When you receive a PDF of an electronic official title plan, you often find that the plan size is a little smaller (or sometimes a little bigger) than the A4 cover sheet with the plan. There is, of course, a warning on the A4 cover sheet that says ‘this official copy was delivered electronically and when printed will not be to scale’.

Which is correct: ‘HM Land Registry HMLR’ or ‘Land Registry’?

Suppose you are buying land from a company, but then discover that the company has been struck off. What do you do? The answer is that the company needs to be restored to the Register of Companies (ie so it is no longer dissolved).

There can be confusion on how to deal with a nil-rate band discretionary trust (usually created for IHT purposes). In particular, there can be confusion because an individual holds the property in his or her sole name, but in different capacities (eg as the surviving registered proprietor, as trustee of a trust of land, and/or as PR of the deceased joint proprietor).

Recent cases of identity fraud have highlighted the need for landowners to update their contact addresses at the LR.

The LR will use the contact address in the proprietorship register if it needs to contact the landowner. It will not check whether the owner has moved (or if a company has changed its registered address).

It is important to remember that there are prescribed procedures that apply for correcting mistakes if a document is to be registered at LR. This contrasts with unregistered conveyancing, where a deed of rectification or a deed of variation will be used. As far as LR procedures are concerned, much will depend upon the timing:

The number of leases reported to HMRC for SDLT purposes is considerably higher than the number reported to the LR for registration.

The LR’s controversial new policy of ‘early completion’ came into force on 3 August.

The new policy applies whenever an application for discharge of an existing charge of whole is made together with other applications (eg to register a transfer and a new caution) but without evidence of the discharge of the existing charge. In that situation, the LR will reject the application for discharge – but complete the other applications. The end result will be that the old (existing) charge will remain registered.