HM Land Registry has decided to tweak the wording used to describe an important property right on official records, after finding that linguistic variations were confusing lawyers and members of the public.
New ‘standardised’ language will be introduced for easement entries in title registers this month. Easements concern the rights enjoyed by one landowner over land owned by another. ‘As such, they are a very important legal interest,’ Land Registry guidance states.
Explaining the decision to change the wording on entries, head of practice David Linn said land registration language ‘can sometimes appear inconsistent, with different wording describing the same legal concepts’. For instance, some registers state that ‘the land has the benefit of any legal easements’ while others state that ‘the title includes any legal easement’.
Linn said an easement entry before 15 September might say: ‘The land has the benefit of any legal easements granted by the Transfer dated 5 September 2025 referred to in the Charges Register but is subject to any rights that are reserved by the said deed and affect the registered land.’
After 15 September, the easement entry would say: ‘The title includes any legal easements granted by the Transfer dated 15 September 2025 referred to in the Charges Register but is subject to any rights that are reserved by the said deed and affect the registered land.’
Linn said the change ‘provides a clearer reflection of how easements affect specific titles and prevents potential misinterpretation’. Easement entries made before 15 September will not be updated and remain 'legally correct'.
Update (1 September): the new standardised language will now be introduced on 15 September, not 8 September as originally announced.
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