Relationship between LR and Cadastral

1. Are Land Registry and Cadastre different institutions?

No. There is no cadastre in England and Wales.

a) What is the role and effects of the Cadastre?

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b) What is the role and effects of the Registry?

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c) How are the plots described in the titles registered?

Literally but complemented by a plan

d) Is the use of plans or graphical bases only compulsory for the first registration and acts of segregation and division or in all cases of transmission or easement constitution?

If there is a sale of part, a new title will be created with its own title plan. If an easement is created its position will be shown on the title plan if the exact position is known. Otherwise it will be described in words in the register.

e) Does the Registry give information about the limitations or restrictions in the public domain or based on reasons of social or environmental interest?

If there is a sale of part, a new title will be created with its own title plan. If an easement is created its position will be shown on the title plan if the exact position is known. Otherwise it will be described in words in the register.

f) Are the urban restrictions recorded in the Registry?

These will be mainly recorded in the Local Land Charges registers kept by the relevant local authority. Some planning agreements between local authorities and landowners will be noted in the register if they contain covenants relating to the land.

g) Can online Land Registry information be obtained through a centralized system or a redirected access to the relevant Registry?

Yes, there is a Land Registry portal channel and a business gateway channel.

h) Can Land Registry information containing a graphic report that identifies the property and explains the global legal situation and effects be requested?

Members of the public can obtain copies of property registers and title plans online, using the title number, or the address, or the online map and aerial imagery. Professional customers with business e-services account can obtain official copies of the same online.
Alternatively they can apply using paper and postal applications.

i) What other kind of information can provide your Land Registry System?

Customers can search the index map, to establish whether land is registered and if so, what is the title number. Land Registry offers many other services relating to information about land, which can be seen on our website

j) Does the Registrar scrutinies the formal and substantive legality of the documents to be registered?

See replies in Part IV above.

k) Does the registrar scrutinies , in addition, the total or partial non-coincidence of the graphical bases with others previously registered?

We will not register a new plot without careful plotting of the boundaries, to ensure that they do not overlap any other registration.

l) Is it necessary a public deed or private documents are also registered?

It depends on what the deed or document is. Trust deeds are not required to be registered, so the contents can be kept private. But notice of the trust should be given by means of a restriction in the register.

If any other deed is not protected by a notice in the register it may lose its priority to other interests which are so noted.

A person can apply for a “unilateral notice” to protect certain interests. In that case the applicant does not have to supply copies of the deed or other evidence. If the registrar is satisfied that the interest is of a type that can be protected by an entry in the register he must enter the notice. However the registered proprietor can apply to cancel the unilateral notice at any time. If they do so, the person who registered the unilateral notice must then provide evidence of the interest in order to avoid cancellation.

A more secure method of protecting an interest is to apply for an “agreed notice”. An agreed notice may have been agreed by the registered proprietor, or it may be a notice where the registrar is satisfied that the interest is valid. So to register an agreed notice land registry will need to see the evidence in order to be satisfied that the interest is valid. Once evidence has been lodged with us it will become a public document as long as we retain a copy.

If a deed must be registered we will need to see the original or a certified copy. An applicant can ask the registrar to designate the document as an exempt information document if it contains prejudicial information (information that could cause damage or substantial distress to private individuals, or commercially sensitive information).

The applicant must provide a copy of the document with the prejudicial information blanked out. If the registrar agrees that the information is prejudicial, he will designate the original document as an exempt information document, and only copies of the edited document will be issued to the public as copies. There is a procedure for challenging the designation of a document as an exempt information document.

m) Are electronic documents also admitted?

Yes, if they are electronic copies of original paper documents, and certified to be so by a conveyancer.

The Land Registry has also provided for digital mortgages that can be prepared and executed entirely on line, with e-signatures issued to the borrowers. But at present these e-charges are not being used by conveyancers and lenders.

n) Is the Registry responsible for the veracity of the information if is wrong?

Yes, but we will have a right of recourse against the conveyancer if we believe that the conveyancer was negligent or fraudulent.

o) Are the effects of Registry publicity regarding the property and the charges different to the restrictions of public domain?

I am not sure if I understand the question. Land Registry can issue what would otherwise be regarded as personal information despite the Data Protection laws because statutory provisions require us to keep the register and make copies of the register publicly available.

p) Do the neighbouring owners take part in the process of defining the property?

No, but they can object to a registration if they think it has been done wrongly.

3. If the answer to the first question was negative and both institutions are integrated in the same department or agency, so they provide a unified service:

There is no Cadastre in England and Wales. See replies above.

4. If the answer to the first question was negative because both institutions are not integrated, but they share information or have distributed their tasks:

There is no cadastre in England and Wales. See previous replies.