Registered and Unregistered Titles of Land in the UK - Essay Example

Registered and Unregistered s of land in UK Just like in any other property, the interest in land can be to conflicting laudable claims whose challenges lies in determining the just and unjust claims. The title of the ownership of the land gives the landowners a security of occupancy and confidence of ownership of the land (Jowsey, 2014. P. 256). The legal systems recognize the existence of certain forms of adverse possessions relative interests in land. The adverse possessions provide a way for resolving land disputes and provide assurance of title and security of occupancy for the sake of restoring peace and order in the society (Abbey & Richards, 2013). Enforcement of the rules of titles helps in eliminating or resolving any uncertainties, faults or inconsistencies in any aspect of the title to the piece of land such as the location or adverse possession of any piece of land (Rodell & Harris, 2013). The rules governing registered and unregistered titles provide base for investigation and application of the legal procedure in identifying and resolving land disputes or discrepancies in relation to location, boundaries, ownership, etc. In the United Kingdom, the land title is either registered or unregistered. The registration of title to the land the transferee in UK is mandatory during the time of transfer of the title. The registration takes place at the Land Registry as prove of ownership of the land or any other property (Rodell & Harris, 2013). This document examines the superiority of the registered title over the unregistered title during enforcement of rules on the land dealings. Title deeds are “sets of documents that constitutes the proof of ownership of the property” (Clarke & Greer, 2014). A person is required to register land with the Land Registry after they have bought, inherited, been given, mortgaged, or have received in exchange for another property (Crown, (2003). However, there is no need for registration in case of leasehold unless the property has been leased for a duration not exceeding seven years. In the case of the agricultural land the owner should register it with Rural Land Register as well the Land Registry (Law Commission, 2011). During the registration, the following are required; the name of the landowner, the price for which it was purchased or mortgaged and the plan or boundaries of the land (Dixon, 2010). The essence of registering the title to the land confers the true ownership of the land, protection the land against fraud and makes the procedure of transferring the ownership simple and faster (Law Commission, 2011, p. 21). Since 1st of December 1990, it became compulsory for all land owners to register the title of the land as evidence of ownership and to enable the transfer of property from one person to another (Law Commission, 2011, p. 24). The registration is mandatory while the transfer of ownership and one can continue to occupy the land with unregistered title. However, in case of dispute of ownership over unregistered title to the land it becomes tedious and cumbersome to unravel the claims for the purpose of establishing the factual owner. Registered title to the land involves maintenance of official copies of title deeds, title plan and all other relevant documents by the Land Registry (Crown, 2003). The Land Registry maintains three different registers which include proprietorship register, property register and charges registers. On the other hand, unregistered title refers to the land title deeds which have not been consolidated but instead they are set out as isolated documents also known as the epitome of the title (Abbey & Richards, 2013, p. 221). The unregistered title deeds encompass conveyances, death certificates, mortgages, marriage certificates, grants of representations, deeds of easements, etc. (Abbey & Richards, 2013, p. 224). The ownership of property in land in Europe is registered under the land registry that maintains the property databases. The land registry in provides the property owners with title to the registered land and interest in that land (Warner-Reed, 2014, p.114). It maintains the records of the rights of ownership of the freehold land and for the leasehold land whose lease period exceeds seven years. As of August 2012, 80% of the land in UK was under registered titles (Law Commission, 2011). The rest of the land is unregistered because it is either possessed by the government or the church. Whether the land is registered is unregistered there is no land without owner in UK because in case of any land that cannot be attributed to any person it is taken over by the crown also known as Bona Vacantia. The equitable interests of land beneficiaries of the revenue from the sale of the trust property were monetized by the section 2, LPA 1925, thus protecting buyers of trust property in circumstances where the money was paid to more than one trustees (De Londras, 2011. P. 74). In addition, the interest in land that influenced its value was registered under the Land Charges Act (LCA) 1925. The registration of land titles enabled the buyer with a simple means of “establishing the existence of any encumbrance and preserving third-party interests by guaranteeing a notice” (Law Commission, 2011). Although not all land charges are included in the equitable interests of the land, registration of titles provides the buyers with basic information about the value of the land to enable the buyers to protect their rights (Jourdan, 2003). Therefore, the buyer should do local searches for the actual land charges and establish facts about the ownership through registered or unregistered titles. The registered land system in England and Wales is adjudicated by the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) while the earlier unregistered land system is partly provided for by the common law, equity laws and in the property legislation of 1925 (Clarke et al., 2014). The land legislation safeguards