Lease out of registered land:

• any new lease for more than seven years;
• reversionary lease taking effect more than three months from the date of the grant;
• discontinuous lease (irrespective of the length of the term);
• lease granted under HA 1985.

Lease out of unregistered land:

• lease for more than seven years from the date of the grant (even if there are less than that unexpired at the time of registration);
• reversionary leases taking effect more than three months from the date of the grant (but if granted out of an unregistered leasehold estate then there must be more than seven years to run on that lease);
• discontinuous lease (if the letting period exceeds seven years);
• lease granted under HA 1985.

Transfer, assignment or first mortgage of unregistered leasehold estate:

• in general, these must be registered if more than seven years of the original lease remains unexpired at the date of transfer, etc. The main exceptions are assignments for a mortgage term and surrenders of a lease resulting in merger;
• you must also register a protected first legal mortgage of an unregistered leasehold estate where more than seven years of the original term are unexpired at the date of the mortgage.

Note that the following cannot be registered: lease for seven years or less (unless discontinuous, reversionary or HA 1985 as detailed above); lease where the term commences more than 21 years from the date of the lease and where a rent or premium is payable. But, it is still possible to note a lease (or options and easement arising under a lease) against L’s title provided it is granted for a term of more than three years from the date of the grant, and does not relate to a trust of land or settlement. You can also make an application to note an option in an unregistered lease (eg an option to buy the reversion), as well as to note an easement granted for the benefit of an unregistered lease. This summary comes from [2006] SJ 1374. © Practical Lawyer