Unregistered land: Legal & equitable interests Flashcards
What are the key features of unregistered land?
- The title information is contained in various old paper title deeds.
- Documentation held by the right holder not by the authorities.
- epitome of title: documents with relevant details about the property.
(deducing the title upon sale) - Will need to be registered upon any sale.
How do we identify legal rights in unregistered land?
A legal right, such as an easement created by deed, will continue to bind the whole world.
There is no need for the legal right to be registered or any notice to be served upon anyone.
How do we identify equitable rights in unregistered land?
The majority of equitable interests created post 1926 will need to be protected by way of a Land Charge, under the Land Charges Act (LCA) 1972.
Non protection will make it void EXCEPT when the land is gifted or inherited.
What are land charges that protect equitable interests?
The Land Charge is entered against the NAME of the landowner at the time the right is granted/created.
Interests protected by it:
- Class C(I): puisne mortgage (ie second or subsequent legal mortgage)
- Class C(IV): estate contract (eg a contract to buy land)
- Class D(II): restrictive covenant created after 1926
- Class D(III): equitable easement created after 1926
- Class F: spouse’s matrimonial right of occupation.
Why is a puisine mortgage protected by the land charge?
Not possible for a second legal mortgage to be protected by depositing of the title deeds because they are already held by the first mortgage lender.
So a second mortgage holder must protect their interest by the entry of a land charge
How do we discover land charges?
A search must be made of the register against the full name(s) of the estate owner(s) as spelt in the title deeds.
A search should be made, wherever possible, against all previous estate owners back to 1 January 1926.
What is the deadline for compulsory first registration of unregistered land?
2 months - then it will be governed by the registered land system.
What does the doctrine of notice apply to in unregistered land?
- Equitable easements and restrictive covenants created before 1926.
- Equitable interests in a trust of land that have not been overreached and
therefore the interest has not transferred from the land to the purchase money.
What does ‘equity’s darling’ mean under a doctrine of notice?
A purchaser of unregistered land would be bound by an equitable interest unless it could show it was ‘equity’s darling’.
‘Equity’s Darling’ is a ‘bona fide purchaser for value of a legal estate without notice’.
What is the difference between an actual, imputed or constructive notice?
Actual: The purchaser knows of the equitable interest.
Imputed: An agent’s knowledge of facts that the law presumes his employer (buyer) to have, irrespective of his actual knowledge of those facts.
Constructive: The purchaser or his agent failed to pursue a reasonable line of inquiry of all occupiers of the land.
Is the interest lost forever under equity’s darling?
Once an equitable interest becomes void for want of notice, it cannot be
revived so as to bind a subsequent buyer who does have notice of the equitable right.
