England and Wales look to overhaul land rights disclosures

New guidance issued by the UK government ahead of the introduction of regulations around land information provisions coming into effect next year highlights how failure to comply with the new requirements will be a criminal offence.

The government said the new regulations, which were laid before parliament earlier this month, would improve transparency in the land market, and increase the opportunities for local authorities and developers to locate suitable sites for future projects.

Tom Johnson, a development expert with Pinsent Masons, said the new regulations would be transformative for the market.

“Despite the innocuous sounding title of the draft Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026, the fact is that they represent a very big step towards greater transparency in the land market by requiring the disclosure of contractual arrangements that give parties control over land intended for development,” he explained.

“Options, conditional contracts, promotion agreements and rights of pre-emption have typically been private commercial arrangements, underpinning strategic land assembly.

“Bringing these arrangements into a public register has the potential to transform the level of visibility around who controls potential development land and where future sites may be coming forward.”

Once passed, the regulations will come into effect in April 2027, although some contractual control rights entered into between the regulations passing and taking effect will also require registration.

The new regulations would require those with the right to control how registered land is disposed of – such as conditional contract, options or pre-exemptions – to register, among other details, who the right is between, the nature of the agreement, land affected, duration of the agreement and what extension provisions are in place.

That information would need to be provided each time a contractual control right is granted, assigned or varied, along with notifying if rights expire or are used, within 60 days of taking place via a regulated conveyancer.

HM Land Registry will publish the information in a database, which is scheduled to be available in April 2028, which would allow users to search for information on land rights.

Johnson warned that the impact of the new regulations could be particularly profound on the residential development market.

“Promoters and developers will often secure control over several land parcels years in advance of allocation through the local plan process, investing significant time and money in promoting sites under such agreements,” he said.

“A register of contractual control arrangements could make those strategies visible much earlier in the promotion and development cycle, highlighting issues around commercial confidentiality and the prospect of competitors, neighbouring landowners or local stakeholders seeking to use this information to their advantage once the existence of those arrangements becomes public.

“At the same time, the regulations present a number of issues with which the industry needs to engage.

“Developers and promoters will want to ensure that appropriate systems are in place to monitor and disclose relevant agreements within the required timeframes, and be mindful of the criminal sanctions for not doing so.

“As for whether agreements include a relevant contractual right that triggers the requirement for reporting, one can also envisage that landowners, developers and promoters will consider in some detail now how deals may be restructured - including via the use of joint ventures and corporate vehicles - to avoid the need to register.”

The regulations do feature some exemptions, including rights which are tied to loans or security agreements, short leases of less than 15 years, short-term rights of under 18 months and national security and defence issues.

Johnson added: “The policy objective of improving transparency in the land market via these regulations may be clear, but the detail now being considered by parliament merits close scrutiny by those active in the strategic residential land market in particular, given the significant potential impact on well-established deal structures and land assembly/promotion strategies.”