(1)[F1The register and any relevant document shall be available] for public inspection during the hours for which the Land Registry remains open for the transaction of public business and, subject to Land Registry Rules, any person may search[F1 in the register or inspect the document], and shall be entitled, on making application to the Registrar in such form as may be prescribed, to receive copies of, or extracts from, so much of the[F1 register or relevant document] as relates to the land specified in such application.
[F1(1A)In subsection (1) “relevant document” means a document retained in the Registry in connection with a registration under the Act of 1891, an application for registration under this Act or a registration under this Act.]
(2)Land Registry Rules may provide for applications to the Registrar for official searches in[F1 the register], for the carrying out of such searches for[F1 the provision of information by certificate or otherwise regarding] the result of such searches and for matters connected therewith.
[F1(2A)Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), Land Registry Rules may make provision with respect to applications for searches in the register, and the provision of information, by telephone or other automated means.]
(3)Where the Registrar is satisfied that the person to whom a certificate of the result of an official search is issued has entered into a contract to purchase, or take a lease of, or lend money on the security of a charge on, the land to which the certificate relates, the Registrar shall, at the request of that person, make an entry in the[F1 title register] in such manner as may be prescribed.
(4)In any case referred to in subsection (3), an application for registration of the document to complete the contract shall, if the application is in order and is delivered at the[F1 Land Registry] within[F1 such period as may be prescribed], rank in priority before any other application for registration made in respect of the land within that period.