Land Registration Act 2002 Scope of this guide This guide gives details of the information held in the index of relating franchises and manors and the procedures that need to be followed to obtain such information. It is aimed at solicitors, licensed conveyancers and members of the public and you should interpret references to you accordingly. Land Registry staff will also refer to it. Official searches of the index of relating franchises and manors Update This edition of the guide replaces the November 2008 edition. Amendments have been made to reflect the fact that you now only need to state the current administrative area(s) that you wish to search against when making a search of the index of relating franchises and manors. Previously, you needed to state all the current and former administrative areas that you wished to search against. Contact details For customer enquiries and to request this publication in an alternative format please contact Customer Support at customersupport@landregistry.gsi. gov.uk or telephone 0844 892 1111, or 0844 892 1122 for a Welsh-speaking service, from Monday to Friday between 8am and 6pm. Calls are charged at 3p per minute from BT landlines. Mobile and other networks may vary. Land Registry does not receive any revenue from these calls. To obtain copies of this and all our other guides, free of charge: view/download guides in English and Welsh at www.landregistry.gov.uk contact Customer Support. 1 1 Abbreviations used In this guide: LRA 2002 means the Land Registration Act 2002; LRR 2003 means the Land Registration Rules 2003; the index means the index of relating franchises and manors. 2 Introduction Land Registry keeps an index of verbal descriptions of registered franchises that are relating franchises and of registered manors (r.10(b), LRR 2003). Any person may apply, in form SIF, for an official search of the index (r.146, LRR 2003). The certificate of result will show whether any registered relating franchise or manor relates to the administrative area(s) searched together with the title numbers that affect and the type of registration. Section 5 Index of verbal descriptions lists the different types of registration that can be revealed on an official search of the index. 3 What is a franchise? A franchise is a right or privilege granted by the Crown. Examples include the right to take a toll or the right to hold a fair or market. It is an intangible right. It does not involve ownership of the physical land and is separate from any freehold or leasehold interests in the land itself. In legal terms, it is an incorporeal hereditament. The LRA 2002 permits the registration of a franchise with its own title. A franchise in this context does not include any commercial/trading rights or creation of a chartered corporation that have no direct effect on property. A franchise granted with reference to City of Sunlight in 1189 would be difficult to define in 2003 because the boundaries of the city will have changed considerably. This type of franchise is known as a relating franchise as it relates only generally to an area. We do not prepare a title plan for a relating franchise registration and it will be entered in the verbal index. On the other hand, an affecting franchise that can be defined as affecting a particular area is indexed on the index map. Practice Guide 18 Franc hises
contains further information on franchises. Practice Guide 10 Official searches of the index map explains how to search the index map in order to ascertain whether an affecting franchise is registered. 4 What is a manor? The registered manors that appear in the index are for lordship titles. The lordship of the manor is simply the title by which the lord of the manor is known. In many cases the title will no longer have any land or rights attached to it. Because of its origin and lack of physical substance it is also known as an incorporeal hereditament. These registrations do not have title plans and we do not hold any definitive record of the extent of the original manor. Practice Guide 22 Manors contains further information about manorial land. 5 Index of verbal descriptions Land Registry must keep an index from which it is possible to ascertain whether any registered estates or cautions against first registration relate to a parcel of land (s.68, LRA 2002). Because the extent of a relating franchise or manor cannot be determined with any precision, we hold the information in an index of verbal descriptions known as the index of relating franchises and manors (r.10(b), LRR 2003). The index is arranged by administrative area and contains the title numbers and details of the following types of registration. Pending applications for first registration of title to relating franchises. Pending applications for cautions against first registration where the subject of the caution is a relating franchise. Registered franchises which are relating franchises. Registered manors. Cautions against first registration where the subject of the caution is a relating franchise. 