Practice Guide 54 – Acquisition of land by general vesting declaration under the Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981

Updated: November 2012

Update

This edition of the guide replaces the October 2011 edition. Section 4.3 has been amended as a result of the Land Registration Fee Order 2012 that came into force on 22 October 2012.

Scope of this guide

This guide gives advice about applications to be made to Land Registry based on acquisition of land by means of a general vesting declaration under s.1, Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981. It is aimed at conveyancers, public authorities and other relevant public bodies. You should interpret references to ‘you’ accordingly. Land Registry staff will also refer to it.

1 Abbreviations and terms used

In this guide:

‘conveyancer’ means an authorised person within the meaning of s.18, Legal Services Act 2007 who is entitled to provide the conveyancing services referred to in paragraphs 5(1)(a) and (b) of Schedule 2 to that Act, or a person carrying out those activities in the course of their duties as a public officer. It also includes an individual or body who employs or has among their managers such an authorised person who will undertake or supervise those conveyancing activities (r.217A, LRR 2003)

‘Fee Order’ means the current Land Registration Fee Order

‘LRA 2002’ means the Land Registration Act 2002

‘LRR 2003’ means the Land Registration Rules 2003

‘the 1981 Act’ means the Compulsory Purchase (Vesting Declarations) Act 1981

‘the 1990 Regulations’ means the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Vesting Declaration) Regulations 1990

 ‘the authority’ means the local authority or other public body proposing to acquire the land.

2 Introduction

Under s.1 of the 1981 Act local authorities and other public bodies can acquire land by means of a general vesting declaration. The detailed provisions governing this procedure are set out in Parts II and IV and Schedule 1 of the 1981 Act, and the 1990 Regulations. These provisions apply equally to registered and unregistered land.

3 Preliminary investigations

3.1 Search of the index map

If you do not know whether freehold or leasehold land or a rentcharge is registered and whether any cautions against first registration have been entered, you should apply for an official search of the index map.

Make the application in form SIM addressed to the appropriate Land Registry office – see Practice Guide 51 – Areas served by Land Registry offices – providing a description of the land sufficient to enable it to be identified on the index map.

If the land is in a built-up area the postal address may be sufficient. Otherwise you should supply a copy of an extract from the Ordnance Survey map on the largest scale published that clearly shows the position and extent of the land. Where a plan is not required and you are a portal user, you may apply online through Business e-services.

The fee payable for an official search of the index map is prescribed in the Fee Order.

3.2 Inspection of the register

You may apply for an official copy of the register, either in printed form OC1 to the appropriate Land Registry office, or online through Business e-services. The fee payable for an official copy of the register is prescribed in the Fee Order.

If you want to find out whether any further entries have been made in the register since a given date, such as the date of issue of a recent official copy of the register, you may apply for an official search without priority using form OS3.

The fee payable for a search of the register is prescribed in the Fee Order. Please note that, as a general vesting declaration is not a protectable disposition, you cannot apply as a purchaser in form OS1 or form OS2 to obtain priority for the registration of the vesting declaration. Practice Guide 12 – Official searches and outline applications contains full details of the system of official searches of the register.

4 Application to register an authority as proprietor of registered land

4.1 How to make the application

An authority that has acquired registered land by means of a general vesting declaration should apply to the appropriate Land Registry office to be registered as proprietor under r.128, LRR 2003. The application must be made in form AP1 accompanied by:

• the original general vesting declaration, in the form prescribed in form 1 in the Schedule to the 1990 Regulations (enclose also a certified copy if you want us to return the original to you), or accompanied by a Stamp Duty Land Transaction Return Certificate if stamp duty land tax applies

• confirmation by the authority’s Chief Executive Officer, or conveyancer that the necessary notices under s.6 of Part II of the 1981 Act were issued on a specified date

• a fee under Scale 2 of the Fee Order based on the value of the land in each registered title (see also section 4.3 Land Registry fee).

NB: An authority can reserve priority by lodging an outline application ahead of the paper application (see Practice Guide 12 – Official searches and outline applications).

4.2 Evidence of vesting

You must prove, by including the details prescribed by statute in the general vesting declaration and the Chief Executive Officer’s certificate, that the declaration has come into operation and that the land has vested in the authority. The declaration must identify the land by reference to its title number. If the vesting is of the whole of the land in a registered title, reference to the title number is all that is required.

If the declaration relates only to a part of the land in the title, it must be accompanied by a plan. This plan should be drawn to a scale of not less than 1/2500, show its orientation (eg north point) and, where necessary, relate by means of figured dimensions the position of the part transferred to those existing physical features on the ground (such as road junctions or walls or fences) which are also shown by firm black lines on the title plan.

4.3 Land Registry fee

If compensation has been fixed or the value of the land agreed so that the Land Registry fee can be assessed, it must be paid on delivery of the application.

If compensation has not been fixed so that the Land Registry fee cannot be assessed, a minimum sum towards the fee (as specified in the Fee Order – currently £40) must be paid on delivery of the application and an undertaking lodged at the same time to pay the balance, if any, on demand.

5 Application for first registration of an authority’s title

5.1 General consideration

The acquisition of land by the general vesting declaration procedure is not a transfer of a qualifying estate under s.4(1)(a), LRA 2002. There is, therefore, no duty to apply for first registration of the title to such land, although you may apply for voluntary first registration and the reduced fee for voluntary first registration will apply.

5.2 How to make the application

An application by an authority for the first registration of title to freehold land acquired by a general vesting declaration must be made to the appropriate Land Registry office in form FR1 together with form DL in duplicate accompanied by:

• the general vesting declaration in the prescribed form (see section 4.1 How to make the application), together with a certified copy

• confirmation by the authority’s Chief Executive Officer, or conveyancer that the necessary notices under s.6 of Part II of the 1981 Act were issued on a specified date

• a reduced fee under Scale 1 of the Fee Order (see also section 4.3 Land Registry fee)

• all the deeds and documents relating to the title which the authority has in its possession or under its control (see section 5.3 Absence of title deeds), and

• sufficient details, by plan or otherwise, so that the land can be identified clearly on the Ordnance Survey map.

5.3 Absence of title deeds

The general vesting declaration will never of itself extinguish easements or restrictive covenants which may bind the land in the hands of persons other than the authority. Therefore, if the title deeds are not produced on the occasion of the grant of an absolute title, we will normally make an entry in the register in respect of the possible existence of undisclosed interests of this nature. The entry will state that the land is subject to such easements and restrictive covenants as may have been created or imposed prior to the date of the general vesting declaration and are still subsisting and enforceable.

5.4 Certificates of title

Land Registry has agreed with many of the larger local authorities that we will, under prescribed conditions, accept a certificate from their Chief Executive Officer in lieu of the normal deduction of the authority’s title. In the case of an acquisition under the 1981 Act, an authority cannot usually give such a certificate unless it has been able to obtain the title deeds and conduct a normal examination of title, which it has approved after sufficient investigation.

6 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