In brief
To increase land ownership and control transparency, the UK government will require details of agreements containing rights for the beneficiary to control the use or development of registered land to be provided to HM Land Registry and included in a public database. The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 (“Regulations”) were laid before Parliament on 9 March 2026 and will come into full effect from 6 March 2027 (but with interim reporting obligations to apply from the date the Regulations are passed). The Regulations will impact a range of contractual land agreements such as conditional sale contracts, option and pre-emption agreements, and rights associated with promotion agreements.
Key measures
- A Contractual Control Register is to be maintained by HM Land Registry (HMLR) from 6 April 2027.
- From that date, the recipient of a contractual right to control registered land in England and Wales must submit prescribed information to HMLR within 60 days of the right being granted, varied or assigned.
- Notification of the exercise or termination of such rights must also be given to HMLR.
- Agreements in scope will include conditional contracts containing a right of acquisition, option or pre-emption agreements, and certain rights associated with promotion agreements.
- The reporting duty applies to rights granted over registered freehold or leasehold land (where the lease has 15 or more years remaining when the rights are granted).
- Rights granted between the passing of the Regulations (expected in 2026) and 6 April 2027 must be reported to HMLR by 6 October 2027.
- Enforcement measures will apply in case of breach.
In more detail
Since 2020, successive governments have mooted a database for contracts which allow the control of land. The Planning for the Future White Paper in that year highlighted how the lack of transparency in land control arrangements (such as those contained in option and pre-emption agreements) has acted as a barrier to housing delivery and competition. The Levelling‑up and Regeneration Act 2023 (LURA) subsequently created a statutory power to require disclosure of contractual control agreements but left the detail to secondary legislation. The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 now fill the legislative gap and will be passed this year to bring the contractual control reporting regime into effect in England and Wales.
Duty to report
From 6 April 2027, the beneficiary of any right to control how land is used or developed will be under a duty to provide to HMLR prescribed information about those rights where granted over registered land. Where that land is leasehold, the lease must have at least 15 years remaining of its term when the rights are granted. All such contractual control rights must be notified to HMLR within 60 days of grant.
Any variation or assignment of such rights must be notified to HMLR within 60 days. That will include the variation or assignment of any contractual control right granted before the Regulations come into effect (and therefore unregistered on the Contractual Control Register), to the extent that the variation relates to any of the prescribed registrable information set out below).
HMLR must also be advised of a registered contractual control right being exercised or otherwise coming to an end.
The duty to report will only apply where the contractual control right is held for the purposes of an undertaking, such as a business, charity or other organised activity.
Contracts in-scope
A range of contracts are in scope for mandatory reporting, including conditional contracts, options, pre-emption and promotion agreements, and (where a notice or restriction is required against the landowner’s title) any other contract allowing a third party to direct a landowner to dispose of land to another person.
The Regulations specifically exclude security agreements for a loan, rights in a section 106 Agreement relating exclusively to the provision of infrastructure, amenities or services, lease agreements for 15 years or less, short term rights with a control period of less than 18 months, and agreements made for the purposes of defence or national security.
In addition, agreements exclusively for future development which do not result in the provision of either (a) dwelling-houses or (b) a building where the floorspace created by the development is 100 sqm or less are excluded from the registration requirements.
HMLR will launch a digital service for the submission of prescribed information on 6 April 2027, which will ultimately, but not initially, be a publicly searchable register of core, non-sensitive information.
Required information
The Regulations list the information required to be reported to HMLR on each occasion that a relevant right is granted, varied or assigned. This will include details of the parties to the contract, the type of right granted, the land affected, the start and end date, whether the right is extendable, and any other relevant terms (such as whether the sub-surface of the land is included within the right).
Submissions to HMLR must be made by a regulated conveyancer.
Interim arrangements
There are some proposed interim arrangements. In-scope rights granted in contracts exchanged after the publication of the Regulations (anticipated to occur in the first half of 2026) will also need to be registered, subject to an extended registration deadline of 6 October 2027.
Enforcement
Under LURA, failure to comply with Regulations that require the registration of contractual control agreements will be a criminal offence, and a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine can be imposed for knowingly or recklessly providing misleading or false information in relation to relevant contracts.
Implications
Increased transparency in land ownership rights will have obvious implications, particularly for developers and those engaged in site assembly. Opposers of a projected development will have longer to formulate objection, with cost and timeline repercussions for the developer. Land acquisition costs may also rise for targeted sites needed to complete a development, where adjoining owners become aware of site assembly patterns. This may play into the hands of larger developers, with bigger pockets, rather than smaller-scale operators.
Whilst the changes are not imminent, the interim measures may mean that contracts entered into in the coming months may fall to be disclosed next year when the Contractual Control Register opens. Parties to such contracts should ensure that markers for registration are not inadvertently missed.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further guidance on the Regulations and their potential impact.