(1)Subject to subsection (3) and[F1 sections 3A(5), 3B(5) and 5], every document which is registered shall be deemed and taken as good and effectual both in law and equity according to the priority of time of registering it and the priority of time of registering a document registered after the 30th April 1968 shall be determined by the serial number allocated thereto pursuant to section 8 and not by the actual time of registering the document.
(2)Subject to subsection (3) and section 5, a deed or conveyance affecting any land in Northern Ireland which is not registered shall be void against a registered document affecting those lands and against a registered order charging those lands made under [F2 the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 [1981 NI 6] ].
(3)Where a person or the agent of that person has actual knowledge of a prior document, which has not been registered, affecting any unregistered land, registration of a subsequent document which transfers, or confers an estate in, the land to or on that person shall not operate so as to confer priority on, or make the prior document void in relation to, that subsequent document.
(4)In subsection (3), “agent” means a person who is generally authorised to act for his principal in respect of dealings in land or who is specially authorised by his principal to deal in the land the subject matter of the prior document and who in either case obtains knowledge of the prior document in the course of the same transaction with respect to which the question of knowledge arises.
[F3(4A)Subsection (3) and (4) shall not apply to any document relating to a[F4 matrimonial or civil partnership charge (][F5 within the meaning of the Family Homes and Domestic Violence (Northern Ireland) Order 1998].]