THE PRE 1925 PROPERTY LEGISLATION – REVISION NOTES
• Too many legal estates
• Difficult to know if buying the estate free from other people’s interests
• Doctrine of Notice
• On one hand equitable interests were easily lost to Equity’s Darling
• On the other hand, it was easy for purchasers to be caught by constructive
notice
THREEFOLD SOLUTION
• Limit the number of possible legal rights
• Reduce impact of Doctrine of Notice by introducing registration of both land
and interests in land
• Ensure that beneficial interests under a trust can be cleared off titles
(overreaching)
REGISTRATION
Two Different Systems of Land Registration
• Registration of Title
• Known as ‘registered land’
• Registration of Land Charges
• Confusingly this relates to something called ‘unregistered land’
UNREGISTERED LAND
Land to which the title has not yet been registered at the Land Registry.
No central record of ownership
Title to such land has to be proven by documentary evidence, known as title
deeds
What interests is a purchaser bound by?
Registration of Land Charges
Where registration is not possible:
Rules for legal interests
Rules for equitable interests
• Too many legal estates
• Difficult to know if buying the estate free from other people’s interests
• Doctrine of Notice
• On one hand equitable interests were easily lost to Equity’s Darling
• On the other hand, it was easy for purchasers to be caught by constructive
notice
THREEFOLD SOLUTION
• Limit the number of possible legal rights
• Reduce impact of Doctrine of Notice by introducing registration of both land
and interests in land
• Ensure that beneficial interests under a trust can be cleared off titles
(overreaching)
REGISTRATION
Two Different Systems of Land Registration
• Registration of Title
• Known as ‘registered land’
• Registration of Land Charges
• Confusingly this relates to something called ‘unregistered land’
UNREGISTERED LAND
Land to which the title has not yet been registered at the Land Registry.
No central record of ownership
Title to such land has to be proven by documentary evidence, known as title
deeds
What interests is a purchaser bound by?
Registration of Land Charges
Where registration is not possible:
Rules for legal interests
Rules for equitable interests
