Registered Land Is Now Subject to Greater Transparency Requirements
New regulations require the recipient of certain contractual rights over registered land to provide additional information at various stages during the contract to the Land Registry. The intention is to increase transparency over who has control over registered land even if they do not have legal ownership of it. These regulations do not apply to unregistered land.
What are “contractual control rights”?
The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 (the Regulations) refer to “contractual control rights”, which will include written arrangements like: options, conditional sale contracts, promotion agreements and rights of pre-emption. Some arrangements will be exempt, such as where there is a total period of control of less than 18 months.
Planning obligations made pursuant to section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, rights included in security arrangements for a loan or financial instrument, overage and contracts held exclusively for purposes that do not relate to future development resulting in the provision of one or more homes or a building with a floor space of 100 square meters or more are also excluded from the remit of the Regulations.
When do the new obligations apply?
The Regulations provide for a phased introduction of obligations. If a contractual control right is granted between 8 June 2026 and 5 April 2027, contractual control information must be reported by a regulated conveyancer on behalf of the recipient of that right to the Land Registry prior to 6 October 2027. If a contractual control right is granted on or after 6 April 2027, a regulated conveyancer on behalf of the recipient of that right will have 60 days from a relevant event to report the contractual control information to the Land Registry.
What counts as a relevant event?
A relevant event in relation to a contractual control right includes not only the original grant of the right, but any transfer of that right and any written variation altering the contractual control information where, in each case, contractual control information has previously been provided to the Land Registry.
In addition, where contractual control information has been provided to the Land Registry, if that contractual control right is either determined, expires or is exercised in each case either in whole or in part, it must be reported to the Land Registry within 60 days.
What information needs to be supplied?
The contractual control information that must be supplied includes:
the full names of the parties to the relevant written arrangement,
its date and type,
the address and postcode (if any) of the affected land,
the date from which any contractual control right can be exercised or details of any conditions which must first be satisfied before it can be exercised,
the length of the initial period of control and any extension and termination provisions and details of whether it affects airspace or subsoil in addition to the land surface.
In the case of individuals, their place and date of birth must be supplied to enable their accurate identification. However, the Land Registry is forbidden from publishing this information.
If the Land Registry does not believe that contractual control information has been properly provided, it can refuse to register a notice or restriction against the relevant registered title to protect the contractual control rights.
When will the information become publicly available?
The Land Registry will publish a dataset containing all of the contractual control information on a monthly basis from 6 April 2028. Where a contractual control right has been determined, expired or exercised, it can be removed from the published dataset.
The contractual control information gathered by the Land Registry will be used to create a fully searchable dataset which will be available to the public.
What could this mean?
This will have both positive and adverse commercial consequences. Where, for example, arrangements are entered into over land occupied by an existing business which intends to continue trading whilst the arrangement endures, its profitability could be harmed if staff and customers become aware of uncertainty around the future of the business because of potential redevelopment proposals. In addition, increased awareness of the exact location and extent of land ear-marked for redevelopment could also galvanise NIMBYs, making it more difficult to advocate for the allocation and approval of any change of use.
On the other hand, the dataset can be used by local authorities, communities and developers to identify new sites. The availability of such detailed information may help to create opportunities for diverse interested parties to collaborate and co-operate to bring forward sites in ways that create stronger communities.
What now?
Whatever your view on these new obligations, parties who are negotiating contractual control rights will need to bear in mind that details of arrangements entered into now and which may last until after 6 April 2028 will become publicly available.
How prepared is your organisation for the new contractual control reporting requirements?
We are fully prepared.
We’re reviewing them now
We need more guidance
Need more guidance?
Our Commercial Property team can help you understand how the new requirements apply to your arrangements and what you need to consider now.
Contact:
Partner
Tel: 0121 798 019
Email: beth.margetson@djblaw.co.uk
