HM Land Registry
Encyclopedia
Land Registry is a non-ministerial government department
and executive agency
(since 1990) of the Government of the United Kingdom
. It was created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It used to report to the Ministry of Justice
, but on 18 July 2011 responsibility was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
.
The equivalent office in Scotland
is the Registers of Scotland
.
, the Land Registry underpins the economy of the United Kingdom
by guaranteeing the ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property. Around £1 million worth of property is processed every minute in England and Wales.
Like land registration
organisations in other countries, Land Registry guarantees title
to registered estates and interests in land. It records the ownership rights of freehold properties, and leasehold properties where the lease has been granted for a term exceeding seven years.
The definition of land can include the buildings situated upon the land, particularly where parts of buildings at different levels (such as flats) are in different ownership. It is also possible to register the ownership of the mines and minerals which lie within the ground as well as airspace above property where this is in separate ownership.
Land Registry receives no government funding, being required to ensure that its income covers expenditure, and finances itself from registration and search fees. It provides online access to its database of titles (ownership and charges or interests by other parties) and most plans (maps). People need to pay a fee to access the information.
Property owners whose property is not registered can make voluntary applications for registration. As of October 2011, there are over 23 million registered titles representing 77.5% of the land mass of England and Wales. Much of the remaining unregistered land is rural property in the hands of large institutional landowners such as the Church of England, educational institutions and the Crown. Registration of land under the Land Registration Act 2002
affords property owners some protection against squatters as well as avoiding the need to produce old documents each time a property changes hands.
"Registration establishes proof of ownership and produces an easy-to-read document reflecting the contents of all the paper title deeds. This simplifies conveyancing, making transactions easier and potentially less costly for all involved.
All title information is kept on Land Registry's database, reducing the need to store old and often unclear deeds. The register can be viewed quickly and securely online.
There is no better way to safeguard ownership of land and property than by registering your title with us. State-backed registration gives you greater security of title, providing you with better protection against claims of adverse possession"
, Coventry
, Croydon
, Durham
, Fylde
(Warton
), Gloucester
, Kingston upon Hull
, Leicester
, Nottingham
, Peterborough
, Plymouth
, Swansea
(covering all of Wales
), Telford
and Weymouth
. There is also a small sub-office of Croydon at Portsmouth
, which is due to close in 2013.
Land Registry's Head Office is based in Croydon. The in-house IT department (Information Systems)and Land Charges Departments are based in Plymouth.
In 2006, as a result of a review of office accommodation, Land Registry announced the closure of several offices. This involved merging offices in Birkenhead, Durham, Lytham/Warton, Nottingham and Swansea, and closing of offices in Harrow
and York
.
A further review of staffing levels and overall office space (described as the Accelerated Transformation Programme) began in 2009. The economic recession, and the resultant slump in the property and mortgage markets, meant that Land Registry's basic work in connection with simple remortgages and straightforward house sales dried up to the point where it made a financial loss for the first time in its history. Land Registry's Board of Directors announced proposals to close five offices, namely those at Portsmouth
, Tunbridge Wells, Croydon
, Stevenage
and Peterborough
.
As a result of consultation, the plans to close the Croydon and Peterborough offices were rescinded, but the closure of the other three went ahead, although until 2013 a small office remains at Portsmouth as a sub-office of Croydon.
Head Office moved out of its famous Lincoln's Inn Fields building in March 2011 and is now based in Croydon. The building has been purchased by the London School of Economics
for a sum of £37.5 million. During the early part of 2011 staff based in the Plymouth were relocated to the Information Systems office in Seaton Court.
Traditionally customers send applications to the office that deals with applications for the geographical area where the property is located, but since 2009 many customers now deal with dedicated customer teams, who deal with all their applications from certain customers regardless of where the property is located.
The organisation is led by the Chief Land Registrar and Chief Executive (both one role). The Chief Land Registrar is assisted by the Land Registry Board and Executive Board. The Land Registry Board sets the overall strategy for the department. The Executive Board delivers the annual business plan and is responsible for day to day management.
Since December 1990, the land register has been open to the public. For a fee anyone can inspect the Register, find out the name and address of the current owner of any registered property or obtain a copy of any registered title. This can also be done online.
Land Registry was awarded the former Charter Mark
five times, and 96% of its customers rate their service as good, very good or excellent.
Land Registry has an Independent Complaints Reviewer.
