Registered land & registration

LL.02 — Registered Land & Registration (LRA 2002)

The core scheme

Title to registered land lives on the register, not in title deeds. The register has three parts: Property (description + estate), Proprietorship (registered proprietor + class of title + restrictions), and Charges (mortgages, notices). The key principle: the register should be a complete, accurate "mirror" of the title that a buyer can rely on.

Registrable dispositions (LRA 2002 s.27) — transfers of registered estates, grants of legal leases over 7 years, express legal easements, and legal charges — do not operate at law until completed by registration. Until then they take effect only in equity.

Priority — the basic rule and the exception

• s.28: priority of competing interests is decided by order of creation (date order). This is the default.
• s.29 (the special rule on a registered disposition for valuable consideration): a purchaser for value who registers postpones (defeats) any interest not protected at the time of registration. An interest survives against the buyer only if it is (a) a registered charge/entry on the register, (b) protected by a notice, or (c) an overriding interest under Schedule 3.
• Donees/gifts get no s.29 protection — they take subject to all prior interests (s.28 applies).

Protecting interests

• Notice (s.32): protects the priority of a third-party burden (e.g. estate contract, equitable easement, restrictive covenant, option). A notice does not guarantee the interest is valid — only its priority.
• Restriction (s.40): regulates whether/how a disposition can be registered (e.g. a Form A restriction for a beneficial tenancy in common, or to enforce overreaching by requiring payment to two trustees). Used for trust interests — which cannot be protected by a notice (s.33).

Overriding interests (Schedule 3) — bind despite not being on the register

Most-examined: para 2 — actual occupation. A person with a proprietary interest plus actual occupation binds a purchaser, unless: (i) the interest is a beneficial interest overreached by payment to two trustees (City of London BS v Flegg); (ii) occupation was not obvious on a reasonably careful inspection and the buyer had no actual knowledge; or (iii) the occupier failed to disclose when asked and could reasonably have done so. Date for occupation/knowledge = date of disposition (Abbey National v Cann — occupation must precede/coincide; completion and charge are one indivisible transaction). Also overriding: legal leases ≤7 years (para 1) and certain implied/prescriptive legal easements (para 3).

Common traps

• A purely equitable interest (e.g. equitable mortgage, sole-owner spouse's beneficial share) can still override via actual occupation — registration isn't the only route to bind a buyer.
• Overreaching beats occupation: even an actual occupier loses to a buyer/lender who pays two trustees — the interest detaches to the proceeds.
• Notice vs restriction: trust/co-ownership interests → restriction (Form A), never a notice. Third-party burdens → notice.
• A registered disposition takes effect only on registration, not completion — mind the "registration gap".
• Indemnity: where the register is rectified against the proprietor (or a mistake is left uncorrected), Schedule 8 provides a state-guaranteed indemnity — a feature absent from unregistered land.