Question
Unlike a legal lease, a properly created equitable lease is not automatically binding on a new freehold owner. An equitable tenant should protect their interest under the Land Registration Act 2002, by entering a notice on the charges register of the substantively registered freehold title by virtue of the LRA 2002, s 32. However, by virtue of the LRA 2002, Sch 1 para 2 (for first registration of unregistered land) and [statute] (for land where the superior title is already registered), any equitable lease coupled with discoverable occupation overrides the register. Such leases are another example of an ‘unregistered interest which overrides registered dispositions’ and will therefore bind a new estate owner. This will be explained in more detail in Chapter 5 of these study notes. Where the freehold land is unregistered then the equitable tenant should protect their interest by registering a C(iv) land charge at the Land Charges Registry (Land Charges Act 1972, s 2(4)(iv)).