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WORKSHEET ONE The Principles of Registered

Land Law

Here is an overview of the rules of registered land law:

The central
issue in Land
Transfer
Problems and
essays:

Land Transfer Law consists of the rules

that determine whether a purchaser of
land or a mortgage lender will take free
from or subject to property rights in the
land that he has bought.

Identify how each of the rules below work and what are the relevant statutory sections
Registrable dispositions
Transfer of estate of interest in land, it is basically doing something with the land.
This includes, transfer of registered estated under free simple or a lease, granting a new
lease one of over 7 years or granting a legal mortgage or an easement all of this comes
under section 27 of the Land Registeration Act 2002
You should be registering it.
The priority rule (page 19 and 20 of the handout)
Sections 29 and 30 of Land Registration Act 2002
The purchaser or the lender, providing you have given valuable consideration, takes the
estate or interest in land free from everything, except:
1) Registered charges of interest which have a notice of the register
2) Overriding interests listed in Schedule 3
Overriding interests (page 22 of the hand out) Schedule 3 para (1),(2), (3)
Unregistered disposition which overrides registered disposition
It is an interest that will bind a purchaser even though the land has been registered.
Bind the purchaser or the lender even though it has not been entered in the land register
Schedule 3 (1)- deals with leases which have been granted for less then 7 years, which will
bind the purchaser even though they have not been registered
Schedule 3 (3)- Legal easements which come into buy implied grant of prescription.
Schedule 3 (2)- (important one) The rights/ interest of a person in actual occupation, you
have to have two elements, you have to have the right or interest in land and then actual
occupation must also need to be proved.
The protection of third party rights- what can third parties put on the register
You can put a notice or alternatively you can put a restriction.
Notices are more important, on a register you can protect third party rights such as small
rights- equitable easements, you can protect leases between 3 and 7 and also restrictive
covenants. You can also protect state contracts which would include option to purchase.
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If you do have a notice as far of the purchaser or lender is concerned they are bound by
the notice
Restriction does not operate in the same way as notice, restriction shows that they cant do
something with the land. You can use this to protect a beneficial interest under a trust.

WORKSHEET TWO Building Blocks

Explain the policies in each of the Building Blocks below and show how they are valuable.
Now hold each rule from WORKSHEET ONE against the Building Blocks and see if you
can make an argument for why they are good or bad law

BUILDING BLOCK NO 5: Property

Rights and the Protection of
Purchasers

BUILDING BLOCK NO 8: Statutory

rules should reflect the purposes
behind their enactment
Rules should not exist for their own
sake. If the rules of land registration
that you have studied above do not
achieve the purposes of parliament
behind their enactment we may
legitimately criticise them as being
bad rules.
What is the purpose behind the rules
you have studied above?

WORKSHEET THREE: Practical Application of

Registered Land Law

You are a practising property lawyer and in June this year a representative from the
Harding and Slope Building Society comes to see you. In 2009 they lent Jason 100,000
to start up a new business. In return Jason executed a legal charge (mortgage) over his
house, title to which is registered, in favour of the Building Society. Jason is the sole legal
owner of the house. Unfortunately Jasons business has not prospered and has now gone
into liquidation. He has failed to keep up repayments due under the loan contract.
The Harding and Slope Building Society have issued proceedings for possession of the
house, with a view to immediate sale. They wish to know whether the following interests
bind the land:

The house is large and has an upstairs flat. Five years before the mortgage, in
2004, Jason granted a 10 year lease to Rosalind.
He granted Rosalind an option to purchase the flat upon the expiry of the lease.

T
Rosalind has not registered the lease or the option on the Land Register. Advise the
Harding and Slope Building Society

A structured solution using the relevant law: ILAC

ISSUE: Explain the legal problem

LAW: Identify and explain the relevant law
APPLY: State the consequences of applying the law to the facts
CONCLUDE: State what your conclusion is (if you have not
done so already)

Explain what the legal problem is:

State the law: Explain what a registrable disposition is and section 23
State the consequence of the law: Jason as Registered Proprietor and the
position of the H & S BS
Legal problem: The lease:
State the law: Explain what a registrable disposition is and section 27
State the consequence of the law: We are told that Rosalind has not
registered the lease. What is the legal consequence of this?
Legal problem: The option
State the law: Explain the priority rule and sections 29 and 30, and notices
State the consequence of the law: We are told that Rosalind has not
registered the option. What is the legal consequence of this
How to deal with problem scenario (this one is relating to the example in tutorial 6
about Jason)
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Firstly you would need to explain what a restorable disposition is- which is outlined under
section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002.
It is a transaction of the land which has already been registered.
Section 23:
This section outlines the powers in which a register proprietor has. It establishes that a
registered proprietor can make any transaction/disposition with the land that an absolute
owner can.
Owners powers in relation to a registered estate consist of power to make a disposition of
any kind permitted by the general law.
So in this scenario, Jason has the power to grant, the building society a legal charge and
he has the power to grant Rosaline a lease and the option to purchase, because he is the
registered proprietor who has the ability to do all that.
When Jason provided a legal charge to the building society they would have registered
their charge, they would have investigated whether he had the ability to grant in the first
place, and once they found out that he did, the interest will be binding on him.
The lease provided to Rosaline is over 7 years, she should have registered it and it has its
own title. She did not register the lease however this does not mean she has lost
everything because she will be protected by overriding interests which are found under
Schedule 3 of the land register act. She is in actual occupation and has an interest in land
so therefore she has an overriding interest.
If she can show she has an overriding interest through the application of overriding
interested then the building society will not be able to repossess the house.
Likewise she hasnt registered it, and an estate contract which counts as an interest in
land and she is going to argue that she is also going to argue that she is in actual
occupation which therefore means she has an overriding interest. However the building
society can prove that she is not in actual occupation, but enough evidence is not provided
to examine that aspect.
However in order to simply everything Rosaline should have registered the lease through
notice under the charges register which would have made things easier. Nonetheless we
do not know if she is in actual occupation, she might not be so then the building society
can take free of those interests. But as considered before, there is nothing to suggest that
she was there.
In order to provide overriding interests you need to prove actual occupation and the
interest in land to satisfy the overriding interests.

Section 4: LRA 2002

Registrable dispositions- Section 27

Transfer of estate of interest in land, it is basically doing something with the land.
This includes, transfer of registered estated under free simple or a lease, granting a new
lease one of over 7 years or granting a legal mortgage or an easement all of this comes
under section 27 of the Land Registeration Act 2002
You should be registering it.

This section outlines the powers in which a register proprietor has. It establishes that a
registered proprietor can make any transaction/disposition with the land that an absolute
owner can. Section 23- it applies to Harold
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Section 29/ 30 Outline the law and then apply to situation

Section 34- NoticesB+B- Restrictive covnant, Harold is the person who entered into the restrictive covenant,
and inorder for it to be binding B+B will need to register it for it for the purpose of
protection.
Overriding interests- comes in under 29/30 and schedule 3 monitors what these interests
are.