Land Registration Act 1925

PART VI General Provisions as to Registration and the Effect thereof.

69 Effect of registration on the legal estate.

(1) The proprietor of land (whether he was registered before or after the commencement of this Act) shall be deemed to have vested in him without any conveyance, where the registered land is freehold, the legal estate in fee simple in possession, and where the registered land is leasehold the legal term created by the registered lease, but subject to the overriding interests, if any, including any mortgage term or charge by way of legal mortgage created by or under the Law of Property Act, 1925, or this Act or otherwise which has priority to the registered estate.

(2) Where any legal estate or term left outstanding at the date of first registration (whether before or after the commencement of this Act), or disposed of or created under section forty-nine of the [38 & 39 Vict. c. 87.] Land Transfer Act, 1875, before the commencement of this Act, becomes satisfied, or the proprietor of the land becomes entitled to require the same to be vested in or surrendered to him, and the entry, if any, for protecting the same on the register has been cancelled, the same shall thereupon, without any conveyance, vest in the proprietor of the land, as if the same had been conveyed or surrendered to him as the case may be.

(3) If and when any person is registered as first proprietor of land in a compulsory area after the commencement of this Act, the provisions of the Law of Property Act, 1925, for getting in legal estates shall apply to any legal estate in the land which was expressed to be conveyed or created in favour of a purchaser or lessee before the commencement of this Act but which failed to pass or to be created by reason of the omission of such purchaser or lessee to be registered as proprietor of the land under the Land Transfer Acts, 1875 and 1897, and shall operate to vest that legal estate in the person so registered as proprietor on his registration, but subject to any mortgage term or charge by way of legal mortgage having priority thereto.

(4) The estate for the time being vested in the proprietor shall only be capable of being disposed of or dealt with by him in manner authorised by this Act.

(5) Nothing in this section operates to render valid a lease registered with possessory or good leasehold title.

70 Liability of registered land to overriding interests.

(1) All registered land shall, unless under the provisions of this Act the contrary is expressed on the register, be deemed to be subject to such of the following overriding interests as may be for the time being subsisting in reference thereto, and such interests shall not be treated as incumbrances within the meaning of this Act, (that is to say):—

(a) Rights of common, drainage rights, customary rights (until extinguished), public rights, profits a prendre, rights of sheepwalk, rights of way, watercourses, rights of water, and other easements not being equitable easements required to be protected by notice on the register;

(b) Liability to repair highways by reason of tenure, quit-rents, crown rents, heriots, and other rents and charges (until extinguished) having their origin in tenure;

(c) Liability to repair the chancel of any church;

(d) Liability in respect of embankments, and sea and river walls;

(e) Land tax, tithe rentcharge, payments in lieu of tithe, and charges or annuities payable for the redemption of tithe rentcharges;

(f) Subject to the provisions of this Act, rights acquired or in course of being acquired under the Limitation Acts;

(g) The rights of every person in actual occupation of the land or in receipt of the rents and profits thereof, save where enquiry is made of such person and the rights are not disclosed;

(h) In the case of a possessory, qualified, or good leasehold title, all estates, rights, interests, and powers excepted from the effect of registration;

(i) Rights under local land charges unless and until registered or protected on the register in the prescribed manner;

(j) Rights of fishing and sporting, seignorial and manorial rights of all descriptions (until extinguished), and franchises;

(k) Leases for any term or interest not exceeding twenty-one years, granted at a rent without taking a fine;

(l) In respect of land registered before the commencement of this Act, rights to mines and minerals, and rights of entry, search, and user, and other rights and reservations incidental to or required for the purpose of giving full effect to the enjoyment of rights to mines and minerals or of property in mines or minerals, being rights which, where the title was first registered before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, were created before that date, and where the title was first registered after the thirty-first day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, were created before the date of first registration:

Provided that, where it is proved to the satisfaction of the registrar that any land registered or about to be registered is exempt from land tax, or tithe rentcharge or payments in lieu of tithe, or from charges or annuities payable for the redemption of tithe rentcharge, the registrar may notify the fact on the register in the prescribed manner.

(2) Where at the time of first registration any easement, right, privilege, or benefit created by an instrument and appearing on the title adversely affects the land, the registrar shall enter a note thereof on the register.

(3) Where the existence of any overriding interest mentioned in this section is proved to the satisfaction of the registrar or admitted, he may (subject to any prescribed exceptions) enter notice of the same or of a claim thereto on the register, but no claim to an easement, right, or privilege not created by an instrument shall be noted against the title to the servient land if the proprietor of such land (after the prescribed notice is given to him) shows sufficient cause to the contrary.

