Maria Hardy of Property Conveyancing Consultancy (PCC) and PCC Education Hub will provide an overview of ‘notices’ as detailed in HM Land Registry practice guide 19 and review any changes that took place to this guide during 2024.  

Notices 

A notice is an entry made in the register in respect of the burden of an interest affecting a registered estate or charge (section 32(1) Land Registration Act 2002).  

A notice entered in the register in respect of a third-party interest will protect its priority against any subsequent registrable disposition for value and will only ensure that the priority of the interest protected will not be automatically postponed on the registration of a subsequent registrable disposition for value. 

Notices are usually registered in the Charges Register (rules 9(a) and 84(1) of the Land Registration Rules 2003), however an exception to this is a bankruptcy notice, which is registered in the Proprietorship Register.  

The effect of a notice is limited and does not guarantee that the interest protected is valid.  

A notice will only ensure that the priority of the interest protected will not be automatically postponed on the registration of a subsequent registrable disposition for value.  

Interest that cannot be protected by a notice 

(If you require protection for one of the interests noted below, then you would need to submit an application to register a restriction using form RX1.)  

• Interest under a trust of land. 

• Interest under a settlement under the Settled Land Act 1925. 

• Leasehold estates in land for a term of three years or less. 

• Restrictive covenants made between lessor and lessee that relate only to the demised premises.  

• Interests capable of registration under the Commons Registration Act 1965. 

• Certain interests in coal, coal mines and coal mining rights. 

• Public-Private partnership leases. 

• Interests under a relevant social housing tenancy.  

Entry of notices in the register  

Notices can be entered in the register for various circumstances, for example when someone is claiming an interest in land.  

Registered notices appear in two forms, either as an agreed notice, or as a unilateral notice.  

When deciding which notice to apply for, this is usually up to the applicant, however there are a few interests which can only be protected by an agreed notice which are:  

• Home Rights. 

• A HM Revenue and Customs charge for liability of inheritance tax. 

• An interest arising pursuant to an order under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992. 

• A public right or a customary right. 

• A variation of a lease effected by or under an order made under section 38 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.  

There is no difference in priority between a unilateral notice and an agreed notice.  

Agreed notice 

An agreed notice can only be entered in the register by or with (1) the consent of the relevant proprietor (or someone entitled to be registered as such) and (2) if the applicant can satisfy HM Land Registry that the interest claimed is valid by supplying supporting evidence.  

HM Land Registry is not required to serve notice on the registered proprietor before registering an agreed notice but will always notify the registered proprietor after registration if their consent to the notice was not provided with the initial application.  

This type of notice will only be cancelled if HM Land Registry is satisfied that the protected interest has come to an end or that the interest claimed is not valid.  

An application to register an agreed notice must be made using form AN1 and be accompanied by the appropriate fee. Panel 3 of the form must be completed to show whether your application affects the whole or part only of the registered title involved. If your application affects part of the registered title, you must include a detailed plan identifying the affected area, otherwise your application will be requisitioned.  

If the application is made by or with the consent of someone entitled to be the registered proprietor, evidence of that entitlement must be submitted also.  

Any consent lodged with the application should be made in panel 11 of the AN1 form but may be lodged separately. 

Where an application is not made by or with the consent of the relevant registered proprietor(s), it must be accompanied by sufficient evidence to confirm the validity of the claim (rule 81(1)(c) of the Land Registration Rules 2003). 

Unilateral notice 

A unilateral notice may be entered without the consent of a registered proprietor. The applicant does not need to satisfy HM Land Registry of the validity of the interest claimed or provide evidence. The registered proprietor will not receive notice of the application before registration takes place, although they will be notified once registration is complete. The registered proprietor therefore cannot object to the application prior to its registration but can apply to cancel the unilateral notice after it has been registered.  

If a cancellation application is received this will prompt HM Land Registry to contact the person claiming the benefit of the notice, asking them to prove the validity of the claim. It is at this point that the person claiming a benefit of the notice must prove the validity of their claim. 

There are two parts to a unilateral notice: 

1. brief details of the interest protected and identifies the entry to be a unilateral notice 
2. the beneficiary’s name and address of the notice 

An application to register a unilateral notice must be made using form UN1 and be accompanied by the relevant fee. Panel 3 of the form must be completed to show whether your application affects the whole or part only of the registered title involved. If your application affects part of the registered title, you must include a detailed plan identifying the affected area, otherwise your application will be requisitioned. 