Disputed applications to Land Registry are determined by the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry, an independent office created by the Land Registration Act 2002. Under previous legislation this function had been the responsibility of the Chief Land Registrar.
was introduced by the then Lord Chancellor
, Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury
. The Act provided for the registration of Freehold and long leasehold estates in land. The system of registration adopted had some differences to that piloted in South Australia
by that colony's then Prime Minister Sir Robert Torrens
, although both were founded on the 1857 report.
Brent Spencer Follett, the first Chief Land Registrar, opened the Land Registry's first offices, at 34 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, on 15 October 1862. Mr Follett had a staff of just six people and was paid £2,500 a year, at a time when the average labourer's wage was £40.
At first registration was not compulsory, and once property was registered there was no compulsion to register any subsequent transactions. Thus it was possible for the person registered as the owner of a property to cease to be the owner while remaining on the register. Serious flaws in the 1862 Act led to the Land Transfer Act 1875, which is in large measure the system used today. However it was no more successful because it still did not make registration compulsory.
A report by Sir Charles Brickdale
on the system of land registration used in Germany proved influential. In 1897 the then Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury
introduced the Land Transfer Act 1897, which brought an element of compulsion into the registration system. To satisfy the demands of the legal profession, the option of a county veto was offered.
London County Council was attracted to the idea of compulsory registration and voted in favour of it, and it was introduced in stages between 1899 and 1902. This led to the expansion of Land Registry. At this time the first female staff were employed and new technology, in the form of typewriter
s, was introduced. A proposal to extend compulsory registration to Northamptonshire in 1902 was lost in committee.
From 1905 - 1913 new Land Registry headquarters were built in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Two new pieces of land legislation were enacted in 1925: the Law of Property Act and the Land Registration Act. Government-initiated extensions to compulsory registration were suspended for ten years, but Eastbourne
(1926) and Hastings
(1929) voluntarily became areas of compulsory registration. After the ten years were up, compulsory registration was extended to Middlesex
(1937) and the county borough of Croydon
(1939), and there were plans to extend it to Surrey in 1940, had the war not intervened. In 1925 the government forecast that the whole of England and Wales would be subject to compulsory registration by 1955, but in fact the process took much longer.
In 1940, after damage sustained in the 193rd air raid on Central London, Land Registry was evacuated to the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth
so that it could carry on its normal business. In 1950, 88 years after its creation, Land Registry registered its one millionth title.
The growth in property ownership after the war years meant that the potential number of properties to be registered increased dramatically. This in turn slowed down the rate of land registration. To deal with the increasing workload, an office was opened in Tunbridge Wells in 1955 and a further office at Lytham St. Annes in 1957. In 1963, 101 years after the registry started, it registered its two millionth title.
Theodore Ruoff, who was appointed Chief Land Registrar in 1963, laid down the three fundamental principles of Land Registration:
New offices were opened in Gloucester and Stevenage (1964), Durham and Harrow (1965), Plymouth (1966), Croydon and Swansea (1967), Birkenhead and Weymouth (1977), Peterborough (1978), Telford (1986), Coventry and Hull (1987), Leicester (1988), Portsmouth (1989) and York (1991).
Land registers at this time were not public records, and processing them required laborious typing and the completion of plans by hand using paintbrushes and ink. Copies of everything produced had to be made by hand. Land Registry retained the originals, and the copies were sewn, using needle and thread, into large certificates. The certificates were produced as indisputable evidence of the ownership of the land. Such was the importance of the certificates that tampering with them was a criminal offence.
In 1986 the Plymouth Office became the first Land Registry office to produce registers electronically. Although the certificates still bore the same importance, computerisation dramatically increased the efficiency of the Land Register at a time when Land Registry was keen to bring the whole of England and Wales under compulsory registration.
In 1990 the provision of compulsory registration was brought to the whole of England and Wales, the ten millionth title was registered and for the first time, the Land Register was opened to public inspection.
Although compulsory registration had now spread to the whole of its jurisdiction, compulsion only occurred when a property was sold. This was a serious barrier to the registration of the whole of England and Wales, and in 1998 new triggers for registration were introduced, dramatically increasing the rate of registration of land. These triggers included gifts of land, assent of land on death and raising monies by mortgages on the land.
The Land Registration Act 2002
leaves the system substantially in place, but enables the future compulsory introduction of electronic conveyancing, using electronic signatures to transfer and register property. As a result of that act, land and charge certificates are no longer issued.
