First Registration
Property Registration Authority
The Land Registry is a State institution which registers and guarantees title to property. The Land Registry registers titles and properties in files called folios.
The Land Registry was reorganised in 2006, and both it and the Registry of Deeds is part of the Property Registration Authority. The title registration part continues to be called the Land Registry for most purposes.
The Land Registry comprises a central office in Dublin and a number of other local offices dealing with particular counties. A number of counties are administered from the Land Registry offices in Waterford. There is a substantial office in Roscommon. There were formerly local offices in each county.
Originally, the Land Registry for all of Ireland was based in Dublin. Upon the creation of Northern Ireland, the registers in relation to the Northern Ireland counties were transferred to Belfast.
Title Registration
Title means ownership. There are two distinct systems of proving the legal title to a property in Ireland. The first and older system is sometimes referred to as unregistered or “Registry of Deeds” title. The description “unregistered” refers to the fact that the title is not directly registered in the Land Registry. Instead, the deeds themselves are registered in the Registry of Deeds.
In the case of unregistered title, the ownership is proved by the production of a chain of deeds tracing ownership from a sale at least 15 years before. There must ultimately be a deed or other document showing a transfer of the property concerned to the current owner.
There is no state guarantee of title or ownership under this system. The integrity and priority of the chain of deeds are verified by the registration of the deed in the Registry of Deeds.
Voluntary Registration
A land owner with an unregistered title may apply to register his title voluntarily. Voluntary first registration has been and is encouraged by the fee structure.
It is sometimes done where a complex registry of deeds title is involved. It may be done to simplify title, particularly on the development and sub-division of land into parcels, for sales.
By registering in Land Registry, the Land Registry itself gives a State guaranteed title which simplifies the proof of title on future sales.
Once title to the property becomes registered in the Land Registry system, it can no longer be dealt with through the Registry of Deeds. A document is registered in the Registry of Deeds showing the transfer to the Land Registry title. The deeds are retained by the Land Registry.
Extending Registered Title
It is intended that over time all property will come to be registered in the Land Registry. Land Registration commenced in the 1890s in conjunction with the purchase of most agricultural land by the Land Commission, by which the former tenant farmers became freehold owners. The Land Commission registered the purchased titles in the Land Registry.
The Land Registry system is the more modern and comprehensive system. It has been State policy to encourage voluntary registration of titles. In 1970, three counties were designated for compulsory registration. After this date, a property with an unregistered title in those counties must be registered when it is next sold.
Compulsory registration was extended to several more counties in 2006. Between 2008 and 2010, compulsory registration was extended to all Counties except Dublin and Cork. Compulsory registration was extended to Dublin and Cork on June 2011.
70 to 80% of all land holdings in the country are already registered with the Land Registry. Over time all unregistered titles will come to be registered in the Land Registry. Once title to a property is registered, it must be dealt with through the Land Registry after that date.
Mandatory Registration
Compulsory registration applied to land purchased through the Land Commission and to land acquired by a statutory authority. It also applied in respect of certain other lands which were deemed to have been dealt with under the Land Purchase Act. This covered must agricultural land in the country.
In some instances, registration might be triggered by a first sale after 1967 of land which had been acquired up to 100 years beforehand, under earlier acquisition legislation. These anomalies were removed in 2006.
In 1970 all land in Meath, Carlow and Laois was designated as subject to compulsory registration on its next sale. This was expanded to include Longford, Roscommon, and Westmeath from April 2006. Clare, Kilkenny, Louth, Sligo, Wexford and Wicklow followed on 1st October 2008.
Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo, Monaghan, North and South Tipperary, Offaly, Limerick and Waterford were subject to compulsory registration on 1st January 2010. Finally, Dublin and Cork were made subject to compulsory registration on 1st June, 2011.
The obligation to register compulsorily in the Land Registry applies to the sale of property or a lease for over 21 years or such other transfers or dealings as may be specified.
When land is subject to compulsory registration, the application for first registration must be made within six months of sale. In practice, it is possible to apply later.
Registration Process
There are a number of ways in which a title may be first registered. Once registered, it cannot be unregistered and must be dealt with through the Land Registry thereafter.
An application for registration is usually based on the title deeds in accordance with the existing unregistered title. The applicant (usually through a solicitor) lodges the deeds together with a statement of title, a compliant land registry map and certain other documents. The requirements are set out in the Land Registry rules.
The Land Registry examiner may make rulings and requirements in relation to the title. Searches are required. This is equivalent to the process of title investigation that takes place on the sale of unregistered title property.
An alternative to the Land Registry investigation of title on the application is certification of title by the applicant’s solicitor. This is possible if the value is less than a specified amount. In this case, the solicitor certifies that there is a good title to the property. A prescribed form of application applies.
Applications for first registration may also take place based on proof that title has been established by adverse possession. See the separate chapters.
Title Issued
Once the Land Registry is satisfied with the title, it completes the first registration and opens a new folio for the property. A note is registered in the Registry of Deeds to show that title has been registered and that it is no longer proved by deeds and their registration in the Registry of Deeds.
There are a number of classes of title; absolute, good leasehold, and possessory. The most commonly found class is an absolute title, which gives the greatest level of guarantee. The class of title is noted in part 2 of the folio.
A good leasehold title is a guarantee only of the lessee’s title under the lease and does not guarantee the validity of the landlord’s title to grant it. A possessory title is one that has been acquired under the Statute of limitations. In time possessory titles may be upgraded to absolute.
The burden which affect the title are registered in part 3 of the folio. See that chapter on registerable burdens.
Caution against First Registration
Any person claiming such an interest in unregistered land as entitles him to object to a disposition thereof being made without his consent, or claiming to be an incumbrancer on unregistered land, may, if claiming otherwise than under an instrument registered in the Registry of Deeds, on producing an affidavit in the prescribed form of his interest, lodge a caution with the Authority to the effect that the cautioner is entitled to notice of any application that may be made for registration of an owner of the land.
Thereupon, an owner of the land shall not be registered until notice has been served on the cautioner to appear and oppose, if he thinks fit, the registration, and the prescribed time has elapsed since the date of the service of the notice, or the cautioner has entered an appearance, whichever first happens.
If any person lodges a caution without reasonable cause, he shall be liable to make compensation, recoverable as a simple contract debt, to any person damaged thereby.