FLK2 · Land Law

Registered land & registration

SQE1 revision notes — the key rules, leading cases and common traps for this topic, in plain English and current to 2026.

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.

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Three friends — Anya, Ben and Carl — buy a house together as legal and equitable joint tenants. Relations between them sour. Anya writes a letter to Ben and Carl stating: 'I am hereby severing my joint tenancy in the house with immediate effect and I wish to hold my share separately from now on.' She signs and dates it and posts it by ordinary first-class post to the house, where all three live. The letter is delivered and Ben reads it. Carl, who is away, never sees it because Anya later retrieves the letter and destroys it before Carl returns. Which of the following best describes the effect of Anya's letter?

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