Land registration comparison

This document summarises the ways in which the most important interests in land are recorded and protected under the unregistered and registered systems of conveyancing. At the time of writing, most of the Land Registration Act 2002 had come into force, and the LRA 1925 has been repealed, but the 1925 scheme is shown as well for comparison purposes.

Please note that this chart contains a number of simplifications, and does not illustrate the changes (to overriding interests in particular) that are scheduled to take place over the next ten years.
Key:

An interest that is at least capable of being overriding, that is, binding a purchaser of an interest in the land

An interest that can be registered with its own title; usually the legal title does not vest with the transferee until the interest is registered

An interest which is noted against another title. In unregistered conveyancing, many equitable interests are registerable as land charges against the name of the primary title-holder. In registered conveyancing, interests are entered against the register entry for the land

LRA
Land Registration Act

LCA
Land Charges Act

Primary estates

Interest¹	Unregistered land	LRA 1925	LRA 2002
Freehold	Evidenced by documents	Substantively registerable	Substantively registerable
Lease > 21 years	Evidenced by documents	Substantively registerable⁴	Substantively registerable
Lease 7-21 years	Evidenced by documents	Overriding [s70(1)k LRA 1925]	Substantively registerable
Lease < 7 years	Evidenced by documents	Overriding [s70(1)k LRA 1925]	Overriding [sch 1&3 LRA 2002]
Discontinuous lease	Evidenced by documents	Notable as minor interest	Overriding and substantively registerable
Future lease²	Evidenced by documents	Notable as minor interest	Substantively registerable
Crown demesne land³			Registerable after conversion to freehold [s73 LRA 2002]

¹Where land is unregistered, legal interests are technically binding on the world with or without the evidence of title deeds. However, such interests are likely to be difficult to prove
²A `future lease' here is one that is granted to take effect more than 3 months after grant
³Crown demesne land includes, for example, most of the foreshore. LRA 2002 allows the Crown to grant itself a freehold out of demesne land, and thereby register it. This is mostly to protect against adverse possession
⁴A lease is not registerable with its own title if it contains an absolute prohibition on assignment, since it is of no interest to a prospective purchaser

Legal interests

Interest¹	Unregistered land	LRA 1925	LRA 2002
Legal rentcharge	May be inferred from documents	Substantively registerable	Substantively registerable
Legal easement	May be inferred from documents	Overriding [s70(1)a LRA 1925]	Overriding [sch 1&3 LRA 2002] and substantively registerable³
Legal franchise	May be inferred from documents	Overriding [s70(1)a LRA 1925]	Overriding [sch 1&3 LRA 2002] and substantively registerable
Legal profit à prendre	May be inferred from documents	Overriding [s70(1)a LRA 1925]	Overriding [sch 1&3 LRA 2002] and substantively registerable³
Legal profit à prendre in gross	May be inferred from documents	Overriding [s70(1)a LRA 1925]	Substantively registerable
Legal mortgage with deposit of deeds	No need to protect²	n/a - no deeds	n/a - no deeds
Legal mortgage by demise	May be inferred from documents	Not registerable where right of redemption subsists [s8(1) LRA 1925]	Not registerable where right of redemption subsists [s3(5) LRA 2002]
Legal mortgage by charge	Class C(i) charge (`puisne mortgage')²	Legal charge against title	Legal charge against title

¹ Where land is unregistered, legal interests are technically binding on the world with or without the evidence of title deeds. However, such interests are likely to be difficult to prove
² Puisne mortgage created after 1926 is not binding on a purchaser for valuable consideration if not registered as a class C(i) charge [s4(5) LCA 1972]. If deeds are deposited with the lender, the mortgage is not registerable as a land charge, as registration is unnecessary
³ It appears that an easement or profit that is the subject of an express grant cannot be overriding, as a matter of logic. Because legal easements granted expressly are substantively registerable, it must follow that they only achieve legal status on registration, like other registerable interests. Therefore, prior to registration they take effect only in equity, and equitable easements are not overriing. In addition, the 2002 Act makes easements and profits only overriding on a registered disposition if they are, or ought to be, known to the purchaser, or have been exercised within 12 months