71 Dispositions by virtue of overriding interests.

Where by virtue of any interest or power which is an overriding interest a mortgagee or other person disposes of any estate, charge, or right in or upon a registered estate, and the disposition is capable of being registered, the registrar shall, if so required, give effect to the disposition on the register.

72 Appurtenances.

If before the registration of any freehold or leasehold interest in land with an absolute or good leasehold title any easement, right, or privilege has been acquired for the benefit thereof, then, on such registration, the easement, right, or privilege shall, subject to any entry to the contrary on the register, become appurtenant to the registered land in like manner as if it had been granted to the proprietor who is registered as aforesaid.

73 Provisions as to death duties.

(1) A registered disposition in favour of a purchaser shall operate to vest in him the estate or interest transferred or created by the disposition free from all claims of His Majesty for death duties, notwithstanding that notice of a claim for duties may be noted on the register under this section.

(2) A disposition to any person, other than a purchaser, shall take effect subject to any charge for payment of death duties and the interest thereon, whether notice of a claim for the duties is entered on the register or not.

(3) A personal representative, in whom the registered estate vests on a death, shall be accountable for all death duties which may become leviable or payable on the death of the deceased in respect of the registered land or any interest therein.

(4) In every other case the proprietor of a registered estate (other than a purchaser who acquires a registered estate free from the charge for duties) shall be accountable for all the death duties which become leviable or payable in respect of that estate or of any minor interest capable of being overridden by a registered disposition made by him.

(5) A personal representative or other proprietor who disposes of any interest in registered land to a purchaser by a disposition which is registered or protected on the register, and the proceeds of sale, funds and other property, if any, derived from the disposition and the income thereof, shall (subject as hereinafter provided) be and remain liable in respect of and stand charged with the payment of the duties the charge for which is overridden by the disposition, together with any interest payable in respect of the same.

(6) Notwithstanding that any duties may be payable by instalments, on a disposition of a registered estate by way of sale, exchange, or charge, all death duties payable in respect of the estate dealt with remaining unpaid, the charge for which is overridden by such disposition, shall immediately become payable and carry interest at the rate of four pounds per centum per annum from the date of the disposition :

Provided that, where by reason of this subsection an amount is paid or becomes payable for duties in excess of the amount which would have been payable if the duties had continued to be paid by instalments, such excess shall be repaid or allowed as a deduction by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.

(7) Where on the death of a proprietor it appears to the registrar that a charge for death duties has arisen, the registrar shall enter notice of the charge on the register in the prescribed manner.

(8) When any such notice is entered, the registrar shall, before registering or entering notice of any disposition which would operate to override the charge for duties, give notice of the intended registration or entry to the said Commissioners, and cancel the notice of the claim for duties so far as it relates to the land or interest therein comprised in the disposition.

(9) When all claims for duties have been satisfied, or no such claims arise, or the said Commissioners are satisfied that the duties will be paid or commuted, they shall notify the fact to the registrar, who shall thereupon cancel the notice, if any, of the claim.

(10) For the purpose of raising the duty and the costs of raising the same, the personal representative or other proprietor accountable as aforesaid shall have all the powers which are by any statute conferred on any person for raising the duty.

(11) Notwithstanding that any duties are by this section made payable by the personal representative or proprietor of the land, nothing herein contained shall affect the liability of the persons beneficially interested or of their minor interests in respect of any duty, and such persons shall accordingly account for or repay the same, and any interest and costs attributable thereto, to the said Commissioners or to the personal representative or other proprietor made accountable, and nothing in this section shall affect the remedies of the said Commissioners against any person other than a purchaser.

(12) Capital money liable to be laid out in the purchase of land to be settled in the same manner as the land in respect of which the duty became payable, and personal estate held on the same trusts as the proceeds of sale of land (in respect of which the duty became payable) held on trust for sale, may, by the direction of the person accountable, and although the duty is only payable hi respect of a minor interest which is or is capable of being overridden by a disposition to a purchaser, be applied in discharging all or any of the duties and costs aforesaid.

(13) Where the duties would not, except by virtue of the last subsection, be payable out of capital money, the amount so paid shall be repaid by the person liable for the duty to the trustees of the settlement or trustees for sale, by the like instalments and at the like rate of interest by and at which the unpaid duty and the interest thereon might have been paid if the land had not been disposed of, and the minor or other interests of the persons liable and remaining subject to the settlement of the land or of the proceeds of the sale, shall stand charged with the repayment of the instalments and interest aforesaid; and the trustees of the settlement or the trustees for sale shall be entitled to recover and receive any excess of duty which may become repayable by the said Commissioners.