6 Obtaining information held in the index 6.1 Form SIF You must use the prescribed form 2 SIF to apply for an official search of the index. Note: we will reject any application for an official search of the index of relating franchises and manors not made on the prescribed form. You can obtain form SIF from any law stationer or Land Registry Customer Information Centre. Alternatively, you can download the form from our website. You may only use form SIF to search against administrative areas. Entries in the index are recorded against the administrative area(s) to which they relate. You must quote on any search all the current administrative area(s) that apply to the land in which you are interested. For the purposes of applications in form SIF an administrative area is a county or unitary authority. A list of the administrative areas, together with details of Land Registry offices they are served by, is contained in Appendix A to this guide. We will reject any application that does not refer to a listed administrative area. We will ignore any additional information supplied such as a detailed property description or a plan. We will process the application by reference to the quoted administrative area(s) alone. If panel 5 of form SIF is not completed, we will complete the application for both relating franchises and manors. See the example form SIF, together with hints on how to complete it, in Appendix B. 6.2 Fees Please see the current Land Registration Fee Order for information on the fees payable for this service. 6.3 Certificate of result Where possible, the certificate of result will be sent by return of post. Where the search reveals there are entries in the index relating to the administrative area(s) quoted, the certificate will include an extract of the index. Where there are no entries to reveal, the certificate will include a statement to that effect. 7 Enquiries and comments If you have a particular concern that is not covered by this guide, please contact Land Registry in advance of any search see the Contact details on the front cover of this guide. If the problem is particularly complex, it may be better if you make your enquiry in writing at the Land Registry office that will process your application. If you have any comments or suggestions about any of our guides, please send them to: Registration Change Group Land Registry Lincoln s Inn Fields London WC2A 3PH (DX 1098 London/Chancery Lane) You can obtain further copies of this and of all our guides free of charge from Customer Support (see the Contact details panel on page 1) or you can download them from our website www.landregistry.gov.uk
8 Appendix A The index of relating franchises and manors is arranged by administrative area. The table alongside sets out all the administrative areas suitable for the purposes of a form SIF application together with Land Registry offices they are served by. Administrative area England Barnsley Bath & North East Somerset Bedford Birmingham Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bolton Bournemouth Bracknell Forest Brighton & Hove (City of) Bristol (City of) Buckinghamshire Bury Calderdale Cambridgeshire Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Cornwall County Cumbria Darlington Derby (City of) Derbyshire Devon Doncaster Dorset County Dudley East Riding of Yorkshire East Sussex Essex Gateshead Land Registry office Weymouth Portsmouth Weymouth Portsmouth 3
Administrative area Land Registry office shire Halton Hampshire Hartlepool Herefordshire (County of) Hertfordshire Isle of Wight Isles of Scilly Kent (City of) Kirklees Knowsley Lancashire Leeds shire Lincolnshire Liverpool Luton Manchester Medway Middlesbrough Milton Keynes Newcastle upon Tyne Norfolk North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset North Tyneside North Yorkshire Northamptonshire Northumberland (City of) shire Oldham Portsmouth or Weymouth Portsmouth Tunbridge Wells Tunbridge Wells 4
Administrative area Land Registry office Oxfordshire (City of) (City of) Poole Portsmouth Reading Redcar and Cleveland Rochdale Rotherham Rutland St Helens Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Shropshire Slough Solihull Somerset South shire South Tyneside Southampton Southend-on-Sea Staffordshire Stockport Stockton-on-Tees Stoke-on-Trent (City of) Suffolk Sunderland Surrey Swindon Tameside Thurrock Torbay Trafford Weymouth Portsmouth or Weymouth Weymouth Weymouth 5
Administrative area Land Registry office Wakefield Walsall Warrington Warwickshire West Berkshire West Sussex Wigan Wiltshire Wirral Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham Wolverhampton (City of) Worcestershire Wrekin (County of the) (otherwise known as The Wrekin) York Portsmouth Weymouth London authorities Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden City and the County of the City of London City of Westminster Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon 6
Administrative area Land Registry office Hounslow The Inner Temple and The Middle Temple Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth /Cymru All areas are dealt with by Office. Blaenau Gwent Bridgend Pen-y-Bont Ar Ogwr Caerphilly Caerffili Cardiff Caerdydd Carmarthenshire Sir Gaerfyrddin Ceredigion Sir Ceredigion Conwy Denbighshire Sir Ddinbych Flintshire Sir Y Fflint Gwynedd Isle of Anglesey Ynys Mon Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tudful 7
Administrative area Land Registry office Monmouthshire Sir Fynwy Neath Port Talbot Castell-Nedd Port Talbot Newport Casnewydd Pembrokeshire Sir Benfro Powys Rhondda Cynon Taff Rhondda Cynon Taf Swansea Abertawe The Vale of Glamorgan Bro Morgannwg Torfaen Tor-Faen Wrexham Wrecsam 8