the interests of the buyers and third-party interests in the land. Title registration is the public documentation of the truthful details concerning particular piece of land and the reasons for that record (Abbey & Richards, 2013, p.319). Maintenance of title records provides a room for making updates incorporation of information register as a basis for providing most recent changes of recorded information in relation to each of the land parcel. Registration of title provides a “mirror and curtain” principles that offer the conviction of title and security of occupancy by increasing the accountability and transparency through open inspection of land registers (Law Commission, 2011). The buyer of a parcel of land has two concerns or interests namely the right of ownership of the seller and the possibility of any third party claim that may limit the freedom of the buyer from using the land as intended (HomeCo Internet Property Ltd, 2013). The difference between registered and unregistered land systems is that the registration of the title forms the basis of title to registered land while for the unregistered title the basis is the possession of land. The implication of the two different titles to land is that for the unregistered the title there is no maintenance of central register and evidence of ownership are depicted in unbroken chain of relocation of the ownership as the evidence of transfer of the title (Dixon, 2010). The chain of transfer demonstrates whether the procedure of ownership was justifiable, and any irregularities involved as well as the present owner of a parcel of land (Jourdan, 2003). The challenges posed by English land law was how to integrate the security of title with simplicity transfer of title (Crown, 2003). That was mainly because the holders of rights in the title aimed at protecting those rights while the buyers intend to acquire them for free. The 1925 land legislation harmonized and simplified the existing rules by creating a new land ownership system that aimed at protecting both the buyer and the proprietor of third-party rights (Gretton, Steven & Struthers, 2008). Presently, registration of the titles of the property is being implemented through the establishment of fully electronic transfer system whereby all details pertaining to the property can be inspected online (De Lacy, 2009, p 154). The use of electronic property registers increases the accessibility of property records during the purchasing of the property or when applying for a mortgage. This has reduced the use of “off-register transactions” significantly and has increased the speed of transactions (Waelde et al., 2013). Also, the use of registered titles is more reliable due to increased efficiency of conducting land transactions. Unless in the instances where the rights in the land property cannot be registered registration of titles enables the land registry to re-order and re-define the property right through maintenance of substantive records (Clarke et al., 2014). The process of registering is easy, and executing transactions involving registered land is simplified such that the unregistered titles become cumbersome and costly to transfer (HomeCo Internet Property Ltd, 2013). The registered titles to the property are given priority in order to increase the value of transactions for the proprietors of unregistered titles unless such registration was practically impossible. Even in the circumstances where the rights in the property cannot be registered the holder of third party rights is granted limited priorities in the property compared to the rights of the registered property (Crown, (2003). Such rights are only enjoyable in the circumstance where the transferee can recognize the existence of rights before the actual transfer of the title. Therefore, the dominants rights of the property whose title cannot be registered do not in absolute terms supersede the rights of the registered transferee of a registered title (De Lacy, 2009). The registration of title to the land increases third party rights to the property and protects the ownership of the property at a value. The rights of the transferee are adequately protected on instances of disposition of registered title either through an intended act of registration or unconsciously by the motive of the interest existing in the dominant interests (Crown, N.d). The intended purpose can be achieved through issuance of a notice that grants fundamental protection on the interest safeguarded or in identified circumstances through issuing limitations that gives indirect protection by regulating transactions with the title thus minimizing the situations in which the transferee can demand priority by registering as a new owner (Gretton, Steven & Struthers, 2008). The default method of claiming for protection of third party rights is by the use of a notice even though the use of restriction method is an alternative (Warner-Reed, 2014). Therefore, in case of unprotected interests the third party will lose priority to the properly registered proprietor for valued consideration. The Land Registration Act of 2002 provides a time limit for the registration of land upon conclusion of the lease, purchase, sale or any other dealings requiring mandatory registration of title (Tee, 2013). However, failure to comply with the registration requirements makes such transfer void with effect that the transferor becomes holder of the legal estate on trust for the transferee. In case of grant of lease of protection of mortgage through unregistered title the mortgage becomes void and the relationship between mortgagor and mortgagee turns into a mere contract and the transferee or mortgagor becomes liable to the mortgagee or transferor for the value involved (Gretton et al., 2008). The mortgagor or transferee should indemnify the transferor of mortgage for any cost they might have incurred due to failure to register the title (Crown, N.d). Therefore, registration of land title limits the interests of third-party who may raise claims over the land ownership. According to Crown (N.d.), the first registered landowner of an estate owned under freehold or leasehold has an absolute title of ownership and is only subject to particular interests as follows; 1) Interest protected by a record in the register such as those protected by a notice. 