4. Registration of Title to Land

Question 1

On the occurrence of what must all land be registered?

Answer 1

A triggering event after 1 December 1990

Question 2

What are the four main triggering events?

Answer 2

1. Grant of first legal mortgage
2. Transfer, e.g. conveyance on sale, assent, deed of gift
3. Grant of lease exceeding seven years
4. Assignment of lease with more seven years remaining

Question 3

What is the Register conclusive evidence of?

Answer 3

That the registered proprietor is the estate owner

Question 4

Within what time limit of the triggering event must an application for registration be made with HMLR?

Answer 4

Two months

Question 5

What two things happen if registration is not applied for within the two month window?

Answer 5

1. Transfer of legal estate is void
2. Legal estate reverts to the transferor

Question 6

Upon whom does the cost of remedy for failure to register fall?

Answer 6

On the party in default

Question 7

What must the Registrar have to extend the two month window?

Answer 7

Good reason to do so

Question 8

What is the impact of a failed legal registration becoming an equitable estate?

Answer 8

It will lose priority to other transactions which create interests in the estate before defect is cured

Question 9

What are the five classes of title?

Answer 9

1. Absolute freehold
2. Qualified
3. Possessory
4. Good leasehold
5. Absolute leasehold

Question 10

Absolute freehold title is the best kind of title. What are the only two interests absolute freehold title is subject to?

Answer 10

1. Interests on the register, e.g. charges, notices, restrictions
2. Overriding interests

Question 11

When does qualified title arise?

Answer 11

When a specified interest in the land is excepted from registration and therefore not covered by the guarantee of title

Question 12

What is possessory title based on, and does it affect rights which subsisted on the date of registration?

Answer 12

Factual possession of the land, and does not affect rights which pre-dated registration

Question 13

Good leasehold title is essentially absolute title for a lease, save for what limitation?

Answer 13

It does not extend to the freehold estate or other superior leases, therefore the leaseholder is subject to these

Question 14

What is absolute leasehold title?

Answer 14

Good leasehold title where HMLR has inspected the freehold and checked for superior leases

Question 15

How can good leasehold and possessory title be upgraded, and what are they upgraded to?

Answer 15

Good leasehold becomes absolute leasehold if freehold title is produced.

Possessory becomes absolute freehold if possessory title is not challenged for 12 years since it was granted.

Question 16

Other than freehold and leasehold estates in land, what three interests can be registered, and get their own title number and register?

Answer 16

1. Rentcharges
2. Franchises
3. Profits a prendre in gross

Question 17

How can an owner of unregistered land ensure that they are notified if an application for registration is made regarding their land?

Answer 17

Register a caution against first registration, and the caution gets its own title number and register

Question 18

What are three types of disposition which do not operate until registered?

(two of which are triggering events)

Answer 18

1. Transfer of freehold estate (for value, by court order, by gift, or by PRs)
2. Grant of legal lease with more than seven years
3. Express grant or reservation of legal easement, legal profit, or legal rentcharge

Question 19

In the registered system, when does title pass?

Answer 19

When the disposition is registered at HMLR

Question 20

What are the three registers on the register of title?

Answer 20

1. Property register
2. Proprietorship register
3. Charges register

Question 21

What appears on the Property register?

Answer 21

Any right benefitting the property, such as a right of way of neighbouring land

Question 22

What three things appear on the Proprietorship register?

Answer 22

1. Class of title
2. Name(s) of current estate holder(s)
3. Any restrictions affecting the property

Question 23

What are the two main examples of third party interests that appear on the Charges register?

Answer 23

1. Legal mortgage of registered land
2. Legal easement

Question 24

What is required of an expressly created legal easement?

Answer 24

It must be completed by registration to be effective

Question 25

What are the two ways a legal easement can be completed by registration?

Answer 25

1. On the charges register of the servient tenement (burdened land), or
2. On the property register of the dominant tenement (benefitting land)

Question 26

What is a notice, and what are the two types?