The new home of the Information Systems department, a state-of-the-art office with 500 staff, was opened in 2005 in Plymouth's International Business Park.
Non-ministerial government department
A non-ministerial government department is a department or ministry of a government that is not headed by a Government Minister or Government Secretary, and answers directly to a legislature ....
and executive agency
Executive agency
An executive agency, also known as a next-step agency, is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate in order to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland...
(since 1990) of the Government of the United Kingdom
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
. It was created in 1862 to register the ownership of land and property in England and Wales. It used to report to the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
, but on 18 July 2011 responsibility was transferred to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...
.
The equivalent office in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
is the Registers of Scotland
Registers of Scotland
Registers of Scotland is the Scottish Government agency responsible for compiling and maintaining records relating to property and other legal documents in Scotland....
.
Purpose
With the largest property database in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the Land Registry underpins the economy of the United Kingdom
Economy of the United Kingdom
The economy of the United Kingdom is the sixth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal GDP and seventh-largest measured by purchasing power parity , and the third-largest in Europe measured by nominal GDP and second-largest measured by PPP...
by guaranteeing the ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property. Around £1 million worth of property is processed every minute in England and Wales.
Like land registration
Land registration
Land registration generally describes systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession or other rights in land can be recorded to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions and to prevent unlawful disposal...
organisations in other countries, Land Registry guarantees title
Title (property)
Title is a legal term for a bundle of rights in a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or an equitable interest. The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different parties. It may also refer to a formal document that serves as evidence of ownership...
to registered estates and interests in land. It records the ownership rights of freehold properties, and leasehold properties where the lease has been granted for a term exceeding seven years.
The definition of land can include the buildings situated upon the land, particularly where parts of buildings at different levels (such as flats) are in different ownership. It is also possible to register the ownership of the mines and minerals which lie within the ground as well as airspace above property where this is in separate ownership.
Land Registry receives no government funding, being required to ensure that its income covers expenditure, and finances itself from registration and search fees. It provides online access to its database of titles (ownership and charges or interests by other parties) and most plans (maps). People need to pay a fee to access the information.
Property owners whose property is not registered can make voluntary applications for registration. As of October 2011, there are over 23 million registered titles representing 77.5% of the land mass of England and Wales. Much of the remaining unregistered land is rural property in the hands of large institutional landowners such as the Church of England, educational institutions and the Crown. Registration of land under the Land Registration Act 2002
Land Registration Act 2002
The Land Registration Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though similar, system...
affords property owners some protection against squatters as well as avoiding the need to produce old documents each time a property changes hands.
Benefits of Land Registration
According to HM Land Registry:"Registration establishes proof of ownership and produces an easy-to-read document reflecting the contents of all the paper title deeds. This simplifies conveyancing, making transactions easier and potentially less costly for all involved.
All title information is kept on Land Registry's database, reducing the need to store old and often unclear deeds. The register can be viewed quickly and securely online.
There is no better way to safeguard ownership of land and property than by registering your title with us. State-backed registration gives you greater security of title, providing you with better protection against claims of adverse possession"
Offices
Land Registry has 14 offices at: BirkenheadBirkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, Fylde
Fylde
Fylde is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. It covers part of the Fylde plain, after which it is named. The council's headquarters are in St Annes...
(Warton
Warton, Fylde
Warton is a village on the Fylde in Lancashire, England.The village is about six miles from Preston and eight miles from Blackpool. It is located on the banks of the River Ribble, close to its entry into the Irish Sea. It is best known for its airfield, BAE Warton and its associated aircraft works...
), Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
(covering all of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
), Telford
Telford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
and Weymouth
Weymouth
Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, England, situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey on the English Channel coast. The town is south of Dorchester and north of the Isle of Portland. The town's population is 52,950 ....
. There is also a small sub-office of Croydon at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, which is due to close in 2013.
Land Registry's Head Office is based in Croydon. The in-house IT department (Information Systems)and Land Charges Departments are based in Plymouth.
In 2006, as a result of a review of office accommodation, Land Registry announced the closure of several offices. This involved merging offices in Birkenhead, Durham, Lytham/Warton, Nottingham and Swansea, and closing of offices in Harrow
Harrow
Harrow may refer to:*Harrow , an agricultural implement consisting of many spikes, tines or discs dragged across the soil-Places:* London Borough of Harrow** Harrow, London** Harrow on the Hill** North Harrow** West Harrow** Harrow Weald...
and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
.
