Land Registration and Land Charges Act 1971

PART II Amendment of [1925 c. 22.] Land Charges Act 1925 and Related Enactments

5 Provisions as to form of index and searches

(1) For section 1(2) of the Land Charges Act 1925 (which requires an alphabetical index to be kept of all entries in any register kept at the registry in pursuance of that Act) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(2) The registrar shall also keep at the registry an index whereby all entries made in any register kept by him pursuant to this Act can readily be traced. In this subsection ' index' includes any device or combination of devices serving the purpose of an index.”

(2) In section 16 of the Land Charges Act 1925 (right to search in any register or index kept in pursuance of that Act on payment of the prescribed fee) the words " or index " shall be omitted.

(3) The said section 16, as amended by subsection (2) above, shall be renumbered so as to become section 16(1) of the said Act; and at the end of the resulting subsection (1) there shall be added as subsection (2)—

“(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, the registrar may provide facilities for enabling persons entitled to search in any such register to see photographic or other images or copies of any portion of the register which they may wish to examine.”

(4) In subsection (1) of section 17 of the Land Charges Act 1925 (which provides that where a person requires a search to be made at the registry, he may on payment of the prescribed fee lodge at the registry a requisition in that behalf), for the words from " he " to the end of the subsection there shall be substituted the words " he may make a requisition in that behalf to the registrar, which may be either—

(a) a written requisition delivered at or sent by post to the registry; or

(b) a requisition communicated by teleprinter, telephone or other means in such manner as may be prescribed in relation to the means in question, in which case it shall be treated as made to the registrar if, but only if, he accepts it;

and the registrar shall not accept a requisition made in accordance with paragraph (b) above unless it is made by a person maintaining a credit account at the registry, and may at his discretion refuse to accept it notwithstanding that it is made by such a person."

(5) For subsection (2) of the said section 17 (registrar's duty to make a search and issue a certificate) there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(2) The prescribed fee shall be payable in respect of every requisition made under this section ; and that fee—

(a) in the case of a requisition made in accordance with subsection (1)(a) above, shall be paid in such manner as may be prescribed for the purposes of this paragraph unless the requisition is made by a person maintaining a credit account at the registry and the fee is debited to that account;

(b) in the case of a requisition made in accordance with subsection (1)(b) above, shall be debited to the credit account of the person by whom the requisition is made.

(2A) Where a requisition is made under subsection (1) above and the fee payable in respect thereof is paid or debited in accordance with subsection (2) above, the registrar shall thereupon make the search required and—

(a) shall issue a certificate setting out the result of the search; and

(b) without prejudice to paragraph (a) above, may take such other steps as he considers appropriate to communicate that result to the person by whom the requisition was made.”

(6) Subsection (4) of the said section 17 (form and content of requisitions) shall cease to have effect.

(7) In the said section 17, after subsection (5) there shall be inserted as subsection (5A)—

“(5A) Without prejudice to subsection (5) above, no officer, clerk or person employed in the registry shall, in the absence of fraud on his part, be liable for any loss which may be suffered—

(a) by reason of any discrepancy between—

(i) the particulars which are shown in a certificate under this section as being the particulars in respect of which the search for entries was made, and

(ii) the particulars in respect of which a search for entries was required by the person who made the requisition ; or

(b) by reason of any communication of the result of a search under this section made otherwise than by issuing a certificate thereunder.”

6 Office copies of entries in registers kept under Land Charges Act 1925 s. 1

(1) An office copy of an entry in any register kept at the registry in pursuance of the [1925 c. 22.] Land Charges Act 1925 shall be admissible in evidence in all proceedings and between all parties to the same extent as the original would be admissible.

(2) No solicitor, trustee, personal representative or other person in a fiduciary position shall be answerable in respect of any loss occasioned by reliance on an office copy of any such entry.

7 Amendment of Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1926, s. 4(2)

In section 4(2) of the [1926 c. 11.] Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1926 (which, as varied, provides that where a purchaser has obtained an official certificate of the result of search, any entry which is made in the register after the date of the certificate and before the completion of the purchase, and is not made pursuant to a priority notice entered on the register before the certificate is issued, shall not, if the purchase is completed before the expiration of the fourteenth day after the date of the certificate, affect the purchaser), for the words " before the certificate is issued " there shall be substituted the words " on or before the date of the certificate ".

8 Provision of credit accounting facilities

(1) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of section 19 of the Land Charges Act 1925 (power to make general rules for carrying that Act into effect), rules under that subsection may make provision for enabling the registrar to provide credit accounting facilities in respect of fees payable by virtue of that Act, and may provide that, for such purposes of that Act or of rules made thereunder as may be specified in the rules, the debiting of such a fee to a credit account maintained at the registry shall be treated as payment of that fee.

(2) Rules made by virtue of subsection (1) above may include provision for the termination or general suspension of any credit accounting facilities provided under the rules or for their withdrawal or suspension in particular cases at the discretion of the registrar.

9 Exclusion of certain land charges from Land Charges Act 1925

(1) After section 23 of the [1925 c. 21.] Land Charges Act 1925 there shall be inserted the following section—

“23A Exclusion of certain land charges created by instruments necessitating registration under Land Registration Act 1925.

Where an instrument executed after the passing of the Land Registration and Land Charges Act 1971 conveys, grants or assigns an estate in land and creates a land charge (other than a local land charge) affecting that estate, this Act shall not apply to the land charge, so far as it affects that estate, if under section 123 of the Land Registration Act 1925 (effect of that Act in areas where registration is compulsory) the instrument will, unless the necessary application for registration under that Act is made within the time allowed by or under that section, becomes void so far as respects the conveyance, grant or assignment of that estate”.

(2) In section 97 of the [1925 c. 20.] Law of Property Act 1925 (priorities as between puisne mortgages), after the words " This section does not apply " there shall be inserted the words " to mortgages or charges to which the [1925 c. 22.] Land Charges Act 1925 does not apply by virtue of section 23A of that Act (which excludes certain land charges created by instruments necessitating registration under the [1925 c. 21.] Land Registration Act 1925), or ".

10 Exclusions from operation of Part II

The foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, and any specific repeal made by this Act in so far as it reproduces the effect of any of those provisions—

(a) shall not have effect in relation to local land charges except in so far as may be provided by rules made under the Land Charges Act 1925; and

(b) shall not affect the operation of any of the provisions of the Land Charges Act 1925 as to official searches as applied by section 9(7) of the [1928 c. 43.] Agricultural Credits Act 1928 in connection with the registration of agricultural charges.

11 Part VII of Land Charges Act 1925 set out as amended

Part VII of the Land Charges Act 1925 is set out in Schedule 1 to this Act as it will have effect, subject to the exclusions in relation to local land charges and agricultural charges contained in section 10 of this Act, when all repeals and amendments made in it by this Act operate.