Details of the nature of the interest claimed must be set out in panel 11 of the form UN1 if the applicant is making the statement or panel 12 if a conveyancer is giving a certificate on behalf of the applicant. If there is more than one applicant, and they choose to give a statement, that statement must be given by all applicants.  

The statement or certificate should explain the applicant’s interest in full with evidence being supplied. For example, referring to a written agreement without supplying the same will not be acceptable. No further evidence is necessary, but if supplied it will be retained and referred to in the notice. If retained this document will be open to public inspection unless it is documented as an ‘exempt information document.’ 

Any unilateral notice application must confirm who is to be named in the entry as beneficiary of the notice and provide their address for service. Where the beneficiary is a company or LLP the UN1 form, in panel 6, must be completed with the relevant company registration number. 

How to cancel/remove notices from the register 

Cancel a notice other than a unilateral notice: The application must be made using form CN1 and be accompanied by evidence to satisfy HM Land Registry that the interest protected has come to an end. There is usually no fee for this type of application unless the application is to reflect the determination of an unregistered lease.  

Cancellation of a unilateral notice: Only the registered proprietor(s) of the estate to which the notice relates, or someone entitled to be registered proprietor, may apply to cancel a unilateral notice. If someone entitled to be proprietor makes the application, they must supply evidence to prove their entitlement.  

An application made to cancel a unilateral notice must be made using form UN4, and there is no fee for this service. When a UN4 application is received, HM Land Registry will serve notice on the beneficiary of the notice and allow 15 working days for them to object to the cancellation. Any dispute about whether a notice should be cancelled or not, that cannot be resolved by agreement, will be referred to the tribunal.  

Removal of a Unilateral Notice: A unilateral notice can be ‘removed’ using form UN2. This is only to be used where the beneficiary of the notice applies to withdraw it.  

If the benefit of the notice has passed to someone else, you must apply to amend the unilateral notice using form UN3 and provide the relevant fee. The application must be accompanied by evidence of the new applicants claim to become beneficiary. The existing beneficiary should, where possible, sign the UN3 form or consent to the applicant.  

Updates to HMLR practice guide 19 made in 2024 

During 2024 HMLR updated practice guide 19 was updated on 13 occasions. Some of the updates were administrative such as the update made on 22 July 2024 where the guide was amended to reflect how applications should be made using HM Land Registry’s digital systems. However, some of the updates were more substantial: 

• 7 March 2024 – Section 7.5 was amended to reflect the new wording for the standard Form E restriction which was updated by Charities Act 2022 (Commencement No.3, Consequential, Saving and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024. 

• 17 June 2024 – Section 3.7.5 was updated to explain that a sole or surviving proprietor will need to appoint one or more new trustees to join in the disposition, in order for a Form A restriction to be cancelled by way of overreaching. 

• 16 September 2024 – Section 3.9.1 was updated to reflect the change made to section 7.7 of practice guide 35, which was been updated to confirm when HM Land Registry will consider an application for cancellation of a restriction on a freehold title in favour of a dissolved management company. 

Education Hub 

In November 2024 PCC launched its Education Hub (‘Hub’). The Hub is a training facility focusing on all aspects of post-completion from training to compliance. The aim of the Hub is to teach legal professionals how to do post-completion right the first time.  

Training: The Hub offers training courses based on each of HM Land Registry’s practice guides and aims to break the practice guides down into small understandable chunks, focusing on how to avoid requisitions and submit complete and accurate applications in the first instance.  

Compliance: From February 2025 the Hub will be offering a full range of compliance services specifically tailored to the post-completion phase of a transaction. The services will include providing a tailored gap analysis and overview of a firm’s current practices to identify any potential areas on non-compliance within the SRA, CLC and the Law Society requirements. 

Mentoring: From February 2025 the Hub will be offering a one-to-one mentoring service to post-completion staff and managers. 

Subscription: Subscribing to the Hub’s services will allow the subscriber access to a monthly update detailing any recent HM Land Registry practice guide updates enabling you to always stay up to date. A monthly online invitation to discuss all things post-completion, and the opportunity to ask questions to the Hub’s experts on your complex post-completion matters.  

Source of material:  

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/land-registration-practice-guides 

Licence: This content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 2024