Land Registration and Recording Systems
What the exam tests
Registration questions test the difference between registration of title and registration of instruments, the effect of registration on priority, and the protection of third parties through notice, caveats and overriding interests.
Core rules
- Deeds registration records instruments; it does not guarantee title. Priority often depends on date of registration, not date of execution.
- Title registration records the title itself. The registered proprietor gains a title that is indefeasible except for fraud, error, overriding interests and statutory exceptions.
- A caveat or caution protects an unregistered interest by preventing registration without notice to the caveator.
- Overriding interests bind a registered proprietor even without entry on the register; examples may include short leases, easements and customary rights, depending on statute.
- Rectification may correct the register; compensation or indemnity may be available to a person deprived by error.
Worked example
A owns registered land and grants B a five-year lease but does not register it. A then transfers the freehold to C, who buys without inspecting. If the lease is an overriding interest under the statute, B binds C; if not, C takes free and B’s remedy is against A. The answer turns on the statutory list of overriding interests, not on B’s occupation alone.
Traps
Assuming registration validates fraud; treating deeds registration as a guarantee of title; ignoring overriding interests; forgetting that notice may defeat a later purchaser in equity.