietors from the possibility of such oversight or
inadvertence".[7] Therefore, Cobb and Fox have argued the current
law overlooks the moral justifications of adverse possession, such as
increasingly unaffordable housing and to prevent 'stagnating land',
instead enforcing the view that "advertent squatters are morally
blameworthy"[7] for their intentional trespassing, "while landowners are
morally blameless".[7]
A registered proprietor need simply object and then proceed to evict
within two years. The adverse possessor's claim is therefore
vulnerable under the 2002 Act and the registered proprietor is
protected in all but the most unusual circumstances.
After the passage of the Act, local councils and other organisations
with large land holdings began the systematic registration of their
land in order to prevent title being lost to squatters.

Objection and adjudication[edit]

Anybody may make an objection to the Registrar about an application
(s.73). The Registrar must advise the applicant and, so long as the
objection is not groundless, must dispose of the objection by
agreement between the parties. If agreement cannot be reached, the
matter must be referred to the Land Registration Division, Property
Chamber, First Tier Tribunal (formerly called the Adjudicator to HM
Land Registry) who is appointed by the Lord Chancellor (ss.107–
114). The Tribunal also hears appeals from aggrieved persons on
decisions of the Registrar as to access to the Land Registry
Network (Sch.5).
The Tribunal can make any order which the High Court could make
for the rectification or setting aside of certain
dispositions, contracts and other documents affecting interests in
land. Appeals from the decision of the Regulator can be made to the
High Court (s.111).