Overreaching is a concept in

English land law English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal ...

and 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 ...

. It refers to a situation where a person's equitable property right is dissolved, detached from a piece of property, and reattached to money that is given by a third party for the property. This happens, according to ''

City of London Building Society v Flegg is an English land law case decided in the House of Lords on the relationship between potential overriding interests and the concept of overreaching. The case was controversial because it construed the statutory framework so that interests w ...

'' in any case where property is bought or mortgaged in a contract with two or more title holders. Overreaching can only exist where a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

is in existence and a property is sold. It occurs when the purchaser paid to at least two trustees in monies. The occupiers of a property in such a situation cannot then claim that their occupation of the property is an

overriding interest Overriding interest is an English land law concept. The general rule in registered conveyancing is that all interests and rights over a piece of land have to be written on the register entry for that land. Otherwise, when anyone buys that piece of ...

, as the joint trustees have brought that occupation to a close through the sale of the property. By purchasing the property from trustees, under Section 2 of the

, the occupation rights of any other party are automatically extinguished. If such a party claims an overriding interest in the land, that interest is converted by attaching a monetary interest to the land, such as a purchase price, and the interest claimed by the party is 'overreached'; this conversion is often referred to as the doctrine of

equitable conversion Equitable conversion is a doctrine of the law of real property under which a purchaser of real property becomes the equitable owner of title to the property at the time he/she signs a contract binding him/her to purchase the land at a later date. ...

. If only one owner exists, there is a risk that a third party could claim occupation and overreaching cannot apply. The issues of overreaching and overriding interests are often closely linked, and the case of '' Birmingham Midshires v Sabherwal'' examined both issues. Overreaching is a process whereby certain equitable rights in land which might otherwise have enjoyed protection in the system of registration on the occasion of a sale of that land to a purchaser for value are "swept off" the land and transferred to the purchase money that has just been paid. Martin Dixon, "Modern Land Law", Routledge Cavendish, 6th edition p.93

References

{{Reflist English property law

See also

References