Title to land Flashcards
What are the triggers requiring first registration, and when must that be?
Triggers requiring first registration:
- When either FREEHOLD estate in land or a LEASE WITH MORE THAN 7 YEARS left to run is transferred (sale, gift, court order, assent etc)
- Voluntary registration
- New legal lease granted for more than 7 years
- Creation of a first legal mortgage
Must be within 2 months of that event
Why is registration important (eg. an interest over registered land)?
Enforceability
s29 LRA: A buyer for valuable consideration of registered land takes that land FREE OF ALL INTEREST SAVE FOR REGISTERED CHARGES AND INTERESTS WHICH OVERRIDE
What are the 3 categories of interests & estates in land under the Land Registration Act 2002?
- Registrable dispositions
- Must be substantively registered to be recognised - Interests which should be protected by:
- s.32 Notice; or
- s.40 Restriction - Overriding interests
- Don’t have to be registered to be binding
- Set out in Schedule 3 LRA 2002
What interests/estates in land are registrable dispositions?
s27 LRA:
1) Transfer of freehold or leasehold
2) New lease for 7+ years
3) Expressly granted legal easement (ie. certain duration)
4) Legal charge/mortgage
5) Landlord’s right of entry
They must be substantively registered (ie. registered in their own right) to be properly acquired
Which interests need to be protected & why?
Interests which can be protected by a s32 Notice on the Charges register:
- Most basic equitable interests (eg. restrictive covenant, easements for uncertain term)
- Estate contract (eg. option, agreement for lease)
- Home rights (s30 FLA)
Interests which can be protected by a s40 Restriction on the Proprietorship register:
- Interests arising under a trust
- (eg. restriction alerting buyer that there is a trust; restriction that land can’t be dealt with without consent of trustee in bankruptcy)
Need to be protected because purchaser for valuable consideration of registered land will take the title free of the interest otherwise
Which interests cannot be protected by a s32 Notice on the Charges Register?
Interests under trusts (because not intended to last forever –> s40 restriction on the proprietorship register)
Short leases for 7 years or less
Lease covenants
What is the effect of not entering a Notice on the Charges Registry?
If an interest is not protected by entry of a Notice, the purchaser for value (buyer, lender etc.) takes the land FREE OF THE INTEREST
- It is what is on the Charges Register which counts (ie. if no entry, even if the buyer knows there is an interest, will not be bound)
Nb. A person who acquires the land WITHOUT PAYING (ie. not purchaser for value) is still bound
Which interests can be protected by a s32 Notice on the Charges register?
Interests which can be protected by a s32 Notice on the Charges register:
- Most basic equitable interests (eg. restrictive covenant, easements for uncertain term)
- Estate contract
- Home rights (s30 Family Law Act)
Which interests should be protected by a s40 Restriction on the Proprietorship register?
Interests arising under a trust
Nb. Restrictions are intended to be short-term entries only (ie. not interests lasting forever) - they show that the proprietor’s ability to deal with the land is restricted in some way
What is overreaching?
Even if a buyer has notice of the interest of a beneficiary under a trust, they can buy the land free of the beneficial interest through overreaching
- Buyer pays the purchase price to all the trustees (must be minimum 2 trustees)
- Interests of any person holding beneficial interest under that trust shift from the property to the proceeds of sale
Nb. For beneficial interests behind a trust only. Applies to registered and unregistered land.
What is the minimum number of trustees needed for overreaching?
2
What are overriding interests?
Interests which do not need to be registered to be binding.
(Rationale: provide protection for people who haven’t or can’t take steps to protect themselves)
Set out in Sch 3 LRA 2002:
- Legal leases of term of 7 years or less (automatically overriding)
- Interests of a person in actual occupation
- Implied & prescriptive easements
What conditions must be satisfied for implied & prescriptive easements to be binding overriding interests?
These are LEGAL (not equitable!) easements which have arisen by implication or prescription
(ie. not express - arise without any documentation, usually when part of land sold off or through long use).
Will bind the purchaser of the burdened land so long as:
- Purchaser has actual knowledge of the easement;
or
- It is obvious on inspection;
or
- It has been exercised within 12 months prior to the sale
What conditions must be satisfied for interests of persons in actual occupation to be binding overriding interests?
Must have:
1. A proprietary interest in the land
- ie. not a personal interest - must be capable of being a proprietary interest (so not eg. an FLA right)
and
- Be in actual occupation
- Some element of permanence & continuity (this is not extinguished by eg. hospital stay or holiday)
- Might be an intention to return, a payment of outgoings, leaving things there
- Some easements might be actual occupation (eg. parking, storage right)
and
- Not be defeated by any of the conditions in Sch 3 Para 2 ie.
- Holder must disclose the interest on reasonable inquiry
or
- Holder’s occupation must be obvious on reasonable inspection & buyer/lender must know of it
What is a charge under the Family Law Act 1996?
Gives spouse/civil partner who may otherwise have no proprietary interest in the home the right to occupy the home in which they lived as a married couple
- s30 FLA: spouse has right not to be evicted or excluded if already in occupation
- s31 FLA: lasts until termination of marriage
- NOT A PROPRIETARY INTEREST - it is a statutory right of occupation
- If a notice of home right entered on charges register under s32, it will be impossible for the legally owning spouse to give sale with vacant possession (works as if it were an equitable interest protected by a notice)
