An estate in land is essentially the legal and beneficial rights and interests a person has over land and property. The majority of land law is comprised in the Land Registration Act 2002 which simplified and updated the law which had, until then, dated back to 1925.
The Land Registry is a government run register of ownership of all the land and property in England and Wales, except for land and property that remains unregistered because it has not been sold or transferred (or otherwise dealt with) for very many years. The 2002 Act makes this Register a complete picture of title (ownership) to land and property, and shows the rights, obligations and interests attaching to or affecting the land.
Theoretically, all land belongs to the Crown. Strictly speaking therefore, a person cannot own land but, instead, owns a series of rights in relation to that land which is known as an ‘estate’. Under the 2002 Act, a land owner can own either the Freehold estate or the Leasehold estate in land which will then be registered at HM Land Registry.
On a transfer or grant of property, the legal owner/s will be registered by HM Land Registry as the Registered Proprietor/s with the appropriate class of legal title, depending on the nature of the land. It will be up to the land registrar which class of title will be registered based on the legal documentation and evidence provided on the transfer or grant.
Where there are two or more legal owners, they will all be registered as joint registered proprietors. As legal owners, they jointly own the legal estate and it cannot be ‘divided’ between them, nor can any of them own a divisible ‘share’ of the legal estate. Therefore, on the sale or other transfer or disposition of the land, each registered proprietor must be a party to any mortgage deed, sale contract, lease or transfer.
If one of the legal owners dies, the legal title passes automatically to the remaining legal owner/s.
A legal interest is a legal right over land which is effectively a complete, permanent and absolute form of ownership. For example, a legal easement is a legal right of way over someone else’s land, sometimes created by a formal legal deed. The 2002 Act requires that a Notice must be entered in the register for the servient land (the land over which the right is exercised) and, if the dominant land (the land exercising the right) is also registered – the benefit must be entered in the register for the dominant land.
The following legal dispositions also create a legal interest and must be registered in order to operate in law:
Equitable (or beneficial) interests in land and property are effectively the financial interests in property, for instance:
The law requires a formal legal deed to be properly executed in order for a legal estate or interest in land to be created. If the requirements are not satisfied, the estate will remain a beneficial interest in the land until the formalities are complied with.
Nicola is a dual qualified journalist and non-practising solicitor. She is a legal journalist, editor and author with more than 20 years' experience writing about the law.
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