How a buyer proves title to unregistered land, which third-party interests survive a sale, and when a transaction must end in first registration at the Land Registry.
Without a title register to inspect, everything turns on the deeds themselves and on the statutory machinery that replaced the old doctrine of notice. This chapter starts with the investigation of unregistered title — the epitome, the good root and the chain of deeds, including conveyances from surviving joint tenants and the position where a tenant in common has died. It then works through how equitable interests bind a purchaser, the conduct and priority effect of Land Charges Searches, and the main classes of land charge with the consequences when registration is missed. The final sections deal with overreaching of trust interests and other rights that bind regardless, the events and time limits that trigger compulsory first registration, and the classes of title the Land Registry can award alongside the documents handed over on completion.
