The Land Registration (No. 3) Rules 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note does not form part of the Rules)

These Rules, which come into force on 1 January 1996, amend the Land Registration Rules 1925 (“the 1925 Rules”), the Land Registration (Matrimonial Homes) Rules 1990, the Land Registration (Open Register) Rules 1991 and the Land Registration (Official Searches) Rules 1993.

“Proper office” is defined in rule 1(5A) of the 1925 Rules for the purposes of all four of these sets of rules. The proper office is the district registry within whose district the land, or any of the land, to which an application relates is situated.

New rules are substituted for rules 115 and 116 of the 1925 Rules to provide for transfers of land held under “new tenancies” within the meaning of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 (that is, leases granted on or after 1 January 1996 otherwise than in pursuance of an agreement entered into, an option granted or a court order made before that date) as well as transfers of land held under leases which are not new tenancies.

The covenants implied by section 24 of the Land Registration Act 1925 and Section 77 of the Law of Property Act 1925 as originally enacted, both repealed in relation to new tenancies, can only apply to transfers of land held under leases which are not new tenancies. This is reflected in the new rules.

Rule 76 of the 1925 Rules, which provided for land subject to a rentcharge and leasehold land to be transferred as beneficial owner, etc. so as to imply the covenants by the transferor implied by section 77 of the Law of Property Act 1925, is revoked. New rules and forms allow the appropriate covenants to be incorporated in transfers without the transfer being made as beneficial owner.

New rule 109 (Transfers of land subject to a rentcharge) adapts the wording of Parts VII and VIII of Schedule 2 to the Law of Property Act 1925 to the requirements of registered conveyancing. It applies to transfers of either freehold or leasehold land.

A new rule 117 (Variation of implied covenants in transfer of land held under old tenancy) adapts the wording of Parts IX and X of Schedule 2 (saved in relation to leases which are not new tenancies) to the requirements of registered conveyancing, and provides for a note to be made on the register when the implied covenants are modified or negatived.

New Forms 32, 33, 34, 34A and 34B are substituted for Forms 32, 33 and 34 in the Schedule to the 1925 Rules.