Purchaser liability to third parties in the English land ... , L.Q.R. 2004, 120(Oct), ... For educational use only Purchaser liability to third parties in the English land registration system: a comparative perspective ELIZABETH COOKE. PAMELA O'CONNOR. Journal Article Law Quarterly Review L.Q.R. 2004, 120(Oct), 640-666 Subject Real property Keywords Beneficial interests; Fraud; Good faith; Land registration; Notice; Third parties Cases cited Peffer v Rigg [1977] 1 W.L.R. 285; [1976] 3 WLUK 81 (Ch D) Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green (No.1) [1981] A.C. 513; [1980] 12 WLUK 104 (HL) Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd v Boland [1981] A.C. 487; [1980] 6 WLUK 211 (HL) Lyus v Prowsa Developments Ltd [1982] 1 W.L.R. 1044; [1981] 12 WLUK 240 (Ch D) Legislation cited Land Registration Act 2002 (c.9) *L.Q.R. 640 ONE of the most powerful provisions in any title registration statute is the section which states the terms on which a purchaser will take the registered title following a registered disposition. The relevant provision of the new English statute, the Land Registration Act 2002 ("LRA 2002") is s.29: "(1) If a registrable disposition of a registered estate is made for valuable consideration, completion of the disposition by registration has the effect of postponing to the interest under the disposition any interest affecting the estate immediately before the disposition whose priority is not protected at the time of registration. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the priority of an interest is protected -- (a) in any case, if the interest -- (i) is a registered charge or the subject of a notice in the register, (ii) falls within any of the paragraphs of Schedule 3, or (iii) appears from the register to be excepted from the effect of registration, and (b) in the case of a disposition of a leasehold estate, if the burden of the interest is incident to the estate." Section 30 makes corresponding provision for dispositions of registered charges. For the sake of simplicity, this article considers only sales and mortgages of freehold estates registered with title absolute; the effect of s.29 is that when such dispositions are @ 2022 Thomson Reuters. 1
Purchaser liability to third parties in the English land ... , L.Q.R. 2004, 120(Oct), ... registered, the purchaser for valuable consideration takes them subject only to the interests that he can see on the register, and to the overriding interests listed in Sch.3.1 Just how strong such a provision is depends upon the answer given, in the relevant title registration system, to two questions: 1. When will the protection that it gives be lost by a purchaser as a result of a defect in the transaction of which the purchaser was entirely innocent? For example, the transfer may have been forged by a third party, or the transfer/charge may be void because of an innocent mistake. 2. When will that protection be lost by a purchaser as a result of the purchaser's own wrongdoing? "Wrongdoing" is a deliberately *L.Q.R. 641 vague term covering a