A further review of staffing levels and overall office space (described as the Accelerated Transformation Programme) began in 2009. The economic recession, and the resultant slump in the property and mortgage markets, meant that Land Registry's basic work in connection with simple remortgages and straightforward house sales dried up to the point where it made a financial loss for the first time in its history. Land Registry's Board of Directors announced proposals to close five offices, namely those at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Tunbridge Wells, Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, Stevenage
Stevenage
Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....
and Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
.
As a result of consultation, the plans to close the Croydon and Peterborough offices were rescinded, but the closure of the other three went ahead, although until 2013 a small office remains at Portsmouth as a sub-office of Croydon.
Head Office moved out of its famous Lincoln's Inn Fields building in March 2011 and is now based in Croydon. The building has been purchased by the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
for a sum of £37.5 million. During the early part of 2011 staff based in the Plymouth were relocated to the Information Systems office in Seaton Court.
Structure
Each local office has an area manager (sometimes shared between offices), a land registrar who is the senior lawyer in the office, and a customer services manager. Each office also has a team of staff responsible for processing applications lodged by members of the legal profession and the general public.Traditionally customers send applications to the office that deals with applications for the geographical area where the property is located, but since 2009 many customers now deal with dedicated customer teams, who deal with all their applications from certain customers regardless of where the property is located.
The organisation is led by the Chief Land Registrar and Chief Executive (both one role). The Chief Land Registrar is assisted by the Land Registry Board and Executive Board. The Land Registry Board sets the overall strategy for the department. The Executive Board delivers the annual business plan and is responsible for day to day management.
Since December 1990, the land register has been open to the public. For a fee anyone can inspect the Register, find out the name and address of the current owner of any registered property or obtain a copy of any registered title. This can also be done online.
Land Registry was awarded the former Charter Mark
Charter Mark
The Customer Service Excellence, is an accreditation for organisations and an independent validation of achievement.-History:...
five times, and 96% of its customers rate their service as good, very good or excellent.
Land Registry has an Independent Complaints Reviewer.
Disputed applications to Land Registry are determined by the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry, an independent office created by the Land Registration Act 2002. Under previous legislation this function had been the responsibility of the Chief Land Registrar.
History
In 1857 the Royal Commission on Registration of Title proposed a system of registration administered by a central registry in London with district offices. The Land Registry Act 1862Land Registry Act 1862
The Land Registry Act 1862 was an Act of Parliament enacted in England and Wales under Queen Victoria . It was a first attempt at a system of land registration....
was introduced by the then Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
, Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury
Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury
Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury PC, QC , was a British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain between 1861 and 1865.-Background and education:...
. The Act provided for the registration of Freehold and long leasehold estates in land. The system of registration adopted had some differences to that piloted in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
by that colony's then Prime Minister Sir Robert Torrens
Robert Torrens
Sir Robert Richard Torrens, GCMG was the third Premier of South Australia and a pioneer and author of simplified system of transferring land.-Early life:...
, although both were founded on the 1857 report.
Brent Spencer Follett, the first Chief Land Registrar, opened the Land Registry's first offices, at 34 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, on 15 October 1862. Mr Follett had a staff of just six people and was paid £2,500 a year, at a time when the average labourer's wage was £40.
At first registration was not compulsory, and once property was registered there was no compulsion to register any subsequent transactions. Thus it was possible for the person registered as the owner of a property to cease to be the owner while remaining on the register. Serious flaws in the 1862 Act led to the Land Transfer Act 1875, which is in large measure the system used today. However it was no more successful because it still did not make registration compulsory.
A report by Sir Charles Brickdale
Charles Brickdale
Sir Charles Fortescue Brickdale was a British barrister and civil servant best known for his reform of HM Land Registry as Chief Registrar.-Life:...
on the system of land registration used in Germany proved influential. In 1897 the then Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury
Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury
Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury PC, QC was a leading barrister, politician and government minister. He served thrice as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Background and education:...
introduced the Land Transfer Act 1897, which brought an element of compulsion into the registration system. To satisfy the demands of the legal profession, the option of a county veto was offered.