Answer 26

An entry on the charges register of burdened land in respect of an interest affecting the registered estate, or an entry on the property register of benefitting land in respect of an interest benefitting the estate.

Agreed notice and unilateral notice

Question 27

Does agreed notice require consent?

Answer 27

Despite the name, no. However, if consent is not available HMLR will require strict evidence of the interest.

Question 28

How can a proprietor have a notice canceled?

Answer 28

They apply to HMLR, who will notify the benefitting party to respond within a period, and if they don’t the notice is cancelled

Question 29

What is a restriction?

Answer 29

An entry on the proprietorship register used to prevent any dealing with the land otherwise than in accordance with the terms of the restriction

Question 30

What is an overriding interest in the registered system?

Answer 30

Interest which is binding on both the proprietor and a person who acquires an interest despite the fact that the interest does not appear on the affected register of title

Question 31

What are the three overriding interests in the registered system?

Answer 31

1. Legal leases for seven years or less
2. Legal easement or profit
3. Interest of person in actual occupation

Question 32

What is the main difference between interests which override in the unregistered system and overriding interests in the registered system?

Answer 32

Local land charge is an interest which overrides in the unregistered system but not an overriding interest in the registered system

Question 33

What is the requirement for the type of easement that can be overriding in the registered system, and what type of easement cannot be, and why?

Answer 33

It must be a legal easement and must not be an express easement, i.e. it must arise from implied grant/reservation or prescription. An expressly created easement (i.e. created by deed) cannot be overriding.

Because an express easement must be registered in its own right to be effective, and when it is placed on the charges register of the burdened land, it becomes binding anyway.

Question 34

Other than not being an express easement, one of what three options must be satisfied for a legal easement to be overriding in the registered system?

Answer 34

1. Registered under Commons Act 2006
2. Known to the buyer or obvious on reasonable inspection, or
3. Exercised within one year of the date of the disposition

Question 35

What two things defeat an overriding interest of a person in actual occupation in the registered system?

Answer 35

1. Buyer inquires about occupier and extent of occupation not disclosed or
2. Occupation not obvious via inspection at the time of disposition, and not in actual knowledge of the buyer

Question 36

What must a person claiming the overriding interest have in addition to mere occupation?

Answer 36

A property right in the land, e.g. tenancy or right to remain

Question 37

What four factors will the court take into account in determining if there is actual occupation?

Answer 37

1. Degree and continuity of permanence
2. Intentions, wishes, and personal circumstances of the person in occupation
3. Length of and reasons for absences
4. Nature of the property

Question 38

Whilst temporary absences will not preclude, to claim the overriding interest, at what time specifically must the occupation exist?

Answer 38

At the time the property is transferred to the buyer

Question 39

What will make an interest cease to be overriding?

Answer 39

If upon disclosure to HMLR during applying for registration or a registrable disposition, the interest is capable of registration, it will cease to be overriding and will be protected by an entry on the register of title

Question 40

The right of occupation of whom specifically is not capable of being an overriding interest, and how is that protected instead?

Answer 40

The right of occupation of a non-owning spouse. The right is instead registered as a notice on the registered proprietor’s register of title.

Question 41

In the registered system, how is the process of adverse possession different?

Answer 41

1. Period is 10 years instead of 12
2. Squatter does not acquire any rights automatically
3. They merely receive a right to apply for registration of title at the end of the period
4. Landowner given opportunity to object, and if they do the application will usually fail
5. Other elements are the same: actual, exclusive possession, without landowner permission

Question 42

In what three situations may an application for adverse possession still be granted even though the landowner objects?

Answer 42

1. Unconscionable for the proprietor/landowner to seek to displace the applicant (i.e. on the facts, applicant should be regarded as the proprietor)
2. Applicant is for some other reason entitled to be proprietor
3. Reasonable mistake as to boundaries