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Culture Documents
Land Registeration Act
Land Registeration Act
Citation 2002 c 9
Dates
Repealed —
Other legislation
Amended by —
Repealed by —
Relates to Land Registration Rules
2003
Land Registration
(Amendment) Rules 2005
Land Registration
(Amendment) (No.2)
Rules 2005
Contents
1Background
2Land registration
o 2.1Grades of title
3Registerable dispositions
4Priority
o 4.1Restrictions
o 4.2Notices
5Adverse possession
6Objection and adjudication
7See also
8Notes
9References
Background[edit]
Main article: History of English land law
The Land Registration Act 2002 was introduced in response to the Law
Commission and HM Land Registry report, Land Registration for the
Twenty-first Century (2001).[6] The Act:
Land registration[edit]
Section 4 stipulates that registration of an estate in land is compulsory
when one of the following events occurs:
Absolute title – This shows there is nothing dubious about the title.
The estate is vested in the proprietor and is subject only to entries on
the register and unregistered interests which override (commonly
called an overriding interest). Title does not have to be perfect – if the
registrar believes that any defect will "not cause the holding under the
title to be disturbed", absolute title will be given – s.9(3) LRA.
Possessory freehold title – there is no documentary evidence of title
(e.g. lost title deeds). Title depends on adverse possession. It
conveys no guarantee of title at the time of registration,
but subsequent problems (e.g. forgery of proprietor's signature) will
be covered by the guarantee. It can be upgraded into absolute title
after being in possession as proprietor for 12 years (s.62(1), (4)).
Qualified freehold title – the title is subject to a fundamental defect.
There is no guarantee in respect of the specified defect. It may be
upgraded to absolute title if registrar is satisfied as to the title – s.62
LRA.
In the case of leasehold estates, one of the following grades of title may
be awarded according to s. 12 of the Act:
Registerable dispositions[edit]
These are proprietary rights which are only legal if registered.
Dispositions subject to registration according to s. 27 are:
Priority[edit]
According to s. 29 of the Act, a person acquiring an interest under a
registrable disposition for valuable consideration (being usually a
freehold or leasehold, but also including a legal mortgage) and having
been registered successfully as owner of the interest, takes it subject to
only:
equitable easements
freehold restrictive covenants
equitable leases
estate contracts, including options to purchase and rights of pre-
emption.
Adverse possession[edit]
The Act is known for the changes it has made to the rules
regulating adverse possession in relation to registered land (the rules
applicable to unregistered land remain the same, and 12 years
possession is still required to obtain title).
The Act provides that anyone who occupies registered land without
permission from the owner and treats it as his own for 10 years is
entitled to apply to be registered as owner, although the system
introduced by the Act means that few claims will succeed. Specifically,
according to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 6 to the Act:
A person may apply to the registrar to be registered as the
proprietor of a registered estate in land if he has been in adverse
possession of the estate for the period of ten years ending on the
date of the application.
The Land Registry is obliged to notify the registered proprietor of the
land that an application for possessory title has been made. The
registered proprietor then has 65 business days to object to the
registration. The objection may dispute the applicant's right to be
registered as owner or, more usually, the registered proprietor will
claim the benefit of the process found in paragraph 5 of Schedule 6.
This provides that a registered proprietor who objects has a further
two years to evict the adverse possessor. It will be enough to secure
eviction within these two years that the registered proprietor relies on
their registered title. No other reason need be given. Failure to secure
the eviction of the adverse possessor within these two years gives
the adverse possessor the right to re-apply to be registered and such
a second application will be successful.
In three special cases, the adverse possessor may be registered as
proprietor without having to wait for two further years and even if the
proprietor objects. These special cases usually arise because the
adverse possessor has some other reason for claiming ownership in
addition to their possession for (at least) 10 years.
The new rules regulating adverse possession can be found in Part
9 of the Act, and the rules regulating the procedures for registration of
an adverse possessor can be found at Schedule 6 to the Act.
These rules are much more difficult to satisfy than the common
law with regard to adverse possession, although it is now clear that
all rules of adverse possession (in unregistered land, under the LRA
1925 and under the LRA 2002) are human rights compliant, see
generally the judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court
of Human Rights in J. A. Pye (Oxford) Ltd and Another v United
Kingdom. Cobb and Fox's article[7] argues that the 2002 Act unjustly
favours landowners in claims of adverse possession (through
paragraphs 2 and 3 of Schedule 6), whilst overlooking the moral
issues surrounding squatting. The reform brought by the 2002 Act
holds the view that intentional squatting "...at least in some cases, is
tantamount to sanctioning a theft of land'". [8] Meanwhile, the
registered proprietor is deemed 'blameless' even where the property
has been forgotten,[9] with the 2002 Act "...designed to protect
registered proprietors from the possibility of such oversight or
inadvertence".[7] Therefore, Cobb and Fox have argued the current
law overlooks the moral justifications of adverse possession, such as
increasingly unaffordable housing and to prevent 'stagnating land',
instead enforcing the view that "advertent squatters are morally
blameworthy"[7] for their intentional trespassing, "while landowners are
morally blameless".[7]
A registered proprietor need simply object and then proceed to evict
within two years. The adverse possessor's claim is therefore
vulnerable under the 2002 Act and the registered proprietor is
protected in all but the most unusual circumstances.
After the passage of the Act, local councils and other organisations
with large land holdings began the systematic registration of their
land in order to prevent title being lost to squatters.