Land registry searches
Land registry searches are a vital part of conveyancing and are usually an effective means of ensuring that property buyers understand exactly what it is that they are purchasing.
However, the tribunal case of Trevallion & Anr v Watmore & An (2016) underlined that they are not foolproof because not every right in respect of land has to be registered.
When a couple bought their home their freehold title included a triangle of land over which their neighbours had held a leasehold interest since 1968 and which they had used for storage purposes.
The neighbours had been under no obligation to register that interest and had not done so. It was not picked up in a pre-sale survey of the property and the couple were unaware of it at the time of purchase.
The dispute, which had become very angry, came before the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) after the couple objected to their neighbours' attempt to register the lease. In ruling in the neighbours' favour, the FTT found that the leasehold interest took priority over the couple's freehold title, which had not been registered until 2009.
The FTT accepted that the couple did not have actual knowledge of the lease's existence before they bought their home. However, in applying the legal test laid down by the Land Registration Act 2002, it found that their neighbours' occupation of the triangle would have been obvious on a reasonably careful inspection.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.
Building Engineering Business Survey Q1 2025
Survey shows growth remains flat as skill shortages and volatile pricing persist.
Construction contract awards remain buoyant
Infrastructure up but residential struggles.
Home builders call for suspension of Building Safety Levy
HBF with over 100 home builders write to the Chancellor.
CIOB Apprentice of the Year 2024/2025
CIOB names James Monk a quantity surveyor from Cambridge as the winner.
Warm Homes Plan and existing energy bill support policies
Breaking down what existing policies are and what they do.
Treasury responds to sector submission on Warm Homes
Trade associations call on Government to make good on manifesto pledge for the upgrading of 5 million homes.
A tour through Robotic Installation Systems for Elevators, Innovation Labs, MetaCore and PORT tech.
A dynamic brand built for impact stitched into BSRIA’s building fabric.
BS 9991:2024 and the recently published CLC advisory note
Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings. Code of practice.