Registration Flashcards
What are 3 recurring module themes that surround the Land Law module?
- Malleable concepts of property
- Market logics in land law
- Registration and its politics/morality
How does possession of land differ to registration of land?
Possession is an empirically defined fact, with the citizen telling the state who owns the land
Registration is an administrative act, a state ordered political act, with the state telling the citizen who owns the land
What were the aims of the Land Registration Act 1925?
- Address the failures of the 1875 and 1897 Acts by moving away from an over-reliance on voluntary registration
- To establish that interests can only bind future purchasers of land they have been created according to set formalities
- To facilitate transactions in the market
What defects exists in the Land Registration Act 1925?
- Considerable litigation over status of overriding interests
- Overly complex
- Gap between transfer and registration
- Issues with adverse possession
Name 4 aims of the Land Registration Act 2002
- Register should be a complete and accurate reflection of the state of title of land at any given time
- The no. of overriding interest should be reduced or abolished
- Further limits should be imposed on adverse possession
- The Act should reflect advances in modern technology
To achieve its aims, the LRA 2002 made registration compulsory on any event concerning the estate, including: (Give 3)
- The making of a gift of an unregistered estate
- The grant of a lease in excess of seven years to take effect immediately or to take effect in the future
- The creation of the protected mortgage of a qualifying estate
What effect did the duty to register under the LRA 2002 have?
- When unregistered land triggers compulsory registration, registration must take place within two months
- Failure to register within the timeframe will render the transfer void
What 6 problems surround the issue of registration?
- Complex, expert advice is needed
- Incentivises litigation
- Increases costs for landowners
- Increased incidents of fraud
- Technology Issues
- Impact on property market and wider economy
What are the two key benefits of the LRA 2002?
Supports home ownership
Supports the economy
How does registration support home ownership?
The registration system makes land easier to deal with, also makes it more valuable
- Registration under the LRA 2002 supports home ownership and the secured credit market by:
- providing state-backed registration (greater security of title)
- Limiting the scope of adverse possession
- Introducing certainty and simplicity into conveyancing
How does registration support the economy?
Increases transparency
Reduces bribery
Incentivises investment
Enables the proper assessment of tax
What is arguably the main role of registration?
Balance
Between the purchase, and those with property rights in the land
What are the 3 underlying principles of registration?
Mirror principle
Curtain principle
Insurance principle
What is the ‘crack in the mirror’?
These principles are not absolute - the LRA 2002 allows some kinds of property rights to exist “off the register”
Usually detectable by a physical inspection of the land e.g. short lease <7 years
What can be registered?
Freeholds and leaseholds
The register is organised into what 3 sections?
The Property Register
The Proprietorship Register
The Charges Register
What is contained on the land register for each item?
Geographical description of the registered estate, including a title plan edged in red - records the benefit of any legal easement created by deed in favour of the land
What information is stored on the proprietorship register?
- Name and address of the owner of the registered estate
- Any restrictions on ownership
- Class of title awarded