Land Charges Act 1925
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1925 c. 22 |
Land Charges Act, 1925
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 22.
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to the registration of pending actions, annuities, writs, orders, deeds of arrangement and land charges, and to searches.
[9th April 1925]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Preliminary.
Preliminary.
1 Registers at the land registry.
(1) The registrar shall, subject as provided in this Act in regard to the register of annuities, continue to keep at the registry in the prescribed manner the following registers, namely—
(a ) a register of pending actions;
(b ) a register of annuities;
(c ) a register of writs and orders affecting land;
(d ) a register of deeds of arrangement affecting land; and
(e ) a register of land charges.
(2) An alphabetical index, in the prescribed form, shall be kept at the registry of all entries made in any register kept at the registry pursuant to this Act.
(3) Every application to register shall be in the prescribed form and shall contain the prescribed particulars.
Part I.
Pending Actions.
2 Register of pending actions.
(1) A pending action, that is to say, any action, information or proceeding pending in court relating to land or any interest in or charge on land, and a petition in bankruptcy filed after the commencement of this Act, may be registered in the register of pending actions.
(2) Subject to general rules, every application to register a pending action shall contain particulars of—
(a ) the name, address, and description of the estate owner or other person whose estate or interest is intended to be affected thereby; and
(b ) the court in which the action, information or proceeding was commenced or filed; and
(c ) the title of the action, information or proceeding; and
(d ) the day when the action, information or proceeding was commenced or filed.
(3) The registrar shall forthwith enter the particulars in the register, in the name of the estate owner or other person whose estate or interest is intended to be affected.
(4) In the case of a petition in bankruptcy filed against a firm, the application to register the pending action shall state the names and addresses of the partners, and the registration shall be effected against each partner as well as against the firm.
(5) No fee shall be charged for the registration of a petition in bankruptcy as a pending action if the application therefor is made by the registrar of the court in which the petition is filed.
(6) The court, if it thinks fit, may, upon the determination of the proceedings, or during the pendency thereof if satisfied that the proceedings are not prosecuted in good faith, make an order vacating the registration of the pending action, and direct the party on whose behalf the registration was made to pay all or any of the costs and expenses occasioned by the registration and vacating thereof.
(7) When an office copy of an order of discharge or an acknowledgment of satisfaction in the prescribed form is lodged with the registrar, he may enter discharge or satisfaction of the registered pending action to which it refers, and may issue a certificate in the prescribed form of such discharge or satisfaction.
(8) The registration of a pending action shall cease to have effect at the expiration of five years from the date of registration, but may be renewed from time to time, and, if renewed, shall have effect for five years from the date of renewal.
3 Protection of purchasers against unregistered pending actions.
(1) A pending action shall not bind a purchaser without express notice thereof unless it is for the time being registered pursuant to this Part of this Act:
Provided that as respects a petition in bankruptcy, this subsection only applies in favour of a purchaser of a legal estate in good faith, for money or money's worth, without notice of an available act of bankruptcy.
(2) As respects any transfer or creation of a legal estate, a petition in bankruptcy filed after the commencement of this Act, which is not for the time being registered as a pending action, shall not be notice or evidence of any act of bankruptcy therein alleged.
(3) The title of a trustee in bankruptcy acquired after the commencement of this Act shall be void as against a purchaser of a legal estate in good faith for money or money's worth without notice of an available act of bankruptcy claiming under a conveyance made after the date of registration of the petition in bankruptcy as a pending action, unless, at the date of the conveyance, either the registration of the pending action is in force, or the receiving order is registered pursuant to Part III. of this Act.
Part II.
Annuities.
4 Register of annuities.
(1) No annuity shall be entered in the register of annuities after the commencement of this Act.
(2) An annuity registered before the commencement of this Act in the register of annuities may remain registered until the entry is vacated in the prescribed manner, on the prescribed evidence as to satisfaction, cesser or discharge being furnished.
(3) When an acknowledgment in the prescribed form of satisfaction, cesser or discharge is lodged with the registrar, he may enter satisfaction, cesser or discharge of the registered annuity to which it refers, and may issue a certificate in the prescribed form of such satisfaction, cesser or discharge.
(4) The register of annuities shall be closed when all the entries therein have been vacated, or the prescribed evidence of the satisfaction, cesser or discharge of all the annuities has been furnished.
(5) In this Part of this Act the expression ‘annuity’ means a rentcharge or an annuity for one or more life or lives, or for any term of years or greater estate determinable on one or more life or lives created after the twenty-fifth day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, and before the commencement of this Act, and not being a rentcharge or an annuity created by a marriage settlement or will.
5 Protection of purchasers, &c. against unregistered annuities.
An annuity which before the commencement of this Act was capable of being registered in the register of annuities shall be void as against a creditor or a purchaser of any interest in the land charged therewith unless the annuity is for the time being registered in the register of annuities or in the register of land charges as herein-after provided.
Part III.
Writs and Orders affecting Land.
6 Register of writs and orders affecting land.
(1) There may be registered in the register of writs and orders—
(a ) any writ or order affecting land issued or made by any court for the purpose of enforcing a judgment, statute or recognizance, whether obtained on behalf of the Crown or otherwise, or for the purpose of enforcing any inquisition finding a debt due to the Crown, or any obligation or specialty made to the Crown;
(b ) any order appointing a receiver or sequestrator of land;
(c ) any receiving order in bankruptcy made after the commencement of this Act, whether or not it is known to affect land.
(2) Every entry made pursuant to this section shall be made in the name of the estate owner or other person whose land, if any, is affected by the writ or order registered.
(3) The registration of a writ or order in the said register ceases to have effect at the expiration of five years from the date of registration, but may be renewed from time to time, and, if renewed, shall have effect for five years from the date of renewal.
(4) No fee shall be charged for the registration of a receiving order in bankruptcy if the application therefor is made by an official receiver.
(5) The registration of a writ or order affecting land may be vacated pursuant to an order of the court or a judge thereof.
(6) When an office copy of an order for discharge, or an acknowledgment of satisfaction in the prescribed form, is lodged with the registrar, he may enter discharge or satisfaction of the registered writ or order to which it refers, and may issue a certificate in the prescribed form of such discharge or satisfaction.
7 Protection of purchasers against unregistered writs and orders.
(1) Every such writ and order as is mentioned in the last preceding section, and every delivery in execution or other proceeding taken pursuant to any such writ or order, or in obedience thereto, shall be void as against a purchaser of the land unless the writ or order is for the time being registered pursuant to this Part of this Act:
Provided that as respects a receiving order in bankruptcy, this subsection only applies in favour of a purchaser of a legal estate in good faith, for money or money's worth, without notice of an available act of bankruptcy.
(2) The title of a trustee in bankruptcy acquired after the commencement of this Act shall be void as against a purchaser of a legal estate in good faith for money or money's worth without notice of an available act of bankruptcy, claiming under a conveyance made after the date of registration of the petition in bankruptcy as a pending action, unless, at the date of the conveyance, either the registration of the pending action is in force or...
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