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Enforcement Rules Assignment

LLB LAND LAW COURSEWORK
‘The enforcement rules applying to dealings with registered titles are vastly superior to those applying
to dealings with unregistered titles
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Whatever someone’s interest is in the land, once they have complied with formalities for creating it, then
between the original parties that interest is enforceable on the basis of privity of contract
...
‘When someone buys an estate in land, they will want to know
if anyone holds a legal or equitable interest in the land and whether this will be enforceable against them
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’1 The most important aspect in property law is that ‘once a particular right is recognised
as part of the law of property, or a proprietary right, it takes affect against successive owners of the land in
question’2
...

Enforcement rules regulate the circumstances in which an estate or interest affecting land can be enforced
against a transferee of that land
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‘Where title to the land being sold is unregistered, pre-1926 rules apply, although it is now supplemented by
the Land Charges Act 1972 (LCA)
...
’3

‘As registration of title was never made compulsory per se, 18% of land in England and Wales

remains unregistered’4, so both methods are still enforce today
...

Before 1926, if someone had a legal estate or interest in land those were legal rights that bound everyone,
whether or not anybody knew about them
...
However, if someone had equitable rights, this would bind
everyone except for ‘Equity’s Darling’ (ED)
...
ED stands for: bone fide
purchaser for value of a legal estate without notice
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Available from http://www
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com/vle [Accessed 29/09/2014]
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3
BPP land law lecture (2014), Introduction to Enforcement
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bpp
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4
Wikipedia (2014) Unregistered Land in English Law
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wikipedia
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Enforcement Rules Assignment

Bone fide meant acting ‘in good faith’
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‘The person with an equitable interest would only have an
enforceable right against the traceable assets received in return for the land
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A purchaser for value is a person who
buys land with money or money’s worth, but this does not include someone who has inherited the land or
been given the land for free, such as a gift
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There are three types of notice: actual notice (purchaser knew/was told about the interest); constructive
notice (found in section 199(1)(ii)(a) Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA) ie knowledge that the purchaser
would have had if s/he had done what he should have done); and imputed notice (as defined in section
199(1)(ii)(b) LPA 1925 ie bound by what your agent knows)
...
Although the chances of not
knowing about an interest either actually, constructively or imputedly are rare, ‘in Kingsnorth v Tizard8 it
was held that the bank had imputed notice of surveyor’s constructive notice of Mrs T’s interests, so the bank
was bound by it and Mr’s T’s interest presided over bank’s interest’9
...
’10
The position pre-1926 was that estates and interests were enforceable between the original parties as a matter
of contract, but the ability to enforce an interest against a successor in title to the original landowner
depended entirely if the interest was legal or equitable
...
The owner of the interest was absolutely secure, but this was
harsh on the purchaser of the land
...
Here, the owner of
the interest is now vulnerable as ED is not bound by it and the interest is lost and unenforceable forever as
explained in the Wilkes v Spooner12 case
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5

[1872] 7 Ch App 259
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Available from: http://en
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org/wiki/Unregistered_land_in_English_law
[Accessed 09/11/2014]
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8
[1986] 1 WLR 783
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10
Wikipedia (2014) Unregistered Land in English Law (n 6)
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12
[1911] 2 KB 473
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The Land Registration Act 1925 aimed to simplify the transfer of land by expanding the restricted system of
title registration, by introducing two new systems to prove title to land and to investigate third party rights in
it
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The system of registration constitutes notice (this has
largely replaced the Doctrine of Notice) and the pre-1926 rules do not apply to registered land
...
Pre-1926 rules
are still relevant, although the Land Charges System modifies them
...

The position from 1926 for unregistered land is that legal interests still bind everyone except for puisne
mortgages, which ‘had to be registered before it would be binding, even though it had previously counted as
a legal property right’13
...


There are three

categories of how equitable interests are protected: beneficial interests behind a trust (overreaching); those
protected under LCA 1972; and those still subject to Doctrine of Notice
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Overreaching protects the

beneficiaries by detaching the equitable interest from land and transferring it into money
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If overreaching
happens, then the buyer/lender takes land free of beneficial interests
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Another way of how equitable interests (in unregistered land only) is protected is by LCA 1972, which sets
out six classes of land charges in which equitable interests are classified for registration
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If the interest is not
registered it is void against the purchaser15
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Sections 2 and 27 LPA 1925
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Enforcement Rules Assignment

written down on the land charges register
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’17
There are however further problems, as ‘the registration would go against the name of the title holder, which
was sometimes prone to confusion if people occasionally used different names
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The right name is what is stated on the deeds, not what someone may be
known as in a social setting
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If no registration exists, there are different consequences depending on the type of class
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If the interest that is not protected is an estate contract, restrictive covenants or equitable easement, then the
interest will be void against a purchaser for money or money’s worth of a legal estate or interest, as
illustrated in Merer v Fisher21
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Some interests are neither registrable nor overreachable
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The Doctrine of Notice only applies in two kinds of cases: pre-1926 equitable interests
(as the LCA was not retrospective), and beneficial interests with one trustee (as overreaching is ineffective)
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‘The discrepancies of the system were always acknowledged though
...
’24

‘The solution, perhaps simpler, of passing legislation requiring everything was

compulsorily registered was not yet taken
...
The LRA 2002 aims to protect interests and estates in land, to eliminate
unregistered land, and to simplify the transfer of land and provide better protection for both purchasers and
16

[1981] AC 513
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18
Ibid
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20
[1985] 53 P & CR 25
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22
Kingsnorth (n 8)
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24
Harpum C, ‘Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green’, [1981] CLJ 213
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Enforcement Rules Assignment

the holders of equitable interests in the land conveyed
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At the moment
this only happens if a transaction occurs
...

