§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if he will make it his policy to require all land to be registered. [41271]
Mr. John M. TaylorBecause of the security and simplicity of titles afforded to land owners under the land registration system, it has been the policy of successive Governments to promote the progressive registration of unregistered titles. Compulsory registration of titles on sale and on the grant of long leases was first introduced in 1899 in central London. Since then, compulsory registration has been extended progressively to other parts of England and Wales—a process which was completed in December 1990. There are currently over 15.5 million registered titles and it is estimated that there remain between 4 and 5 million titles which are as yet unregistered.
While the existing statutory provision of compulsory registration on sale will continue to reduce the number of unregistered titles, there are a significant number of unregistered titles which are likely to remain unsold, and therefore unregistered indefinitely. Accordingly, the Law Commission, together with the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Land Registry, have been considering in the context of reviewing the commission's third and fourth reports on land registration what additional mechanisms might usefully be put into place to accelerate the process of registering the remaining land in England and Wales. As a result, there was published in September this year a joint report by the Law Commission and the Land Registry, Law Com. No. 235, Cm 2950, which proposes extending compulsory registration to the following additional dispositions of unregistered land: assents, vesting deeds, conveyances by way of gift, conveyances pursuant to a court order and first legal mortgages.
The appendix to the report contains a draft Bill which, if enacted, would give effect to these proposals, together with certain other recommended reforms, and a suitable opportunity is being sought to bring forward such a Bill for consideration by Parliament.
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§ Mr. PrenticeTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what estimates he has made of the acreage of rural land in England which is in foreign ownership. [41355]
Mr. John M. TaylorThe question concerns a specific matter on which the chief executive of Her Majesty's Land Registry Executive Agency is best placed to provide the answer. I have accordingly asked the chief executive to reply direct.
Letter from John Manthorpe to Mr. Gordon Prentice, dated 7 November 1995:
I have been asked by the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, to reply to your recent question on the acreage of rural land in England which is in foreign ownership.I regret that statistics relating to land acreage or the nationality of registered proprietors ar[...] not maintained by the Registry and I am therefore unable to supply the information requested.