The Land Registration Act 1925 was a act of Parliament

Act of Parliament

An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 that codified and extended the system of land registration

Land registration

Land registration generally describes systems by which matters concerning ownership, possession or other rights in land can be recorded to provide evidence of title, facilitate transactions and to prevent unlawful disposal...

 in England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

. It has largely been repealed, and updated in the Land Registration Act 2002

Land Registration Act 2002

The Land Registration Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though similar, system...

.

Background

After the Land Registry Act 1862

Land Registry Act 1862

The Land Registry Act 1862 was an Act of Parliament enacted in England and Wales under Queen Victoria . It was a first attempt at a system of land registration....

 and further attempts in 1875 and 1897 failed, as they either tried to register everything or largely relied on voluntary registration, the 1925 Act was drafted to ensure a more complete, but progressive system.

The LRA 1925 was passed along with a package of reforms of the land and settlement system, including the Law of Property Act 1925

Law of Property Act 1925

The Law of Property Act 1925 is a statute of the United Kingdom Parliament. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legisation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to modernise the English law of real property...

, the Trustee Act 1925, the Settled Land Act 1925 and the Land Charges Act 1925.

Content

The basic premise of the Act was that interests in registered land had to be registered in order to bind future purchasers of the property. One of the most important provisions was that if someone had not registered the interests listed in section 70, these would nevertheless "override" the rights of a future purchaser. In particular under section 70(1)(g), a person who had an equitable interest under a trust, and who was in actual occupation of the home, would be able to claim an overriding interest. The occupant would have priority over future purchases without his consent, as if his interest had been in fact registered.