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Overview of the Land Registration section of LPS

The aim of registering title to land is to create and maintain a register of landowners whose title is guaranteed by the state - basically making the transfer and mortgaging of land easier.

The benefits of registering your property or land are:

  • You can look at the register and/or title plan of a property you own
  • You can find out who owns a specific property
  • You can discover the extent of a property
  • You can identify and approach the owner of an unoccupied property you are interested in buying
  • You can contact the landlord of a property you lease or rent.

What information is available?

There are three separate registries:

Land Registry

Land Registry was established in 1892 and maintains a record of map based land registrations in Northern Ireland. TheRegistry does not merely provide a mechanical registration system; it actually guarantees the validity of the legal title.

Each of title has its own unique number known as the Folio Number.

The Folio Number:-

  • describes the property
  • records who owns the property
  • gives details of encumbrances such as mortgages or rights that may affect the property adversely

The Land Registry also produces a title plan, showing the location and extent of the land or property’s legal boundary. The plan does not normally show who owns the boundary features.

When is registration compulsory?

When there is a sale of property, within Northern Ireland (whether by conveyance, assignment or lease) the title must be registered in the Land Registry.

When is registration not compulsory?

  • Transactions where no money consideration is paid (eg gifts, Assents, etc.);
  • Mortgages and Charging Orders;
  • Leases for a term not exceeding 21 years;
  • Exchanges or partitions of land, provided there is no monetary consideration;
  • Surrenders of Leases.

Advantages of registering land

  • legal title is guaranteed
  • an accurate plan of the extent of ownership is created
  • an up-to-date public record of ownership is created
  • rights of way are clearly identified
  • covenants and mortgages are recorded
  • risk of fraud is greatly reduced
  • simple forms replace complicated deeds
  • repeated examination of title deeds is unnecessary
  • disputes can be resolved more easily

Registry of Deeds (ROD)

There has been a system of registration of documents relating to unregistered land (land which is not registered in Land Registry) since 1708. Under this system a written summary of the relevant document is lodged in the Registry of Deeds with the original document. This summary, known as a “Memorial”, is retained in the Registry and the original document is returned to the person who lodged it. The Registry does not guarantee that any document registered is valid or has any legal effect; it merely records the document’s existence and its priority date. The compulsory first registration programme which was extended to all of Northern Ireland in 2003 will result in titles to land recorded in the Registry of Deeds migrating to the Land Register in the year ahead. This will ultimately lead to the phasing out of the Registry of Deeds.

Statutory Charge Register

This Registry was set up in 1951 to provide purchasers of land with an easy method of checking whether a property is affected by certain statutory restrictions. These restrictions which for the most part are created by or in favour of Government Departments or Local Authorities include, for example, Clearance Orders and Preservation Orders.

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