Land Registration Act 2002 - An Overview

The Land Registration Act 2002 received Royal Assent on 26 February and over the coming months new rules will be drafted to bring its provisions into effect. The Act, which is the outcome of several years' joint work by the Law Commission and the Land Registry, has been described as potentially more far-reaching than the great property reforms effected by the 1925 legislation.

The Act paves the way for the introduction of electronic conveyancing to replace the traditional paper-based procedure as we discussed in a previous edition (although this will not happen for a few years) and replaces all existing legislation relating to land registration with the aim of exploiting the potential of an electronic system and eliminating defects in the present law. There are also several significant changes to property law in general.

An important change is introduction of a new system in relation to adverse possession for registered land, which we detailed in our last edition. The effect of this new regime will make registered land...