1: Estates in Land and the Land
Registration System
Status of rights
Proprietary rights: a right to occupy, use, or restrict what can be done on the land.
- Action in rem (can recover use/possession, not stuck w/damages).
- Enforceable against 3rd parties
- Fixed list of rights capable of being proprietary:
o Freehold estate
o Leasehold estate
o Easement
o Mortgage
o Restrictive covenant
o Estate contract
o Beneficial interest in a trust of land.
Is a right proprietary?
1. Is it on the fixed list?
2. Nature: does it satisfy the substantive characteristics?
3. Has it been created/acquired in accordance with the formalities?
4. Has it been protected?
Personal right
- Enforcement: Right in personam. Personal action for damages.
- No action against third parties.
- A licence (e.g., postman crossing land to deliver a letter)
Types of rights
Interest or estate?
- Interest: proprietary rights to use/enjoy the land. Over someone else’s land.
o E.g., a mortgage.
- Estate: proprietary right to possess the land. The method of ownership in land. You
hold an estate in the land. Can be thought of as a slice of time.
Types of estates
Freehold estate: right of possession. Fee absolute in possession. Owns the land subject to
any lesser rights they have granted.
- Duration: unofficially forever (until the owner dies without heirs)
,Commonhold: type of freehold. An estate in the land created out of a freehold registered
estate. Not a new estate in the land. Retirement homes. Where owners interdependent on
each other. No overall landlord. Creates an association.
Leasehold estate: when the freeholder/leaseholder grants away a lesser estate for less than
their slice of time.
- Duration: up to hundreds of years
Freehold reversion: the residue of the estate after a freeholder grants a lease.
Leasehold reversion: the residue of the estate after a leaseholder grants a lease.
Transfer of freehold estate
How can freehold estates be transferred?
1. Sale
2. Will
3. Gift
4. Operation of law (e.g., bankruptcy)
How do you sell a registered/unregistered freehold?
1) Exchange land contracts [NOT legally necessary, but makes parties legally committed
to buy/sell]- gives equitable interest.
a. Writing
b. All the expressly agreed terms
c. Signed by both parties [no witness necessary]
2) Complete deed (this stage is known as conveyance in unregistered land or transfer in
registered)
a. Clearly intended to be a deed label it
b. Validly executed seller + witness’s signatures (legally don’t need buyer)
c. Delivered dated by solicitors
If land unregistered, legal title transfers at this point. but this triggers a need
to register, and you have only 2 months to do this otherwise legal title will
revert back to the seller.
3) Register LRA 2002, s 27 buyer sends deed to Land Registry
Registered land: legal title transfers now
Land registration
What is bad about unregistered land?
Hard to know 3rd party interests
Title deeds may be lost
No plan = hard to know extent
, No state guarantees
Slower + more expensive
When does land need to be registered/updated? – applies to both registered + unregistered
1. Transfer by sale (after 1 Dec 1990), court order, gift, or inheritance (latter two
compulsory since 1 Apr 1998).
2. Grant of a lease for MORE THAN 7 years
3. First legal mortgage of the freehold or of a leasehold with more than 7 years to run.
4. Voluntary registration (get reduced fees)
Less likely:
5. Assignment of a lease of unregistered land with more than 7 years left
6. An assent / vesting assent / vesting deed which is a disposition of the freehold /
leasehold with more than 7 years to run (death)
7. Future leases: Lease will begin more than 3 months after it’s granted
Failure to register these = transaction not legally recognised.
3 principles of registered land
1. Mirror principle: the register should reflect all benefits and burdens.
2. Curtain principle: register only needs to show the legal title and not the equitable
title.
3. Insurance principle: see state guarantee*
*State guarantee: the title to the land has been investigated and approved before
registration i.e., that the seller is the true owner and is able to sell the land to the buyer. If it
is incorrect then an innocent party who has suffered loss can make a claim for
compensation against the Land Registry.
Registered land terminology
Title plan: a plan of the property + who is responsible for its boundaries.
Overriding interests: does not appear on the register but is binding. They override registered
dispositions. E.g., a legal lease granted for 7 years or less.
Official Copy
Unique title number
Property Register
- Description of property + reference to plan
- Freehold or leasehold?
- Benefits e.g., easement
Proprietorship Register
- Details of the owner of legal estate
- Class of title (absolute, possessory)
, - Restrictions on dealing e.g., don’t sell the land without the consent of the mortgagee
bank / don’t let only one owner sell the land
Charges Register
- Burdens (covenants, mortgages, leases, burdens of easements)
What types of title are available?
1. Absolute: The land is only bound by interests that are registered on the title or
overriding interests.
2. Qualified Title: some defect.
3. Good Leasehold Title: Land Registry is satisfied as to the title of the leaseholder only
and not the freeholder.
4. Possessory Title: the applicant is in possession of the property or is in receipt of rents
and profits and there is no other class of title that can be given. Where there are no
title deeds to prove ownership, or the deeds have been destroyed. E.g. Squatters
Rights.
Leases
Benefits of a lease over a licence:
Leaseholder can enforce their lease against third parties
Leaseholder can sue third parties for nuisance/trespass
May be security of tenure
Lease is in rem
Statutory protections
Registration System
Status of rights
Proprietary rights: a right to occupy, use, or restrict what can be done on the land.
