Examining the Land Registration System: Principles and Implementation

Essay on Land Registration 1
ESSAY ON LAND REGISTRATION
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution
Location of Institution
Course
Date

Essay on Land Registration 2
Essay on Land Registration
Real property is immovable property which can either be land or something related to
land. Personal property on the other hand refer to a movable property and tis is usually subject to
ownership. Therefore a property could either be real or personal property. Land registration is a
system which records centrally the details of all the individuals who own land in both Wales and
England. Such persons should have all the legal interests in the particular land. In both England
and Wales, the modern system was established by the Land Registration Act 1925 which was
later repealed by the Land Registration Act 2002.
The implementation of the act took a long time than was expected, and this was until the
1980s. With the Act 2002, the individual who owns a particular land registered does not
automatically become the holder of the title deed, but it is the individual registered at the land
registry as the sole owner. There are two typical registrable interests which are the interest and
estates which can exist at law. Such interests may, however, be registered under their rights and
with an unusual title number. The above mentioned interests should be reflected in the land
registration system to avoid comprise of the system. This paper, therefore, seeks to give insight
into the aims of the land registration system which is that it should reflect the totality of estates,
interests and charges affecting land within its coverage.
Principles of Land Registration
There are three essential principles of the land registration system. One of the principles
is the mirror principle which stipulates that there should be a reflection of the totality of the
interests in the title of register affecting the particular land. Thus it will allow a person buying it
see the interest which he or she is bound (Griggs, Thomas, Low and Scheibner, 2017 p.185). The
principle is on the basis that the register of land is a mirror reflecting complete and accurate facts

Essay on Land Registration 3
which are relevant to the title. It, therefore, implies that during the sale of the particular land, it is
only the landowner’s name which should be changed which reflects the totality of rights and
interests of the estate. The other principle is the insurance principle which states that an
individual purchasing any land which is registered be provided with accurate information in the
register.
Also, such a person is to be indemnified from any particular loss which he or she may
suffer in case of an error in the system (McDonald, 2018 p.34). Therefore the principle, shows
clearly that an effective land registration system which guarantees a title should be in a position
to compensate those individuals who incur losses as a result of the application of the land
registration system. For example, a register of land titles which is conclusive for many of the
purposes tends to cause losses to parties which are innocent due to the poor working of the
system.
Lastly, there is the curtain principle indicates that there are specific interests which a
buyer of land is not bound, thus should not know about them. Such interests are under trusts
hence should not be kept in the register to enable it to become clearer (Heikkilä, 2018 p.68). The
sole idea of the curtain principle is that there are various equitable interests of a particular land
which should not be revealed behind the special curtains of special categories of trusts. An
individual willing to purchase land within the territory of both Wales and England should
purchase the land based on the trust of the particular land. Furthermore, the only concern of the
purchaser should be on the legal title of the land a possessed by the trustees (Ryan-Collins, Lloyd
and Macfarlane, 2017 p.9).
Principle of Trust and Co-ownership