Back to the top

Landnet 29

Land Registry's customer magazine

April 2012

Welcome to Landnet 29.

Most organisations would say their website is their main shop window to the world and Land Registry is no different.

We’ve redeveloped our site with the aim of showcasing our services as clearly as possible and providing access to them as speedily and efficiently as possible.

We hope you’ll appreciate the changes to the site and will let us know how you think it could be further improved via our website survey in May.

Please also let me know which practice topics you’d like to see Landnet covering.

Gavin Curry, Editor
0300 006 7299
gavin.curry@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk

Landnet can be made available in other formats on request. If you require Landnet in another format, please contact Customer Support by email customersupport@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk or on 0844 892 1111.

To receive a bulletin every time Landnet is published, please send your name, job title and email address to gavin.curry@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk

Follow Land Registry on Twitter

News

Website relaunched

Land Registry’s website has been redeveloped to help you find the information you need as quickly as possible.

Dedicated sections under the headings of ‘Professional’, ‘Public’, ‘Commercial’ and ‘Media’ allow visitors instant access to the area most relevant to them.

The new pages have a clean, contemporary look with an emphasis on clarity, consistency and speed of navigation.

Fresh content has also recently been added to the site, including a new gateway to our Business e-services, a comprehensive guide to our Add Value services and revised ‘frequently asked questions’.

You can find our free market trend data, published every month in tandem with our house price index, alongside the usual wealth of material about practice, policy and training.

We're also celebrating our 150^th anniversary with an online competition.

These changes are just the start for Land Registry online with more developments planned for this year and beyond.

We’re carrying out a website survey in May. Please take part to let us know what you think of the new website and any suggestions you have for further improvements.

Please note that as of Saturday 14 April any bookmark linking to the Land Registry portal may no longer work. If you are a portal user, please use http://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk and please share this with colleagues in your organisation.

Monthly price paid data published

In March we published our free monthly price paid data for the first time.

Price paid data includes the latest monthly residential property price data for every residential property sale in England and Wales lodged for registration. The data includes:

the full address of the property
the price paid
the date of transfer
the property type
whether the property is new build or not
whether the property is freehold or leasehold.

Price paid data is the second tranche of market trend data to be released by Land Registry as a member of the Public Data Group.

From now onwards it will be published every month along with the transaction data first released in January and the House Price Index.

Customer satisfaction success

Customer satisfaction with Land Registry has reached its highest level since our independent survey started in 2007.

The latest results (January to March) show that 99 per cent of customers rate the organisation's overall service as good, very good or excellent, which means our overall customer satisfaction score for the year is 97 per cent again our target of 95 per cent.

We also use a Net Promoter Score measure, a reflection of our customers' relationship and experiences when dealing with us. We scored an all-time high of 55 per cent in the quarter, placing Land Registry in the top quartile of organisations in the private and public sectors.

Commercial & Customer Strategy Director Annette Davies-Govett said the results were an excellent endorsement from our customers and demonstrated Land Registry’s ability to adapt to customer needs in a challenging and changing environment.

“Maintaining such a positive position will require continued hard work and commitment, and we will continue to listen to and work with our customers to ensure we respond to their changing needs,” she said. “There is an immense feeling of pride within Land Registry that we have achieved such a major endorsement from our customers.”

The customer satisfaction survey is run independently by Ipsos Mori, a leading market research company in the UK and Ireland. Surveys are conducted quarterly via telephone and provide circa 1,200 responses throughout the year.

The full survey results will be made available in Landnet 30.

Register Extract Service wins prize

Register Extract Service has won the top prize in the Delivering Business Value and E-Commerce category at the 8^th Real IT Awards.

The service, available via Business Gateway, feeds information from the Land Register directly into customers’ case management systems.

The judges described the service as “a great example of a win/win in providing value for both the Land Registry and their customers”.

Celebrating 150 years

Land Registry first opened its doors to business on 15 October 1862 following the passage of Lord Chancellor Westbury’s Land Registry Act.

We’ll be celebrating our 150^th anniversary over the coming months by delving into our rich history and highlighting some of the landmark events and personalities.

Ruoff and Roper

RuoffRoper The names of Land Registry’s seventh and eighth Chief Land Registrars are immortalised in the essential guide to land registration officially titled Registered Conveyancing but universally known as Ruoff & Roper.

Theodore Ruoff was a prolific author before, during and after his leadership of the organisation from 1963 to 1975.

Mr Ruoff was the first solicitor to serve as Chief, following the removal of the requirement for the role to be filled by a barrister.