(14) Nothing in this section shall impose on a personal representative, trustee, or other person in a fiduciary position, as such, any liability for payment of duty in excess of the assets (including real estate) vested in him or in the trustees of the settlement which may for the time being be available in his or their hands for the payment of the duty, or which would have been so available but for his or their own neglect or default, or impose on the proprietor of a registered charge any liability to discharge death duties unless the claim was paramount to his charge.

(15) In this section " purchaser " includes only a purchaser for money or money's worth.

(16) This section only applies to death duties which become payable or leviable after the commencement of this Act.

With respect to death duties which become payable or leviable before that date section thirteen of the [60 & 61 Vict. c. 65.] Land Transfer Act, 1897, and all the other provisions of the Land Transfer Acts, 1875 and 1897, relating to death duties shall, notwithstanding any repeal, continue to apply.

74 Notice of trust not to affect registered dealing.

Subject to the provisions of this Act as to settled land, neither the registrar nor any person dealing with a registered estate or charge shall be affected with notice of a trust express implied or constructive, and references to trusts shall, so far as possible, be excluded from the register.

75 Acquisition of title by possession.

(1) The Limitation Acts shall apply to registered land in the same manner and to the same extent as those Acts apply to land not registered, except that where, if the land were not registered, the estate of the person registered as proprietor would be extinguished, such estate shall not be extinguished but shall be deemed to be held by the proprietor for the time being in trust for the person who, by virtue of the said Acts, has acquired title against any proprietor, but without prejudice to the estates and interests of any other person interested in the land whose estate or interest is not extinguished by those Acts.

(2) Any person claiming to have acquired a title under the Limitation Acts to a registered estate in the land may apply to be registered as proprietor thereof.

(3) The registrar shall, on being satisfied as to the applicant's title, enter the applicant as proprietor either with absolute, good leasehold, qualified, or possessory title, as the case may require, but without prejudice to any estate or interest protected by any entry on the register which may not have been extinguished under the Limitation Acts, and such registration shall, subject as aforesaid, have the same effect as the registration of a first proprietor; but the proprietor or the applicant or any other person interested may apply to the court for the determination of any question arising under this section.

(4) If, in the opinion of the registrar, any purchaser or person deriving title under him whose title, being registered or protected on the register, is prejudicially affected by any entry under this section, ought, in the special circumstances of the case, to be compensated, the registrar may award to him indemnity of such amount as he may consider just, in like manner as if such purchaser or person had suffered loss by the rectification of the register:

Provided that no sum shall be payable for indemnity under this section, unless that sum can be paid out of the indemnity fund without recourse to the Consolidated Fund.

(5) Rules may be made for applying (subject to any necessary modifications) the provisions of this section to cases where an easement, right or privilege has been acquired by prescription.

76 Description of registered land.

Registered land may be described—

(a) by means of a verbal description and a filed plan or general map, based on the ordnance map; or

(b) by reference to a deed or other document, a copy or extract whereof is filed at the registry, containing a sufficient description, and a plan or map thereof; or

(c) otherwise as the applicant for registration may desire, and the registrar, or, if the applicant prefers, the court, may approve,

regard being had to ready identification of parcels, correct descriptions of boundaries, and, so far as may be, uniformity of practice; but the boundaries of all freehold land and all requisite details in relation to the same, shall whenever practicable, be entered on the register or filed plan, or general map, and the filed plan, if any, or general map shall be used for assisting the identification of the land.

77 Conversion of possessory into absolute or good leasehold title.

(1) Where land has been registered with a possessory title before the commencement of this Act, and the registrar is satisfied as to the title, he may register it at any time as absolute or good leasehold, whether the proprietor consents to such registration or not, but, unless the registration is made at the request of the proprietor, without charging any fee therefor.

(2) Where the registrar is satisfied as to the title he may, on a transfer for valuable consideration of land registered with a qualified, good leasehold or possessory title, enter the title of a transferee or grantee as absolute or good leasehold, as the case may require or admit, whether the transferee or grantee consents or not, but in that case no additional fee shall be charged.

(3) The following provisions shall apply with respect to land registered with a qualified or possessory title:—

(a) Where the title registered is possessory, the application for the registration of a transfer for valuable consideration shall, subject to any provisions to the contrary which may be prescribed, be accompanied by all the documents of or relating to the title (including contracts, abstracts, counsel's opinions, requisitions and replies, and other like documents), in the applicant's possession or under his control ; and where the title registered is qualified, such application shall be accompanied by such documents, if any, as may relate to the matters excepted from the effect of registration ;

(b) Where the land has been registered, if freehold land, for fifteen years, or if leasehold land, for ten years, with a possessory title, the registrar shall, if satisfied that the proprietor is in possession, and after giving such notices, if any, as may be prescribed, enter the title of the proprietor of the freehold land as absolute, and the title of the proprietor of the leasehold land as good leasehold, save that if the date of first registration occurred before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and nine, the registrar shall have power to postpone the registration of an absolute or good leasehold title until, after investigation, he is satisfied in regard to the title.