9 Appendix B How to complete your form SIF application. If you need more room than is provided for in a panel, and your software allows, you can expand any panel in the form. Alternatively use continuation sheet CS and attach it to this form. Land Registry is unable to give legal advice but our website www1.landregistry.gov.uk provides guidance on Land Registry applications. This includes public guides and practice guides (aimed at conveyancers) that can also be obtained from any Land Registry office. See www1.landregistry.gov.uk/regional if you are unsure which Land Registry office to send this application to. LAND REGISTRY USE ONLY Record of fees paid Particulars of under/over payments Reference number Fees debited Indicate the type of registration you are interested in.enter all the current administrative areas that you wish to search against. Appendix A to this guide includes a list of administrative areas suitable for search purposes. See the current Land Registration Fee Order for fee payable. Enter the name, address and key number (if any) of the person or firm lodging the application. Sign and date the application. The index of manors and relating franchises is arranged by administrative area. You should search under the current administrative area(s) in which you are interested. You may search under more than one administrative area. For a complete list of current administrative areas together with the Land Registry office they are served by see Appendix B. See fees calculator at www1.landregistry.gov.uk/fees Place 'X' in the appropriate box. The fee will be charged to the account specified in panel 3. If you are paying by direct debit, this will be the account charged.. 1 My application is in respect of manors relating franchises in the following county(ies) and/or unitary authority(ies): 2 Application and fee Application Search of the index of relating franchises and manors Fee payment method cheque made payable to 'Land Registry' Fee paid ( ) Land Registry credit account direct debit, under an agreement with Land Registry 3 This application is sent to Land Registry by Key number (if applicable): Name: Address or UK DX box number: Email address: Reference: Phone no: Fax no: 4 I apply for an official search of the index of relating franchises and manors 5 Signature of applicant: Date: WARNING If you dishonestly enter information or make a statement that you know is, or might be, untrue or misleading, and intend by doing so to make a gain for yourself or another person, or to cause loss or the risk of loss to another person, you may commit the offence of fraud under section 1 of the Fraud Act 2006, the maximum penalty for which is 10 years imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both. Failure to complete this form with proper care may result in a loss of protection under the Land Registration Act 2002 if, as a result, a mistake is made in the register. Under section 66 of the Land Registration Act 2002 most documents (including this form) kept by the registrar relating to an application to the registrar or referred to in the register are open to public inspection and copying. If you believe a document contains prejudicial information, you may apply for that part of the document to be made exempt using Form EX1, under rule 136 of the Land Registration Rules 2003. Crown copyright (ref: LR/HO) 05/10 9
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Land Registry advisory policy We offer advice to our customers through our publications and Customer Support information and through the day-to-day handling of applications. We provide factual information including official copies of registers, title plans and documents, searches and details of our forms and fees. We provide procedural advice to explain how the land registration system works and how to make applications correctly. This includes: advice in advance of an application, where this is requested where an application is defective, advice as to the nature of the problem and what options, if any, are available to put it right an approval service for estate layout plans and certain other land registration documents. There are limits to the advice that we will provide. We will not provide legal advice. This means that: we will not approve the evidence to be produced in support of a registration application before we receive the application apart from procedural advice, we will not advise on what action to take we will not recommend a professional adviser but can explain how to find one. We provide advice only about real cases, not about theoretical circumstances. We will not express a view on questions where the law is complex or unclear except where the question arises on a live registration application. In providing this factual information and procedural advice we will: be impartial recognise that others may be affected by what we say avoid any conflict of interest. Information in this guide The information in this publication is for the purpose of providing general guidance about Land Registry's procedures and policies. It is intended only as a guide and does not cover every situation that may arise. It also does not limit Land Registry's ability to use its discretion when appropriate to do so, within the land registration legislation. Remember You must specify the current administrative areas for the land in which you are interested. See the example form SIF in Appendix B which explains how to complete your application. Please note that Land Registry may be unable to process applications that are incomplete or defective. Marco Pierleoni Chief Land Registrar Crown copyright 2010 Land Registry Not to be reproduced without permission from The Forms Unit, Land Registry (under the delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO), Lincoln s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH Designed and produced by: Land Registry, Head Office Corporate Publishing, Lincoln s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH 12