He presided over the greatest expansion of compulsory registration and the opening of six local offices.

Mr Ruoff’s successor Bob Roper took over the editorship of Registered Conveyancing for the third edition in 1972.

Mr Roper’s eight years in charge of Land Registry to 1983 saw further progress made in the computerisation process begun under Mr Ruoff, laying the foundations for today’s electronic services.

Three more local offices were opened and the number of titles on the Land Register increased from five million to eight million.

Services

Portal enhancement

An enhancement to the Land Registry portal was introduced in March.

If a register and/or title plan cannot be delivered electronically, an additional screen will now be displayed where the number of copies required can be entered. A fee will be charged for each copy ordered.

Our training module How to request official copies has been updated to reflect this enhancement.

This enhancement is in addition to the improvements made to the portal Request Official Copy service in September 2011.

Paying by variable direct debit

Most Land Registry customers pay for some of their services by variable direct debit via around 17,000 active variable direct debit accounts.

More and more customers are going further and no longer send cheques to Land Registry, paying for all their services – including their substantive paper applications – by variable direct debit.

Customer benefits reported include:

saving of time and administration costs
no cheques
the inclusion of the customer reference, and also the e-services user name where available, in variable direct debit statements to assist with audit/reconciliation
knowing when the funds will leave their nominated bank account.

Murray Fraser, Solicitor and Notary Public Director of Volume Legal Services, Breeze & Wyles

“When Breeze & Wyles adopted the variable direct debit system with Land Registry I was initially very sceptical. We had operated on paying our fees by cheque on a case-by-case basis since before I joined the firm in 1995 and the system had always in my mind worked and gave us control over the payments.

“What I had not realised beforehand was the amount of administrative time spent by staff and my accounts department in requisitioning and processing cheques. The direct debit system has cut out a considerable amount of overhead spend in terms of labour costs for our operation and my staff who were initially resistant to the change wouldn’t now be prepared to return to the old system.

“The loss of control of payments was also a misguided worry. We are much more in control of our cash flow now because we receive schedules of outgoing payments from Land Registry, allowing us much more visibility on future debits on our bank account.

“We are very much sceptics turned advocates so far as the Land Registry direct debit system is concerned.”

Frequently asked questions

Q How can I keep track of amounts debited from my account?

A On receipt of an application to Land Registry indicating the fee is to be paid by direct debit, the fee amount based on the current Fee Order passes to our finance system.

A statement of accounts is run overnight and an email is sent to your finance contact email address the following morning (the notification date). This is the formal notification of the total daily amount for each variable direct debit key number account, to be debited two working days after the notification date.

Customers with portal responsible person or financial administrator roles have access to three months’ online variable direct debit data to assist with account reconciliation.

This online data can be downloaded in pdf or CSV file formats.

Many customers choose to transfer the exact funds daily, such as from their client bank account to their variable direct debit bank account, on receipt of the notification of debit.

Q How often do you collect money from my variable direct debit account?

A Debits are collected each working day (where total daily fees amount to more than £50). Customers who submit low volumes of work to us may have less frequent debits, though we will always debit variable direct debit accounts each week where applications attracting a fee have been received in that week. We will always provide prior notification of a debit.

Q How can I find out more details?

A Please see our publications on paying for services including the portal and excluding the portal.

Customer support

Land Registry seeks to provide all of our customers with support to assist them with general enquiries relating to practice and procedure. We also provide assistance and technical expertise for those professional customers who use our electronic services.

While much of the information that our customers require is available on our website, we recognise that there are times when you wish to contact us directly for additional support, either by email or telephone.

We offer customer support by way of direct contact with our customer teams, located at our 14 local offices, and through our customer contact centre (CCC), where our customer service executives are available between 8am and 6pm.

If you have a problem that requires resolution or a question requiring an immediate answer, this article seeks to clarify who you should contact.

Who should I contact?

Customer teams

If you have been allocated to a customer team, they will provide the first point of contact for your general registration and preliminary services enquiries, regardless of the lodgement method.

Calling your customer team directly provides an immediate link to the people processing your applications. Their intimate knowledge will enable them to provide a prompt response.

Customer teams cannot currently deal with queries relating to the use of Business e-services, account maintenance or changes to the portal system, which should continue to be directed to the CCC.

Please contact your customer team leader if you don’t have a list of your team’s contact numbers.