London County Council was attracted to the idea of compulsory registration and voted in favour of it, and it was introduced in stages between 1899 and 1902. This led to the expansion of Land Registry. At this time the first female staff were employed and new technology, in the form of typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
s, was introduced. A proposal to extend compulsory registration to Northamptonshire in 1902 was lost in committee.
From 1905 - 1913 new Land Registry headquarters were built in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
Two new pieces of land legislation were enacted in 1925: the Law of Property Act and the Land Registration Act. Government-initiated extensions to compulsory registration were suspended for ten years, but Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
(1926) and Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
(1929) voluntarily became areas of compulsory registration. After the ten years were up, compulsory registration was extended to Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
(1937) and the county borough of Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
(1939), and there were plans to extend it to Surrey in 1940, had the war not intervened. In 1925 the government forecast that the whole of England and Wales would be subject to compulsory registration by 1955, but in fact the process took much longer.
In 1940, after damage sustained in the 193rd air raid on Central London, Land Registry was evacuated to the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
so that it could carry on its normal business. In 1950, 88 years after its creation, Land Registry registered its one millionth title.
The growth in property ownership after the war years meant that the potential number of properties to be registered increased dramatically. This in turn slowed down the rate of land registration. To deal with the increasing workload, an office was opened in Tunbridge Wells in 1955 and a further office at Lytham St. Annes in 1957. In 1963, 101 years after the registry started, it registered its two millionth title.
Theodore Ruoff, who was appointed Chief Land Registrar in 1963, laid down the three fundamental principles of Land Registration:
- The Mirror principle — the register of title should reflect, accurately and completely, and beyond all argument, the facts that are material to the title
- The Curtain principle — the register should be the sole and definitive source of information for proposing purchasers
- The Insurance principle — if, as a result of human error, the title is proved to be defective in any way, then the person or persons suffering loss as a result must be able to claim compensation
New offices were opened in Gloucester and Stevenage (1964), Durham and Harrow (1965), Plymouth (1966), Croydon and Swansea (1967), Birkenhead and Weymouth (1977), Peterborough (1978), Telford (1986), Coventry and Hull (1987), Leicester (1988), Portsmouth (1989) and York (1991).
Land registers at this time were not public records, and processing them required laborious typing and the completion of plans by hand using paintbrushes and ink. Copies of everything produced had to be made by hand. Land Registry retained the originals, and the copies were sewn, using needle and thread, into large certificates. The certificates were produced as indisputable evidence of the ownership of the land. Such was the importance of the certificates that tampering with them was a criminal offence.
In 1986 the Plymouth Office became the first Land Registry office to produce registers electronically. Although the certificates still bore the same importance, computerisation dramatically increased the efficiency of the Land Register at a time when Land Registry was keen to bring the whole of England and Wales under compulsory registration.
In 1990 the provision of compulsory registration was brought to the whole of England and Wales, the ten millionth title was registered and for the first time, the Land Register was opened to public inspection.
Although compulsory registration had now spread to the whole of its jurisdiction, compulsion only occurred when a property was sold. This was a serious barrier to the registration of the whole of England and Wales, and in 1998 new triggers for registration were introduced, dramatically increasing the rate of registration of land. These triggers included gifts of land, assent of land on death and raising monies by mortgages on the land.
The Land Registration Act 2002
Land Registration Act 2002
The Land Registration Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though similar, system...
leaves the system substantially in place, but enables the future compulsory introduction of electronic conveyancing, using electronic signatures to transfer and register property. As a result of that act, land and charge certificates are no longer issued.
The new home of the Information Systems department, a state-of-the-art office with 500 staff, was opened in 2005 in Plymouth's International Business Park.
Chief Land Registrars
- Brent Spencer Follett (1862-1886)
- Robert Hallet Holt (1886-1900)
- Sir Charles Fortescue BrickdaleCharles BrickdaleSir Charles Fortescue Brickdale was a British barrister and civil servant best known for his reform of HM Land Registry as Chief Registrar.-Life:...
(1900-1923) - Sir John Stewart Stewart-Wallace (1923-1941)
- Rouxville Mark Lowe (1941-1947)
- Sir George Harold Curtis (1947-1963)
- Theodore Burton Fox Ruoff (1963-1974)
- Robert Burnell Roper (1974-1983)
- Eric John Pryer (1983-1990)
- John Manthorpe (1990-1996)
- Stuart John Hill (1996-1999)
- Peter Collis (1999-2010)
- Marco Pierleoni (2010-2011)
- Malcolm Dawson (2011-)