Why Voluntarily Register Your Land At The Land Registry?

A dispute between a 74 year old farmer and the Church of England has highlighted the benefits of voluntarily registering land at the Land Registry.

The dispute involved 16 hectares of land, part of a 20 hectare farm, owned and run by Richard Tyacke. Unknown to Mr Tyacke, in 2010, the Diocese of Birmingham registered the freehold of the 16 hectares of land in its name by submitting a statement of truth to the Land Registry claiming ownership to the land. This land equates approximately to £500,000 worth of land in today's value. Mr Tyacke only learnt of the Diocese's claim when he discovered two of its managing agents on his farm. When Mr Tyacke confronted them he was informed that they were inspecting the land owned by the Church. Mr Tyacke challenged this assertion and requested that they produce evidence of Diocese of Birmingham's ownership to the land. No documentation was forthcoming.

In 2016 Mr Tyacke applied to register his ownership of his 20 hectare farm at the Land Registry, this is when his solicitors discovered what had happened. Mr Tyacke's solicitors were able to produce title deeds which proved Mr Tyacke's ownership of the farm including the 16 hectares in dispute. Faced with written evidence of Mr Tyacke's ownership the Diocese of Birmingham agreed to surrender the land and cancel its freehold registration. However, it has taken Mr Tyacke two years to be granted ownership of 16 of his 20 hectare farm and Mr Tyacke has only received partial reimbursement of the costs he has had to incur in order to obtain ownership of his own land.

There are still large areas of land which remain unregistered in England and Wales. Therefore, as long as land remains unregistered it is possible that what happened to Mr Tyacke could happen to other landowners. We would encourage any farmers and other landowners to register any unregistered land at the Land Registry. Not only does registration reduce the chance of successful third party claims, but also has a number of other benefits.

We set out below some of the benefits for land registration:

Registered land is far easier to deal with, meaning that any future transactions will generally be cheaper and dealt with more efficiently. Registration creates a clear record of ownership, with an identifiable title plan and evidence of matters that affect the property making it readily marketable. Registered titles are protected under a government guarantee. Boundary disputes are less frequent, less...