A clean register is no guarantee of a clean title, because certain interests bind a buyer even though nothing on the register reveals them. This chapter begins with the framework of overriding interests under the Land Registration Act 2002, the strain they place on the mirror principle and the three key Schedule 3 categories, then works through each in turn: short legal leases, the interests of persons in actual occupation — including what occupation requires and the exceptions for non-obvious occupation and non-disclosure on enquiry — and legal easements. It then turns to overreaching, the mechanism that lifts a beneficial interest off the land and attaches it to the purchase money, and to interests such as estate contracts and local land charges that do not override and must be protected by other means. It closes with the line between proprietary and personal rights and the practical safeguards, such as appointing a second trustee, that protect a buyer against hidden interests.
