What new UK land option disclosure regulations mean for developers

The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 (‘the regulations’) were passed earlier this month under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA 2023).

The government’s aim is to enable anyone to find out not only who owns land but also who controls it, saying it is concerned that developers who use, for example, options to secure land whilst they obtain planning permission are “preventing land from being obtained for development by communities and SMEs”.

However, the regulations also have important effects for landowners, developers and communities in terms of their obligations – and what they may mean for projects going forward.

What the changes mean

The regulations impose two key duties: to provide “contractual control information” when new contractual control rights are obtained; and to notify HM Land Registry when a contractual control right is determined, expires or is exercised.

The required information is intended to make clear: 

• what type of right has been granted and the document which granted the right, along with details of any conditions governing when the right can be exercised; 

• to and by whom the right has been granted - include date and place of birth if to an individual;

• the extent of the land affected – including a plan or description if only part of a registered title is affected; and 

• how long the right may last – including details of any conditions to be satisfied before it can be exercised, the maximum period it could last, and any provisions to extend, terminate or renew it. 

Contractual control rights are defined in the regulations to include option agreements, conditional contracts, pre-exemption agreements – a right of first refusal - and promotion agreements to direct or request transfer to a nominated party. The categories include options to renew a lease or options for a tenant to take a new lease or purchase the freehold.

In each case, the agreement must be in writing, granted out of a qualifying registered estate and relate to a relevant disposition, meaning the transfer of a freehold or a lease with at least 15 years left to run or the grant of a lease for a term for 15 years or more.

The regulations will come into force on 6 April 2027. However, they will apply retrospectively to any contractual control rights entered into after 8 June 2026, which must, where applicable, be registered on a new register at HM Land Registry by 6 October 2027.

How will it work?

The duty to provide the information to HM Land Registry sits with the grantee – usually the buyer, developer or promoter. However, this could also be the landlord with the benefit of an offer-back clause, or a landowner who has step in rights under a development agreement.

The actual submission of the information must be made by a solicitor or other regulated conveyancing professional via an online portal. The online portal is not yet available and is currently being developed by HMLR ahead of the deadline.

After 6 April 2027, contractual control information will need to be provided within 60 days of one of three trigger points: 

• the first is when the right is granted; 
• the second is if the right is assigned; and 
• the third is if the right is varied and the variation would change the contractual control information you need to provide.

There is an exception if, within the same 60-day window after assignment or variation, the grantee instead provides details that the right has been fully determined, expired, or exercised.

However, if the agreement is being protected at the HM Land Registry by way of a notice or restriction, the registrar may – and, we suspect, will – refuse to register that notice or restriction unless the contractual control information has been provided.

The government’s intention is that from April 2028 onwards, HMLR will begin publishing the core contractual control information on a monthly basis – although personal information about individuals, such as their date and place of birth, would not be included.

What exemptions exist?

There are several instances which are exempt from the new regulations.

The first of these are rights with a total period of control of less than 18 months, with the period of control needing to consider extensions and termination rights. For instance, an agreement to take a 25-year lease of a data centre once the construction work is completed would fall within the exception if the long-stop date for completion of the works is, say, 12 months.

However, if that period could be extended in the event of certain delay events, subject to an absolute long-stop date of 24 months, the agreement for lease would need to be notified. 

Similarly exempt are contracts held exclusively for non-development purposes – that is, works that do not result in any new dwelling or non-residential floorspace of more than 100 square metres. In practice, it may be quite difficult to decide whether this exception applies, partly because it appears that the development does not need to be on the property itself, only that it facilitates development, so this could be on other property. 

Rights incidental to security for a loan or financial instruments - and certain loan-related promotion-style rights - are exempt, as are section 106 agreements where rights relate exclusively to infrastructure, amenities or services linked to planning permission. Options held for national security or defence contracts are also exempted.

Exemptions also apply for the relevant disposition requirements mentioned above, covering an option to renew for an additional 5 years contained in a 10-year lease, an option to take an easement, or an option to purchase the shares in an SPV which has one asset.

What could the impact be?

Mechanisms such as options, conditional contract and promotion agreements are a way of sharing the risk and the reward between landowner and developer. If the developer has to carry all the risk of bringing a site forward the price they will pay for the land will reflect this.

If they do not have the land, they are unlikely to invest the very significant amounts of time and money necessary to make the development a reality. Both scenarios risk even fewer homes being built.

They also do not only apply to a large developer taking an option over land which they then hold for development and will have implications in in many other situations - such as a conditional agreement for lease, options to renew leases, or offer-back clauses in leases.

It is a mistake to think that these changes will only affect large housebuilders. Those operating in other sectors, including the investment market, must not assume that the regulations do not apply to them.

The government needs to walk a fine line between collecting the information it believes is needed to make the real estate market more transparent and stifling that market with unnecessarily burdensome regulation.

What does this mean for you?

Although the register is not yet available, parties entering into agreements that may fall within the regulations should start collecting the required information now so that the contractual control information can be submitted before the 6 October 2027 deadline.

As mentioned above, the registrar may refuse to register a notice or restriction to protect a contractual control right where the contractual control information is not provided. This will mean that the right will not bind successors in title to the grantor if it sells the property.

In addition, failure to comply with the regulations, or knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information, will be an offence.