The 1925 Property Legislation

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