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Practice Guide 17 – Souvenir land

Updated: October 2011

Update

This edition of the guide replaces the March 2003 edition. An amendment to ‘Scope of this guide’ has been made as a result of the Land Registration (Amendment) Rules 2011, which change the definition of ‘conveyancer’ to make it consistent with the Legal Services Act 2007.

Scope of this guide

This guide gives information on land known as souvenir land and advice on making applications to register it. It is aimed at conveyancers and also members of the public and you should interpret references to ‘you’ accordingly. Land Registry staff will also refer to it.

1 Abbreviations and terms used

In this guide:

‘1972 Rules’ means the Land Registration (Souvenir Rules) 1972

‘Fee Order’ means the current Land Registration Fee Order

‘LRA 2002’ means the Land Registration Act 2002.

2 Introduction

During the 1970s and 1980s, schemes were set up for the sale of very small plots of land with sentimental or commemorative value only. These schemes were often promoted for conservation purposes. All such land was known as ‘souvenir land’.

3 Legislation

When souvenir land schemes first appeared the small size of the plots and the number of titles in a very small area posed considerable potential problems for Land Registry. Under the 1972 Rules, the Chief Land Registrar was given the power to declare an area subject to a souvenir land scheme (‘scheme’). The main effect of this declaration was that the purchasers of individual plots didn’t have to register their transactions at Land Registry. The declaration could be made against both registered and unregistered land.

This has now changed as a result of the LRA 2002. Souvenir land declaration schemes are abolished and any transaction with the land formerly affected by a scheme, or any part of it, must now be registered.

The LRA 2002 has also changed the way in which the registered proprietor of a registered scheme can deal with their title. You can recognise a title that was formerly a scheme by the following restriction in the register:

“No disposition is to be registered without the consent of the person or persons (if any) entitled to apply to be registered as proprietor of the land disposed of, or any part of it, as the result of any unregistered transaction effected since [the date of the declaration made under r.3 of the 1972 Rules as noted in the register].”

4 Applications

On any future purchase of land formerly affected by a scheme, you must register the transaction at Land Registry. The type of application will depend upon whether the scheme is registered and whether the transaction relates to part or the whole of the scheme. To find out if a scheme is registered, you must apply for an official search of the index map – see Practice Guide 10 – Official searches of the index map.

4.1 Purchase of an individual plot

4.1.1 Where the scheme is registered

You must use application form AP1.
You must include all deeds and documents of title, beginning with the first sale-off which created the plot.
Before we complete an application to register a plot we will serve notice in the registered proprietor of the scheme informing them of the application.
After we have registered the plot with its own title number, subsequent purchasers of that plot must apply for registration in the normal way, using form AP1.

4.1.2 Where the scheme is unregistered

You must make any application for first registration of an individual plot in form FR1. For more information, see Practice Guide 1 – First registrations.
After we have registered the plot with its own title number, subsequent purchasers of that plot must apply for registration in the normal way, using form AP1.

4.2 Voluntary registration of an individual plot

The current owner of a plot purchased out of a registered scheme may make a voluntary application for registration at any time using form AP1. There is no fee.

4.3 Purchase of the whole of a scheme

4.3.1 Where the scheme is registered

You must use application form AP1.
The effect of the declaration was that transactions relating to a registered scheme subsequently took effect as if the land in question were not registered. Therefore, there will be cases where the registered proprietor is not the person from whom the applicant has bought the land. If this is so, you must send us evidence of the chain of title from the registered proprietor to the vendor.
Any registered scheme previously affected by a declaration will have the restriction, referred to in section 3 Legislation, on its register.

This restriction will prevent us from registering a transaction with the whole or part of the scheme unless you provide the consent of the owners of all plots affected that have been sold off and remain unregistered. To simplify a future transaction, the registered proprietor can apply at any time to cancel this restriction. They must satisfy us that there have been no transactions with the land, or a particular part of it, since the declaration was made.

4.3.2 Where the scheme is not registered

You must make any application for first registration of the land in form FR1. For more information, see Practice Guide 1 – First registrations.
As with any first registration, you must account for all individual plots sold off so that we can exclude them from the registered extent.

5 Enquiries and comments

If you have a particular concern that is not covered by this guide, please contact Customer Support in advance of the transaction – see Contact details. If the transaction is particularly complex, it may be better if you make your enquiry in writing at the Land Registry office that will process your application.

If you have any comments or suggestions about our guides, please send them to:

Central Operations Group
Land Registry
Trafalgar House
1 Bedford Park
Croydon
CR0 2AQ

(DX 8888 Croydon 3)

You can obtain further copies of this and all our guides free from Customer Support or you can download them from our website in English and Welsh at www.landregistry.gov.uk

Land Registry advisory policy

We offer advice to our customers through our publications and Customer Support information and through the day-to-day handling of applications.

We provide factual information including official copies of registers, title plans and documents, searches and details of our forms and fees.

We provide procedural advice to explain how the land registration system works and how to make applications correctly. This includes:

advice in advance of an application, where this is requested
where an application is defective, advice as to the nature of the problem and what options, if any, are available to put it right
an approval service for estate layout plans and certain other land registration documents.

There are limits to the advice that we will provide. We will not provide legal advice.

This means that:

we will not approve the evidence to be produced in support of a registration application before we receive the application
apart from procedural advice, we will not advise on what action to take
we will not recommend a professional adviser but can explain how to find one.

We provide advice only about real cases, not about theoretical circumstances. We will not express a view on questions where the law is complex or unclear except where the question arises on a live registration application.

In providing this factual information and procedural advice we will:

be impartial
recognise that others may be affected by what we say
avoid any conflict of interest.

Contact details

For customer enquiries and to request this publication in an alternative format please contact Customer Support at customersupport@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 0844 892 1111, or 0844 892 1122 for a Welsh-speaking service, from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm. Calls cost 3p a minute on a BT standard tariff, in addition to the current set up/connection charge. Calls from other tariffs, service providers and mobile phones may cost more. We do not receive any revenue from these calls.

To obtain copies of this and all our other guides, free of charge:

view/download guides in English and Welsh at www.landregistry.gov.uk
contact Customer Support.

Information in this guide

The information in this publication is for the purpose of providing general guidance about Land Registry's procedures and policies. It is intended only as a guide and does not cover every situation that may arise. It also does not limit Land Registry's ability to use its discretion when appropriate to do so, within the land registration legislation.

Remember

Incorrect applications cause delays. Please check and ensure that you have satisfied the following requirements.

An application to register a transaction involving a souvenir plot, when the scheme land is registered, must be made using form AP1. The fee is payable under the current Fee Order.
An application to register a souvenir plot, when the scheme land is unregistered, must be made using form FR1. The fee is payable under the current Fee Order.
A voluntary application to register the current owner of a souvenir plot, when the scheme land is registered, may be made using form AP1. No fee is payable.
An application to register a transfer of the scheme land where it is already registered must be made using form AP1. The fee is payable under the current Fee Order.
An application to register the scheme land, where it is currently unregistered, must be made using form FR1. The fee is payable under the current Fee Order.
You must lodge all relevant deeds and documents with all applications.

Please note that Land Registry may be unable to process applications that are incomplete or defective and your application will risk losing its priority if we have to return it to you – see Practice Guide 49 – Return and rejection of applications for registration for more information.

Chief Land Registrar

Not to be reproduced without permission from The Forms Unit, Land Registry (under the delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO), Trafalgar House, 1 Bedford Park, Croydon CR0 2AQ