The Land Registry (or HMLR) has strict requirements regarding the plans that are submitted to them in respect of various transactions relating to property.
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Chartered Land Surveyor with over 20 years experience of preparing plans for the Land Registry.
The Land Registry (or HMLR) has strict requirements regarding the plans that are submitted to them in respect of various transactions relating to property.
Non-compliant plans will be rejected by HMLR, and it therefore follows that it is sensible to minimise or eradicate the time and cost of such delays.
I have a BSc (Honours) degree in Geography, and I am a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. After studying Land Surveying at University College London, I became a Chartered Land Surveyor in 1994.
Leased and rented properties require more information than that shown on land which is wholly owned. The full extent of the landlord’s ownership must be shown, together with the smaller area being rented or leased, plus any rights of access, etc.
HMLR plans also record any rights of way, and there are two types of these. Firstly, any right of way over adjacent land, such as a track to and from the public highway, or pedestrian access to a building; and secondly, any right of way held by other land across the owner’s property.
Drains and cables, and other features, are sometimes shown on HMLR plans if these are referred to in the wording of the title register.
Rectification is the process by which amendments are made to HMLR plans, mainly because the plans do not accurately show the correct position of a boundary on the ground. One normal cause of this is where a boundary did not follow a physical feature at the time of registration, but a feature has since been constructed which is not along the boundary line shown. Other causes can include confusion, mistakes, etc.
T marks are so called because they are T shaped on the plan. These record the ownership of boundary features, such as fences, walls, hedges, etc. The T is rotated so that it is perpendicular to the boundary feature, and the base of the T is against the feature owned.
Boundaries do not necessarily coincide with physical features, and this can be the source of much confusion. HMLR plans are based on the Ordnance Survey OS) large scale map, but the OS survey physical features and not boundaries. Therefore all HMLR plans carry caveats concerning their accuracy because the OS map is not very accurate. This is why HMLR refers to these plans as being only “general boundaries”.
A boundary can be located across land where there is no physical feature. On the HMLR plans a boundary is shown as a black line. The red edging only indicates which black line is the boundary. If the boundary does not follow a physical feature then the black line is dashed or pecked.
Determined boundary plans are very accurate, being measured to +/- 10mm. These are therefore not based on OS mapping, but have to be based on a site topographic survey undertaken by a qualified professional. These are fairly rare, partly because of the cost involved. Most of the determined boundary plans that I have produced have been required because of the need to accurately record a boundary following a boundary dispute court case.