Customer contact centre (CCC)

Call 0844 892 1111 or email customersupport@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk

All our customer service executives have a casework background and have been trained to deal with general enquiries relating to all aspects of our services. If they are unable to answer a specialist enquiry immediately they will refer it to the appropriate person.

The CCC answers:

general enquiries from private individuals and professional customers not affiliated to a customer team
Find a property calls (between 8.30am and 5pm Mon to Fri, excluding bank holidays)
Business e-services/service access enquiries for all professional customers
callers wishing to use our Telephone Services
requests for appointments at local offices
any general and service access-related emails, including those related to the use of Business e-services.

The CCC also manages:

requests to set up Business e-services accounts, key numbers and variable direct debit accounts
the maintenance of Business e-services accounts including change of name or legal entity, change of address and so on.

Time-saving tips

Consult our practice guides, public guides and fee orders.
Check out our website for our free online training resources, including Business e-services training, plus our customer training programme.
Familiarise yourself with our advisory policy, particularly with regard to the provision of legal advice.
Remember we will not provide services over the telephone that are subject to payment of a statutory fee.
Submit your enquiry to customersupport@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk if you have any difficulties getting through to your customer team or the CCC by phone.
Consider calling between 9am and noon, and 2pm and 4pm, for the fastest-possible response.

Training

Webinars explain Land Registry practice

CLT and Land Registry are jointly running a series of specialist webinars across a range of disciplines.

Each webinar will be presented by a well-known CLT speaker and a Land Registry lawyer and will offer an insight into difficult areas of practice.

The format for each will be a structured question-and-answer session where CLT's expert speakers, having summarised the law, ask probing questions of the Land Registry lawyer and invite attendees to join in the discussion and pose questions of their own.

For further information or to book:

Wednesday 2 May: Property litigation – An insight into Land Registry practice

Wednesday 23 May: Commercial property – An insight into Land Registry practice

Thursday 28 June: Registration fraud – An insight into Land Registry practice

Monday 2 July Family law – An insight into Land Registry practice

Practice

Adverse possession: compare your applications here – leasehold land

In the second of two articles, a Land Registry lawyer compares applications based on adverse possession of leasehold land

In Landnet 28, without a furry animal or tenor in sight, we compared elements of applications based on adverse possession that relate to unregistered and registered freehold land. This article will compare applications relating to leasehold land but, before it does so, a reminder.

Before 13 October 2003, the Limitation Acts applied to both unregistered and registered land and an application to register the squatter’s title was basically the same, although the process was different. However, the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) introduced a new regime for applications to register a title to registered land based on adverse possession.

This article looks at differences and similarities between adverse possession applications of unregistered leasehold land and where adverse possession of registered leasehold land was completed no later than 12 October 2003 and on or after 13 October 2003.

The effect of adverse possession and the way that it may lead to a squatter being registered as proprietor of a title depend on whether the land being claimed is an unregistered or a registered title. However, what is meant by ‘adverse possession’ stays the same. Irrespective of whether the land is unregistered or registered or when the possession started, the squatter still has to show that they were in ‘adverse possession’. This article will not, however, look at what is meant by ‘adverse possession’ but what to consider when, having been in ‘adverse possession’, the squatter is entitled to make an application.

Applications in respect of leasehold land fall into two categories.

1. Where the adverse possession is against the tenant, and

2. where the adverse possession is by the tenant.

We will look at each in turn.

Please note that it is not possible to deal with all the details of adverse possession in just two short articles. For more detailed guidanceon Land Registry’s approach to applications based on adverse possession see Practice Guide 4 – Adverse possession of registered land and Practice Guide 5 – Adverse possession of (1) unregistered land and (2) registered land where a right to be registered was acquired before 13 October 2003.

1. Where adverse possession is against a tenant

(a) Unregistered land

At the end of the limitation period, the tenant cannot recover possession from the squatter.

But:

there is no “statutory conveyance” of the lease to the squatter
the lease continues between landlord and tenant
the tenant can surrender the lease, and
time has not started to run against the landlord, so the landlord can recover possession against the squatter.

So, Land Registry will notaccept any application based on adverse possession against a tenant.

(b) Registered land

i. Transitional provisions under paragraph 18, Schedule 12, LRA 2002 (‘The transitional provisions’)

This is where the squatter claims to have been in adverse possession of a registered leasehold estate AND the relevant limitation period expired before 13 October 2003.

At the end of the limitation period, the registered estate was held on trust for the squatter.
The squatter is now entitled to be registered as proprietor.
This entitlement cannot be lost by surrender, provided the squatter is in actual occupation, because the entitlement to be registered is an overriding interest.

