The Land Charges Act 1972 is a UK Act of Parliament that updates the system for registering charges on

unregistered land Unregistered land in English law is land that has not been registered with HM Land Registry. Under the residual principles of English land law, for unregistered land proof of title is based upon historical title deeds and a registry for certain ch ...

in England and Wales. It repealed and updated parts of the

Land Charges Act 1925 The Law of Property Acts or the 1925 land reforms commonly refers to a series of Acts of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom to reform the system of land holding, registration and transfer. The principal Acts are the Law of Property Act 1925, t ...

and other legislation affecting real property.

Background

In the early 20th century, a package of reforms were made to register land in England and Wales to make conveyancing cheaper and simpler, and free land to the market. The main legislation was the

Land Registration Act 1925 The Land Registration Act 1925 (LRA) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that codified, prioritised and extended the system of land registration in England and Wales. It has largely been repealed, and updated in the Land Registration Ac ...

, the

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925c 20 is a statute of the United Kingdom Parliament. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to moderni ...

, the

Trustee Act 1925 The Trustee Act 1925c 19 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 9 April 1925, which codified and updated the regulation of trustees' powers and appointment. It accompanied the land reform legislation of the 1920s. It came into eff ...

, and the

Settled Land Act 1925 A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

. However, much land was to remain unregistered. Instead, for that land not yet registered, people could choose to explicitly register interests under the

, and so get better protection than the common law might provide against a

bona fide purchaser A ''bona fide'' purchaser (BFP)referred to more completely as a ''bona fide'' purchaser for value without notice is a term used predominantly in common law jurisdictions in the law of real property and personal property to refer to an innocent ...

without notice of any equitable interest sought to be protected. In 1972, this Act was updated into the present scheme.

Background

Content

See also