Equitable interests

Interest	Unregistered land	LRA 1925	LRA 2002
Equitable easement	Class D(iii) charge¹	May be overriding⁴	Notable as a non-overriding interest⁶
Equitable profit à prendre	Class D(iii) charge¹	Notable as minor interest⁵	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Equitable mortgage	Class C(iii) charge²	Notable as minor interest⁵	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Restrictive covenant	Class D(ii) charge¹	Notable as minor interest⁵	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Equitable lease	Doctrine of notice applies³	Notable as minor interest⁵	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Estate contract	Class C(iv) charge¹	Notable as minor interest⁵	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Beneficiaries' rights	Doctrine of notice applies³	Notable as minor interest (usually a restriction)⁵	Notable as a restriction (not a notice)

¹An equitable easement, profit, or restrictive covenant or estate contract is not binding against a purchaser for money or money's worth if not registered as a land charge of the type shown[s4(6) LCA 1972].
²Equitable mortgage created after 1926 is not binding on a purchaser for valuable consideration if not registered as a land charge [s4(5) LCA 1972].
³Where the doctrine of notice applies - and it applies to all equitable interests in unregistered land that do not require registration as a land charge - the interest does not bind a bona fide purchaser for valuable consideration
⁴See Celsteel v Alton House
⁵Minor interests are not enforceable against a purchaser for valuable consideration unless noted on the register; but see Peffer v Rigg and Lyus v Prowser
⁶The 2002 Act does not use the term `minor interest' to describe interests that must be protected by a note on the register, although the new notice/restriction notes serve the same purpose as the old notice/caution/restriction/inhibition.

Statutory interests

Interest	Unregistered land	LRA 1925	LRA 2002
Actual occupation	Relevant to the fact of notice, but not a special case	Overriding [s70(1)g LRA 1925]¹	Overriding [sch 1&3 LRA 2002]³
Receipt of rents or profits	Relevant to the fact of notice, but not a special case	Overriding [s70(1)g LRA 1925]¹	Overriding [sch 12 LRA 2002]
Squatters' rights	Relevant to the fact of notice, but not a special case	Overriding [s70(1)f LRA 1925]	Overriding for transitional period [sch 12 LRA 2002]
Matrimonial home rights	Class F charge²	Notable as minor interest	Notable as a non-overriding interest
Interests exluded in `qualified' grade of title	n/a - only applies to registered title	Overriding [s70(1)h LRA 1925]	Overriding [s11(4)a LRA 2002]⁴
Local land charges	Overriding; may be registered as local land charges	Overriding; may be registered as local land charges [s70(1)i LRA 1925]	Overriding; may be registered as local land charges [sch 1&3 LRA 2002]

¹These rights are not overriding if they are not disclosed on enquiry
²Matrimonial home rights are not binding on a purchaser for valuable consideration if not registered as a land charge [s4(8) LCA 1972]
³There is a subtle difference in emphasis in the nature of occupier's overriding interests in LRA 2002. The new legislation preserves the old Act's exception for rights that are not disclosed on enquiry, but also creates a new exception for rights that would not be obvious on reasonable exception
⁴These rights are not technically overriding interests in the LRA 2002, because they do not appear in the list of overriding interests in schedules 1 & 3. However, ss 11 & 12 make it clear that registration of the estate is subject to any deficiencies in qualified title

	An interest that is at least capable of being overriding, that is, binding a purchaser of an interest in the land
	An interest that can be registered with its own title; usually the legal title does not vest with the transferee until the interest is registered
	An interest which is noted against another title. In unregistered conveyancing, many equitable interests are registerable as land charges against the name of the primary title-holder. In registered conveyancing, interests are entered against the register entry for the land
LRA	Land Registration Act
LCA	Land Charges Act