England and Wales get guide to land-control reporting

HM Land Registry has published detailed guidance for reporting contractual rights over land in England and Wales, ahead of a digital reporting system due to open on 6 April 2027. The new guide explains how developers, land promoters and their conveyancers will identify agreements covered by the rules and supply information about them.

Practice Guide 84, published on 26 October, concerns arrangements that can give someone influence over a future land sale or lease without making them the owner immediately. The government intends the resulting dataset to show local authorities and communities who controls land, alongside information about legal ownership.

The publication is a preparation step, not the launch of the reporting service. The regulations were made on 8 June 2026 and take effect on 6 April 2027. HM Land Registry says contractual-control data is expected to become publicly available from April 2028, with further access information to follow.

Earlier agreements can fall within the rules

The guide separates newly granted rights from later changes to existing arrangements. Qualifying rights granted from 8 June 2026 to 5 April 2027 must be reported after the service opens and before 6 October 2027. That means an agreement made before the commencement date can still create a reporting obligation once the rules take effect.

For qualifying new rights granted from 6 April 2027, the reporting period is 60 days. Assigning an existing qualifying right, or varying it in writing in a way that changes the required information, can also trigger reporting. The guide explains that the right's status must be assessed when the relevant event occurs.

A separate timing issue arises when an applicant seeks a notice or restriction on the title register to protect a contractual-control right. The required control information must already have been provided when that application is made. HM Land Registry says it will generally not accept such an application while the information requirement remains outstanding, even if the ordinary 60-day deadline has not expired.

Not every land agreement is covered

The categories include options, conditional contracts, pre-emption rights and rights to direct or request a landowner to sell or lease land. An agreement may contain more than one qualifying right. In that case, information is required for each, rather than treating the contract as a single undifferentiated entry.

Scope depends on the purpose and terms of the right, not simply the fact that land is involved. Rights held for a business, charity or public purpose can qualify; rights acquired purely for personal purposes do not. The guide gives an individual's option to buy a plot for their own home as an example outside that undertaking requirement.

Rights that can last only for less than 18 months are exempt. However, an initially shorter arrangement does not qualify for that exemption if contractual extensions could take it to 18 months or more. Separate exemptions cover specified security arrangements and certain non-development rights. The guide cautions that exemptions depend on the particular criteria, rather than a broad label attached to a transaction.

Digital submissions and privacy limits

The person benefiting from a qualifying right is responsible for ensuring that the information is supplied through a personally regulated conveyancer. Being an employee of a regulated firm is not enough. The submitting professional must provide their registration number and regulator's name, although HM Land Registry says it will not publish those professional identifiers.

Information will identify the parties, the type of right, the relevant contract and the affected land. Where the person granting the right is an individual, their date and place of birth are required for identification but will not be published. The guide flags the need to collect those details while preparing a transaction.

Where only part of a registered title is affected, the service will require information identifying that area. Accepted spatial-file formats include Shapefile and GeoJSON using British National Grid coordinates. Other ways to identify the land will be offered where a suitable file is unavailable; the information is for transparency, not determination of precise legal boundaries.

The reporting service will launch through HM Land Registry's Portal, with Business Gateway integration to follow. Technical submission guidance is still to come. Practice Guide 84 explains the procedure but expressly does not replace legal advice or override the regulations.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.