- Action in rem (can recover use/possession, not stuck w/damages).
- Enforceable against 3rd parties
- Fixed list of rights capable of being proprietary:
o Freehold estate
o Leasehold estate
o Easement
o Mortgage
o Restrictive covenant
o Estate contract
o Beneficial interest in a trust of land.
Is a right proprietary?
1. Is it on the fixed list?
2. Nature: does it satisfy the substantive characteristics?
3. Has it been created/acquired in accordance with the formalities?
4. Has it been protected?
Personal right
- Enforcement: Right in personam. Personal action for damages.
- No action against third parties.
- A licence (e.g., postman crossing land to deliver a letter)
Types of rights
Interest or estate?
- Interest: proprietary rights to use/enjoy the land. Over someone else’s land.
o E.g., a mortgage.
- Estate: proprietary right to possess the land. The method of ownership in land. You
hold an estate in the land. Can be thought of as a slice of time.
Types of estates
Freehold estate: right of possession. Fee absolute in possession. Owns the land subject to
any lesser rights they have granted.
- Duration: unofficially forever (until the owner dies without heirs)
,Commonhold: type of freehold. An estate in the land created out of a freehold registered
estate. Not a new estate in the land. Retirement homes. Where owners interdependent on
each other. No overall landlord. Creates an association.
Leasehold estate: when the freeholder/leaseholder grants away a lesser estate for less than
their slice of time.
- Duration: up to hundreds of years
Freehold reversion: the residue of the estate after a freeholder grants a lease.
Leasehold reversion: the residue of the estate after a leaseholder grants a lease.
Transfer of freehold estate
How can freehold estates be transferred?
1. Sale
2. Will
3. Gift
4. Operation of law (e.g., bankruptcy)
How do you sell a registered/unregistered freehold?
1) Exchange land contracts [NOT legally necessary, but makes parties legally committed
to buy/sell]- gives equitable interest.
a. Writing
b. All the expressly agreed terms
c. Signed by both parties [no witness necessary]
2) Complete deed (this stage is known as conveyance in unregistered land or transfer in
registered)
a. Clearly intended to be a deed label it
b. Validly executed seller + witness’s signatures (legally don’t need buyer)
c. Delivered dated by solicitors
If land unregistered, legal title transfers at this point. but this triggers a need
to register, and you have only 2 months to do this otherwise legal title will
revert back to the seller.
3) Register LRA 2002, s 27 buyer sends deed to Land Registry
Registered land: legal title transfers now
Land registration
What is bad about unregistered land?
Hard to know 3rd party interests
Title deeds may be lost
No plan = hard to know extent
, No state guarantees
Slower + more expensive
When does land need to be registered/updated? – applies to both registered + unregistered
1. Transfer by sale (after 1 Dec 1990), court order, gift, or inheritance (latter two
compulsory since 1 Apr 1998).
2. Grant of a lease for MORE THAN 7 years
3. First legal mortgage of the freehold or of a leasehold with more than 7 years to run.
4. Voluntary registration (get reduced fees)
Less likely:
5. Assignment of a lease of unregistered land with more than 7 years left
6. An assent / vesting assent / vesting deed which is a disposition of the freehold /
leasehold with more than 7 years to run (death)
7. Future leases: Lease will begin more than 3 months after it’s granted
Failure to register these = transaction not legally recognised.
3 principles of registered land
1. Mirror principle: the register should reflect all benefits and burdens.
2. Curtain principle: register only needs to show the legal title and not the equitable
title.
3. Insurance principle: see state guarantee*
*State guarantee: the title to the land has been investigated and approved before
registration i.e., that the seller is the true owner and is able to sell the land to the buyer. If it
is incorrect then an innocent party who has suffered loss can make a claim for
compensation against the Land Registry.
Registered land terminology
Title plan: a plan of the property + who is responsible for its boundaries.
Overriding interests: does not appear on the register but is binding. They override registered
dispositions. E.g., a legal lease granted for 7 years or less.
Official Copy
Unique title number
Property Register
- Description of property + reference to plan
- Freehold or leasehold?
- Benefits e.g., easement
Proprietorship Register
- Details of the owner of legal estate
- Class of title (absolute, possessory)
, - Restrictions on dealing e.g., don’t sell the land without the consent of the mortgagee
bank / don’t let only one owner sell the land
Charges Register
- Burdens (covenants, mortgages, leases, burdens of easements)
What types of title are available?
1. Absolute: The land is only bound by interests that are registered on the title or
overriding interests.
2. Qualified Title: some defect.
3. Good Leasehold Title: Land Registry is satisfied as to the title of the leaseholder only
and not the freeholder.
4. Possessory Title: the applicant is in possession of the property or is in receipt of rents
and profits and there is no other class of title that can be given. Where there are no
title deeds to prove ownership, or the deeds have been destroyed. E.g. Squatters
Rights.
Leases
Benefits of a lease over a licence:
Leaseholder can enforce their lease against third parties
Leaseholder can sue third parties for nuisance/trespass
May be security of tenure
Lease is in rem
Statutory protections
