UR Registration of Land Charges

Question 1

The three groups of equitable interests after LPA 1925

Answer 1

1. Equitable interests registrable as land charges;
2. Equitable interests which are ‘overreachable’; and
3. Equitable interests which are neither, and are still subject to the doctrine of notice.

Question 2

198(1) LPA 1925

Answer 2

If an interest is registered then the LPA provides that the the registration shall constitute actual notice the the whole world of the equitable interest.

Question 3

If an interest can be registered and it isn’t…

Answer 3

… then by the Land Charges Act (1925 and 1972) the interest is void against a purchaser for value regardless of their knowledge.

Question 4

Hollington Brothers Ltd v Rhodes

Answer 4

If an interest can be registered and it isn’t then, by the Land Charges Act (1925 and 1972), the interest is void against a purchaser for value regardless of their knowledge.

Question 5

Standard Property Investment plc v British Plastics Federation

Answer 5

In the Land Charges Register, the registration must be under the name of the land owner as shown in the title deeds.

Question 6

198 LPA 1925

Answer 6

All interests to have been correctly registered are binding upon a purchaser, as it is deemed to amount to actual notice.

Question 7

Class C(iv) Estate Contract

Answer 7

Any contract to to create or convey a legal estate;

Equitable leases arising under contracts or informal grants (hence the need to register the lease in Hollington v Rhodes);

Options; and

Rights of pre-emption (i.e. first refusal)

Question 8

Class D(ii) Restrictive Covenants

Answer 8

Any restrictive covenant entered into after 1925 (except one contained in a lease) is registrable as a land charge (2(5)(ii) LCA 1972) Restrictive covenants entered into before 1926 (of which there is a tremendous number) are not registrable as land charges. They remain subject to the doctrine of notice.

Question 9

Class F: Rights of Occupation; ‘Home Rights’

Answer 9

When a spouse’s partner has a legal title to the matrimonial home, the spouse automatically has a statutory right of occupation with respect of the home. This right of occupation, renamed ‘home rights’ (Family Law Act 1996, amended by the Civil Partnerships Act 2004), is registrable as a land charge (2(7) LCA 1972.

Question 10

Class C: General Equitable Charge

Answer 10

The two significant equitable interests covered by this concept are:

1. An equitable mortgage where the mortgagee does not take the title deeds to the property mortgaged; and
2. An unpaid vendor’s lein

Question 11

Class D(iii): Equitable Easements and Profits

Answer 11

Registrable if created after 1925.

If created pre-1926 doctrine of notice applies.

Question 12

Midland Bank v Green

Answer 12

Effect of non-registration

s.4 LCA 1972 – void

Question 13

Effect of Search

Answer 13

s.199 LPA 1925, Conclusive

Question 14

Problems – registration against names

Answer 14

Oak v Blackburn cf with reg. land

Question 15

Land must be registered against the name given in the title deeds of the estate

Answer 15

Standard Property Investment plc v British Plastics Federation