Under the LRA 2002 all estates and interests are divided into three categories, and states what one most do in
terms in registration in order to protect those interest and estates properly, so that they can enforced against
new owners of the servient land
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Section 27 of the LRA 2002 lists the interests that must be substantively registered in order be properly
acquired and have legal affect ie be binding on the new owner of the burdened land
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The second class of interests, are those protected by notice, as set out in section 32 in the LRA 2002
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However, if one wishes to enforce against a new servient
owner, then one must do something by way of registration
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Interests that cannot be protected by notice are in section 33
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Registration of Notice
constitutes notice to everyone that the interest exists
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Interests protected by restrictions are covered by section 40 LRA 2002, to prevent a transfer of a freehold
being completed properly, either by way of some restriction or some sort of condition
...

Overreaching applies to registered land, like it does in unregistered land
...
Land law will not protect against fraudulent trustees, as seen in City of
London Building Society v Flegg27, so beneficiaries behind a trust must register a restriction, so that in the
event the property is sold or mortgaged, they at least get their equivalent interest in money
...
Therefore the fall back position in
register land can help the concept of the overriding interests
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[1988] AC 54
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This completely defeats the rationale of clarity of title and rights
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The interests that do not need to be registered to be binding
include: legal leases for seven years or less (as they cannot take steps to protect their interests and it would be
impractical); implied legal easement (they arise impliedly so it does not makes sense that they have to
formally protected); interests of people in actual occupation (this overriding interest is due to fairness, if they
have an interest in land and have actual occupation28)
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It cannot be a fleeting presence – there must be an intention to return, as stated
in Abbey National Building Society v Cann30
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An overriding interest can be defeated if the conditions in paragraph 2, schedule 3 of the LRA 2002
are not met ie the holder must disclose the interest on reasonable inquiries or the holder’s occupation is
obvious on reasonable inspection of land and the purchaser must know of it
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It is clear that it was procedurally and substantially defective and in need of revamping, but one
would argue that it has been the principal framework on which modern land law has been built
...
The unregistered land system has played an important role in the development of
registration
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However, there is a general thinking that the process of registration also needs developing
...
31 Furthermore, it has been suggested that a more accurate register would give buyers more
certainty, by giving more information about the responsibilities and rights that the owner has, and thus an
improvement in the security of property rights by providing a better means of protecting them
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28

Williams & Glyn’s Bank (n 26)
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30
[1991] 1 AC 56
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Enforcement Rules Assignment

STUDENT DECLARATION
I, student number 150064, declare that this piece of work contains 2590 words
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:
Chappelle D, Land Law (Pearson 2004)
Dixon M, Modern Land Law (9th edn, Routledge 2014)
Gray K and Gray S, Elements of Land Law (5th edn, Oxford University Press 2009)
Harpum C, Bridge S and Dixon M, Megarry & Wade: The Law of Real Property (8th edn, London:
Sweet and Maxwell 2012)
Mackenzie J and Phillips M, Textbook on Land Law (14th edn, Oxford University Press 2012)
Martin E and Law J, Oxford Dictionary of Law (7th edn, Oxford University Press 2009)
Stevens J and Pearce R, Land Law (3rd edn, London: Sweet and Maxwell 2005)
Thompson M, Modern Land Law (5th edn, Oxford University Press 2012)
Journals:
Barnsley DG, ‘Rectification, trusts and overriding interests’, (1983) Conveyancer 361
Harpum C, ‘Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green’, [1981] CLJ 213
Wade H, 'Land Charges Registration Reviewed', [1956] Cambridge Law Journal 216
Case Law:
Abbey National Building Society v Cann [1991] 1 AC 56
Caunce v Caunce [1969] 1 WLR 286
City of London Building Society v Flegg [1988] AC 54
Diligent Finance Ltd v Alleyne (1972) 23 P & CR 346
Hunt v Lock [1902] 1 Ch 428
Kingsnorth Finance Co Ltd v Tizard [1986] 1 W
...
R
...
C
...
Available from http://www
...
com/vle
[Accessed 29/09/2014]
BPP land law lecture (2014), Enforcement – registered land
...
bpp
...
Available from http://www
...
com/vle
[Accessed 06/10/2014]
LexisNexis
Wikipedia (2014) Registered Land in English Law
...
wikipedia
...
Available from:
http://en
...
org/wiki/Unregistered_land_in_English_law [Accessed 09/11/2014]

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