Law of Property Act 1922

16As to bankruptcies of estate owners.

(1)Every petition in bankruptcy filed after the commencement of this Act shall be registered at the land registry as a lis pendens, and, as respects any transfer or creation of a legal estate, a petition filed after such commencement which is not so registered shall not, until so registered, be notice or evidence of any act of bankruptcy therein alleged.

(2)Rules for giving effect to this section may be made under and in manner provided by section one hundred and thirty-two of the [4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 59.] Bankruptcy Act, 1914, as if the registration were required by that Act. No fee shall be charged for the registration of a lis pendens if the application therefor is made by the registrar of the court in which a petition has been filed.

(3)Where the petition is filed against a firm, the application to register shall state the" names and addresses of the partners, and a lis pendens shall also be registered against each partner.

(4)Every receiving order in bankruptcy made after the commencement of this Act may (whether or not it is known to affect land) be registered and re-registered as an order affecting land within the meaning of section five of the Land Charges Registration and Searches Act, 1888, and the provisions of that Act (including in particular section seventeen thereof) shall apply accordingly. No fee shall be charged for the registration of the order if the application therefor is made by an official receiver.

(5)The words " does not include an order made by a court having jurisdiction in bankruptcy, but save as aforesaid," in the definition of " judgment" in section four of the said Act of 1888 are hereby repealed.

(6)The title of the trustee in bankruptcy acquired after the commencement of this Act shall be void as against a purchaser of a legal estate claiming under a conveyance made after the date of registration of the petition, in bankruptcy unless, at the date of the conveyance, either the lis pendens is in force or the receiving order is registered pursuant to this section.

(7)This section only applies in favour of a purchaser of a legal estate in good faith for money or money's worth without notice of an available act of bankruptcy.