So, Land Registry can accept an application based on adverse possession against a tenant under the transitional provisions.

The application should be in form AP1.

ii. Under Schedule 6, LRA 2002 (‘Schedule 6’)

At end of the 10-year period, the squatter is entitled to apply to be registered as proprietor in place of the tenant.

Provided there is no pending application to register a surrender of the lease, the application may proceed and will be open to challenge either by an objection or a counter notice by the tenant.

The application should be in form ADV1.

2. Where adverse possession is by a tenant

(a) Unregistered land

In addition to the usual statutory declaration/statement of truth to support the application, the applicant needs to produce evidence to rebut the presumption that the adverse possession was for the benefit of their landlord.

If this evidence is not provided, the application will be treated as an application to register a leasehold estate, which can only proceed if there is more than seven years of the documentary lease term left to run.

If the rebutting evidence is produced, notice will be served on the landlord, referring to the presumption, giving them the opportunity to object.
Where the land is owned by someone other than the tenant’s landlord, notice will then be served on this third party (referring to the notice served on the landlord).
The application should be in form FR1.

(b) Registered land

i. The transitional provisions

The application should be in form FR1.

Land Registry will write to the applicant to explain:

the presumption, if it applies, prevents the tenant from being a beneficiary under the trust created by s.75, Land Registration Act 1925 and therefore from applying under the transitional provisions
if the tenant wants to proceed, they need to provide evidence to rebut the presumption.

If the rebutting evidence is produced, and the registered proprietor of the estate subject to the application is the applicant’s landlord, the notice will refer to the presumption and provide details of why the applicant considers the presumption does not apply.

If the registered proprietor is a third party, Land Registry will first serve notice on the applicant’s landlord and then serve notice on the registered proprietor (referring to the notice served on the landlord).

ii. Schedule 6

The application should be in form ADV1.

Land Registry will write to the applicant to explain that there are two views.

The presumption, if not rebutted, stops there being any adverse possession by the squatter.
The presumption is irrelevant as it does not prevent a squatting tenant from being in adverse possession but is merely concerned with who gets title to the common law estate that arises from the start of the adverse possession.

The letter will go on to state that, in these circumstances, Land Registry will treat the application as sufficient evidence that the encroachment was for the applicant’s own benefit, and so will treat the presumption, if it is relevant, as rebutted, for us to proceed.

It will also state that if the applicant confirms that they want to proceed, Land Registry will serve notice on the landlord making the same points relating to the presumption.

If the applicant confirms that they want to proceed, and the registered proprietor of the estate subject to the application is the applicant’s landlord, the notice will refer to the presumption and contain the information above.

Cancelling Form A restrictions

This is the second of two articles covering Form A restrictions and follows Understanding the Form A restriction in Landnet 27

When an existing Form A restriction is no longer required because the registered proprietor or proprietors have become the sole beneficial owner or owners (and in the case of joint proprietors they hold as beneficial joint tenants) application should be made to cancel the entry.

It is in the proprietor’s interests to do this at an early stage while the relevant facts are still to hand. Where there is a Form A restriction in the register it should be routine when applying to register a transfer which will not overreach any beneficial interests, or to note the death of a joint proprietor, to consider whether or not application should also be made to cancel the restriction.

Registration of a disposition by a sole proprietor under which capital money arises will be caught by a Form A restriction. An application to register such a disposition should be accompanied by an application for cancellation of the restriction. If the restriction cannot be cancelled because the proprietor is not the only person with a beneficial interest in the property, a second trustee should be appointed to receive the capital money arising under the disposition.

In certain circumstances application for withdrawal of the restriction under s.47, Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) may be made as an alternative to an application for cancellation.

Before discussing the evidence required to support an application for cancellation or withdrawal of a Form A restriction we will look briefly at the automatic cancellation of the restriction without application.

Overreaching and automatic cancellation of Form A restrictions

Overreaching is the process whereby the beneficial interest is transferred from the land to the proceeds of sale so that the transferee, lessee or chargee takes free from the interest. It requires a conveyance to a purchaser of a legal estate (s.2, Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925)) where any capital money which arises is paid to at least two trustees or a trust corporation (s.27(2), LPA 1925). The term ‘conveyance’ includes a transfer, charge or lease.