(4) Where the land has been registered with a good leasehold title for at least ten years, the registrar may, subject to the payment of any additional insurance fee and to any advertisements or inquiries which may be prescribed, and if he is satisfied that the proprietor or successive proprietors has or have been in possession during the said period, at the request of the proprietor enter his title as absolute.

(5) If any claim adverse to the title of the proprietor has been made, an entry shall not be made on the register under this section unless and until the claim has been disposed of.

(6) Any person, other than the proprietor, who suffers loss by reason of any entry on the register made by virtue of this section shall be entitled to be indemnified under this Act as if a mistake had been made in the register.

78 Provisions as to undivided shares in land.

(1) Where in the case of land belonging to persons in undivided shares the entirety of the land is registered at the commencement of this Act, and the persons entitled to the several undivided shares are registered as proprietors, the registrar shall, on the occasion of the first dealing affecting the title after the commencement of this Act, rectify the register by entering as the proprietors of the entirety of the land the persons in whom the legal estate therein has become vested by virtue of the Law of Property Act, 1925, and it shall be the duty of the persons registered as the proprietors of the undivided shares in the land to furnish to the registrar such evidence as he may require to enable him to ascertain the persons in whom such legal estate has become so vested as aforesaid.

(2) Where at the commencement of this Act the title to an undivided share in land is registered but the entirety of the land is not registered, the registrar may, at any time, after giving notice to the proprietor and to the other persons, if any, who appear by the register to be interested therein, remove from the register the title to the undivided share, and such removal shall have the like effect as if it had been effected by the proprietor with the assent of such other persons as aforesaid in pursuance of the power in that behalf contained in this Act:

Provided that, if within one year from the commencement of this Act or such extended time as the registrar may allow, and before the removal of the undivided share from the register in manner aforesaid, the persons in whom the legal estate of the entirety of the land is vested by virtue of the Law of Property Act, 1925, or any persons interested in more than an undivided half of the land or the income thereof, make an application in the prescribed manner for the purpose and furnish the prescribed evidence, the registrar shall, without charging any fee, register the persons in whom such legal estate is so vested as proprietors of that estate, subject to any incumbrance capable of registration affecting the entirety of the land, but free from any charge or incumbrance (whether formerly registered or not) affecting an undivided share, and when the title to the entirety of the land is so registered, the title to the undivided share shall be closed.

(3) If the person in whom the legal estate in the entirety of the land is so vested is the Public Trustee, he shall not be registered as proprietor pursuant to this section unless and until he has been duly requested to act in accordance with the Law of Property Act, 1925, and has accepted the trust.

(4) After the commencement of this Act, no entry other than a caution against dealings with the entirety shall be made in the register as respects the title to an undivided share in land.

79 Addresses for service and notices.

(1) Every person whose name is entered on the register as proprietor of any registered land or charge, or as cautioner, or as entitled to receive any notice, or in any other character shall furnish to the registrar a place of address in the United Kingdom.

(2) Every notice by this Act required to be given to any person shall be served personally, or sent through the post in a registered letter marked outside " His Majesty's Land Registry," and directed to such person at the address furnished to the registrar, and, unless returned, shall be deemed to have been received by the person addressed within such period, not less than seven days, exclusive of the day of posting, as may be prescribed.

(3) The Postmaster-General shall give directions for the immediate return to the registrar of all letters marked as aforesaid, and addressed to any person who cannot be found, and on the return of any letter containing any notice, the registrar shall act in the matter requiring such notice to be given in such manner as may be prescribed.

(4) A purchaser shall not be affected by the omission to send any notice by this Act directed to be given or by the non-receipt thereof.

80 Bona vacantia and forfeiture.

Subject to the express provisions of this Act relating to the effect of first registration of title and the effect of registration of a disposition for valuable consideration, nothing in this Act affects any right of His Majesty to any bona vacantia or forfeiture.

81 Power to remove land from the register.

(1) The proprietor of registered land not situated in an area where the registration of title is compulsory, and, in every case where the entirety of the land is not registered, the proprietor of an undivided share in land, may, with the consent of the other persons (if any) for the time being appearing by the register to be interested therein, and on delivering up the land certificate and, if the land is subject to any registered charges, the charge certificates, remove the land (including an undivided share) from the register.

(2) After land is removed from the register no further entries shall be made respecting it, and inspection of the register may be made and office copies of the entries therein may be issued, subject to such regulations as may be prescribed.

(3) If the land so removed from the register is situated within the jurisdiction of the Middlesex or Yorkshire registries, it shall again be subject to such jurisdiction as from the date of the removal.