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Mistakes, mispleading and
overreaching: understanding
title registration and
correcting the register
Martin Dixon
Department of Land Economy and Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK
Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether title to land is secure in England and Wales
when registered under the Land Registration Act (LRA) 2002, in particular when a title is registered, where
there has been a mistake and how that connects with the doctrine of overreaching.
Design/methodology/approach - This paper analyses the reported judgments, with particular
emphasis on the decision in Knightv Fernley (2021).
Findings - This paper explores the concepts of mistake and overreaching and concludes that LRA 2002
provides a complex, but complete answer to concerns about the application of these doctrines.
Practical implications - This paper will encourage certainty in the judicial decision-making process
when mistakes occur in the land register. It will contribute to the resolution of difficult, and current,
controversies.
Social implications - To enable legal advisers to be clear in their obligations and the advice they give to
clients, and to further a better understanding of title registration in England and Wales.
Originality/value - The LRA 2002 replaces registration of title with title by registration. The real force of
this is only now being realised and there are few reported judgments, and less consistency, working out what
this means in practice. There are no other comments on this critical case, even though it helps elucidate the
circumstances in which the title register may be altered.
Keywords Registration, Land, Guarantee, Mistake, Overreaching, Title
Paper type Case study
Imagine finding a dream home, raising the money [1], engaging solicitors and completing
the purchase, only to find some time later that, in fact, according to Her Majesty's Land
Registry, you were not in fact the owner. Worse still, as a result of an initial error on the part
of your solicitors, who had failed to register your title, you discover that your home has been
conveyed to, and registered in, the name of your neighbours. For their part, your neighbours
thought they were buying a small plot of land for £2,500 but are inadvertently now the
registered proprietors of your property, a property many, many times more valuable than
the price they paid. They also, of course, still own their actual home. You might think that
this was annoying, but not a serious cause for concern. Surely, the neighbours would not
contest the return [2] of the property to you, and you might buy them a small gift to thank
them for their understanding? Alternatively, should the neighbours prove reluctant to
surrender their windfall, despite knowing fully well that the property was not meant for
them, surely the register of titles could be amended fairly simply, the cost being borne by
your lawyers who had made the initial error. However, as Knight v Fernley [3] demonstrates,
Mistakes,
mispleading
and
overreaching
1
Received 16 November 2021
Revised 26 November 2021
Accepted 27 January 2022
Journa of Property, Planning and
Environmental Law
Vol.14 No. 1,2022
pp. 1-10
©EmeraldPublishingLimited
2514-940
DOI 10.108/JPPEL-11-2021-01E3](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jppel14&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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