2) If the registered landowner holds the land as a trustee then, he or she is only entitled to the rights they have noticed in regard to the person entitled as beneficiary. 3) Interests overriding under schedule 1 of the LRA 2002 have not been disclosed through entry on the register. 4) Finally, where the registered landowner has no notice concerning the adverse possessor of the interests in land the proprietor can apply to be registered as the landowner under LRA 2002. Therefore, the priority rules are only applicable to all first registration and do not change the possession of ownership interests (Speaight, 2012). On the other hand, in case the adverse possessor had possessed the interest of unregistered title for a period exceeding 12 years the first registration of the possession cannot give the owner of registered title a better position of ownership than the adverse possessor (Lau, 2011). Under registered disposition the buyer, lessee or mortgagor of interest in the property acquires superior title to the property if they register property after mortgaging or purchasing. The provision is provided for as special priority rule under section n29 of the LRA 2002 (Lau, 2011). Upon registration of the disposition, the new possessor acquires better priorities overall pre-existing owners prior to registration apart from overriding interests protected by issuance of a notice (Speaight, 2012). In other words the registered interest of a purchaser becomes inferior in the situation where the unregistered interests of third-parties possessors were protected by a notice or entry on the on the register or falls under schedule 3 as overriding interests. Therefore, the purchaser of land acquires better interests in the property and is unaffected by the interests of a third-party he was unaware of at the time of making a purchase (In Brief.co.uk, N.d.). The interests of third-party can be protected either by deliberate act of registration of title by the factual holder through disposition of the title of registered title or by the virtue of the interest falling within the overriding interest (Gretton et al., 2008). Schedule 1 of the LRA 2002 provides the circumstance under which the interests of unregistered interests override the rights of newly registered landowner, while schedule 3 refers to the successive disposition of registered title (Dixon, 2010). However, land registration shields the proprietor against third party claims of the interests in the same property. The first registration of land is mandatory at the time of transfer of ownership through purchase. Before any person commits himself/herself to purchase any piece of land, they should make inquiries to establish whether that parcel of land is registered or unregistered (Crown, N.d). For any unregistered land, the owner should go through the official procedure and acquire the registration of title. The registration of title gives the identification of ownership of land and creates an easy procedure for transfer of ownership to the subsequent buyers (Jowsey, 2014, p. 421) In conclusion, registration of land title gives the holder of a registered title a better position against all claims by third-party. Any claims are arising after registration that the registered owner was unaware of while registration does not interfere with the holders’ interests in the land. During various dealings on the land such as purchasing, mortgaging, leasing, etc. the interests of the registered owner are adequately protected unlike the unregistered owner whose evidence of ownership might be required to confirm the right of ownership in case of claims by a third party. List of References Abbey, R. & Richards, M. (2013). A Practical Approach to Conveyancing, (15th Ed.). UK: Oxford University Press. Pp. 1- 568. Clarke, S., Clarke, S. & Greer, S. (2014). Land Law Directions, (4th E.d.). UK: Oxford University Press. Pp. 1-512. Crown, (2003). Practice guide 1: first registrations. Available at Crown, (N.d.). Land Registration Act 1970, 1970 .CHAPTER 18 De Lacy, J. (Ed.) (2009). Personal Property Security Law Reform in the UK: Comparative Perspectives. Routledge. Pp. 1-568. De Lacy, J. (2013). Reform of UK Company Law. UK: Routledge. Pp. 550. De Londras, F. (2011). Principles of Irish Property Law. Clarus Press. Pp. 1-515 Dixon, M. (2010). Confining and Defining Proprietary Estoppel: The Role of Unconscionability. Pp. 1-21. University of Cambridge. http://www.landlaw.org.uk/ Gretton, G. L., Steven, A. J. M. & Struthers, A. E. C. (2008). Property, Trusts and Succession. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Pp. 1- 474. HomeCo Internet Property Ltd 1995-2014, (2013). Home Buying Guide: Registered or Unregistered Property. In Brief.co.uk, (N.d.). Registering Unregistered Land. Available at Jourdan, S. (2003). Adverse Possession. Butterworths LexisNexis. Pp. 1-695. Jowsey, E. (ed.) (2014). Real Estate Concepts: A Handbook. Routledge. Pp. 1-520. Lau, M. W. (2011). The Economic Structure of Trusts: Towards a Property-based Approach. Oxford University Press. Pp. 1-214. Law Commission, (2011). Making land work: easements, covenants and profits á prendre. Great Britain: The Stationery Office. Pp. 1-264 Rodell, A. & Harris, C. (2013). Property Law and Practice 2013/2014. England: College of Law Publishing. Pp. 1-548 Speaight, A. (2012). Architects Legal Handbook. Routledge. Pp. 1-456. Tee, L. (Ed.) (2013). Land Law. UK: Routledge. Pp. 1-272. Waelde, C., Cornwell, J., Brown, A. Kheria, S., Laurie, G. (2013). Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, (3rd Ed.). UK: Oxford University Press. Pp.1-1025. Warner-Reed, E. (2014). Optimize Land Law. Routledge. Pp. 1-336 Read More