A Form A restriction will be cancelled without further application if when registering a transfer the registrar is satisfied that any beneficial interests in the property have been overreached (r.99, Land Registration Rules 2003 (LRR 2003)). Note that in the absence of evidence suggesting otherwise, where application is made to register a transfer for money from A and B to A, Land Registry’s starting point in deciding whether there has been overreaching will be to treat A as a purchaser of B’s beneficial share rather than of the legal estate.

Cancellation on application

Land Registry will cancel a restriction if application is made in form RX3 accompanied by evidence sufficient to satisfy the registrar that the restriction is no longer required (r.97, LRR 2003). No fee is payable.

The level of evidence required to satisfy the registrar that a Form A restriction is no longer required is complicated by the point that only one Form A restriction can be entered in the register. Although it is possible to make a specific entry in respect of some interests under a trust (such as entry of a Form K restriction in respect of a charging order on the beneficial interest of a joint proprietor), the only entry that can be made in respect of many beneficial interests in a property is a Form A restriction. As the trusts on which the land is held may change over the course of time it is not sufficient to look only at the reason the Form A restriction was originally entered.

A person without knowledge of the trusts affecting a property will not be able to determine from the register what interests lie behind the restriction. Joint proprietors for example may hold the land as tenants in common and be the only people with a beneficial interest in the property or they may hold as trustees of several different trusts for multiple beneficiaries.

As the registrar does not have knowledge of the trusts, the evidence accompanying an application for cancellation of a Form A restriction should show:

where there is a sole proprietor, that the proprietor is now the only person with a beneficial interest in the property, or
where there are joint proprietors that the proprietors now hold the land on trust for themselves as beneficial joint tenants and no one else has a beneficial interest in the property.

As a practical example, application may be made to cancel a Form A restriction by the survivor of joint proprietors who were originally the sole beneficial owners holding as tenants in common. As well as showing how the deceased proprietor’s share has devolved to the survivor the application should be supported by confirmation that no other interests (such as a mortgage of one’s person’s share or an interest under a new trust deed) have been created during the proprietors’ ownership.

The supporting evidence accompanying an application for cancellation should be in the form of a statutory declaration or statement of truth by the registered proprietor or proprietors which:

explains what has happened to the original beneficial interest protected by the restriction
if it has devolved to the registered proprietor or proprietors, explains how it has so devolved
confirms, if such be the case, that no one other than the registered proprietor now has a beneficial interest in the property
confirms if such be the case, that no beneficial interest in the property has been encumbered (other than by a charge that is also of the legal estate), and
if there are two or more registered proprietors, confirms, if such be the case, that they hold the property on trust for themselves as beneficial joint tenants.

Alternatively we will accept a certificate to like effect given by a conveyancer acting for the registered proprietor(s) if they can speak from their own knowledge of the facts.

Withdrawal of Form A restriction

A Form A restriction which was entered on application by a person with a beneficial interest in the property may be withdrawn under s.47, LRA 2002. The majority of Form A restrictions however are entered either on application by the registered proprietor(s) in accordance with their obligation under r.94, LRR 2003 or entered by the registrar without application under s.44(1), LRA 2002. Where this is the case or where the restriction was entered pursuant to a court order the restriction cannot be withdrawn (r.98(3), LRR 2003).

Application should be made on form RX4 and no fee is payable. The application must be made by, or with the consent of, “all persons who appear to the registrar to have an interest in the restriction” (r.98(2)(e), LRR 2003).

The registrar will accept an application for withdrawal if it is made by or with the consent of the person who applied for entry of the restriction. However the registrar will rarely be in a position to determine who in addition to that person has an interest in the restriction (because it is not possible to enter additional Form A restrictions in respect of additional interests) and so, in addition to confirmation that the applicant for withdrawal or the person consenting to the application is the person who originally applied for the restriction, will also require evidence that:

no one has a beneficial interest in the property other than any the registered proprietor might have
no beneficial interest in the property is encumbered (other than by a charge that is also of the legal estate), and
if there are two or more registered proprietors, they hold the property on trust for themselves as beneficial joint tenants

and explaining:

what has happened to the beneficial interest of the person who originally applied for entry of the restriction, and
how the person making the declaration or statement is in a position to provide confirmation of these points.

In practice the person making the application for withdrawal will often not be in a position to provide all the necessary evidence and the involvement of the registered proprietor will be required.

The supporting evidence should be provided by way of statutory declaration or statement of truth or be contained in a certificate given by a conveyancer who can speak from their own knowledge of the facts.

You can find further information about restrictions generally in Practice Guide 19 – Notices, restrictions and the protection of third party interests in the register and Practice Guide 24 – Private trusts of land.