Overview
Under rule 5 of the Land Registration Rules 2003, the property register of a registered estate in land will contain a description of the registered estate which must refer to a plan based on the Ordnance Survey map and known as the title plan.
Basing our title plans on Ordnance Survey mapping enables us to create plans to a the acceptable standard and to relate individual title plans to one another. Because we always base the title plan on the version of Ordnance Survey mapping that was current at the time the land was registered, adjoining title plans can be based on different versions that may show different site detail.
2. The purpose of a title plan
The purpose of the title plan is to support the property description in the register by providing a graphic representation and identifying the general extent of the land in a registered title. In addition to showing the land in a registered title, a title plan may contain other plan references which identify any parts of the land or adjoining land affected by entries in the register, such as easements, covenants or areas of land removed from the title. The title plan was previously known as the ‘filed plan’ and you may still see it described in this way.
All title plans show general boundaries unless the line of boundary is shown as having been determined under section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002.
There are no title plans for relating franchises and lordship titles. It is possible, in certain circumstances, that a profit a prendre in gross title may also not have a title plan.
3. Types of title plan
Land Registry has constantly reviewed many aspects of the land registration process, the title plan being no exception. The result is that there are now a number of different types of title plan. In the main, they can be put in to three categories:
- vector
- raster
- drawer/canister
3.1 Vector title plan
A vector title plan is produced by our computer mapping system and all newly created title plans are done this way. The vector title plan is electronically created and stored and is ‘intelligent’. Example 1 at the end of this supplement shows a vector title plan with an extract of the corresponding register.
3.2 Raster title plan
A raster title plan is an electronically stored image of what was a paper title plan. Originally, all title plans were in paper form. All paper title plans have now been scanned.
3.3 Drawer/canister title plan
A drawer/canister title plan exists in paper form only because they were too large to be scanned and are archaic by today’s standards.
4. Creating a title plan
BEST Compliance can create a variety of different types of Title plan for almost any contingency.
5. Title plan scales
The scale of a title plan is usually 1:1250 in urban areas and 1:2500 in rural areas. Where a title plan covers a large rural area it may be prepared at either 1:5000 or 1:10 000 scales. When only a small part of the detail on the title plan needs to be depicted more clearly, an enlargement may be added to the title plan where necessary.
6. Title plan size
The sizes for paper title plans vary. The majority were historically prepared on B4 paper. When the title plan extent was larger than B4, they had pages or flaps on. Vector (Contemporary) title plans can be prepared at the smallest paper size of A4, up to the largest of A0. However normally are prepared on A3.
7. What a title plan must always show
The convention we use, in the vast majority of situations, is to show the land in a registered title by red edging on the title plan. The red edging follows the inside of the line of the physical boundaries or the plotted lines of undefined boundaries surrounding the property. In exceptional circumstances, the edging may follow the outside of the line or the land may be shown by pink tinting (colouring). These methods may be used on very small areas of land, for example sites of walls, where the use of normal edging is impractical. In these circumstances there will always be an explanatory note in the property register. Pink tinting on a plan to show the extent of the land in a caution, but the extent of a caution is now shown by red edging.
Where an ‘island’ of land is excluded from a title we will show it by green tinting or hatching with a red edging around it and add a note of this exclusion to the property register and the title plan.
Where a registration includes only part of a building, for example a room over a passageway, we will make an explanatory note in the property register and sometimes provide a reference on the title plan for the area of land in question. For clarification, we may show complex floor levels on a supplementary plan attached to the title plan. This is prepared at a larger scale.
Where land is removed from one registered title plan to another it will usually be edged with green and the new title number added in green. Another method we use is green tinting without showing the new title numbers.
8. Leasehold floor level title plans
Most lease plans lodged for registration are now digitally produced, clearly showing the precise layout of the property extent at a larger scale normally 1:100.
As such, in October 2014 Land Registry changed their policy for creating title plans for leasehold floor level registrations. This means the red edging on the tenant’s title plan may show only the outline of the building as published on the Ordnance Survey map.
Where other areas outside of the building are included in the lease, such as parking spaces, these will continue to be shown on the tenant’s title plan by red edging or other suitable reference.
On larger leasehold developments an extent for the lease being registered will be more specifically recorded on the landlord’s title plan so that the position of all the leases can be shown in relation to each other.
As with all leasehold titles, the register and title plan must be read in conjunction with the lease to understand the agreement made between the original parties.
9. Dimensions
Some title plans show measurements that were taken from the deeds, usually at the time the land was registered. Title plans will only show measurements if these were shown on plans contained in the title deeds. Although these may give an additional indication of the position of the boundary, the title plan will still only show the general boundary.
Although dimensions from deed plans may appear on older title plans they are no longer routinely reproduced.
There has not been a wholesale conversion of any imperial measurements appearing on title plans or registers created prior to 1995.
10. Colour references
In addition to showing the extent of the land in a registered title, a title plan may contain other references which identify any parts of the land or adjoining land affected by entries in the register. For example easements, covenants or areas of land removed from the title. These references include tinting (coloured areas), hatching and different coloured edgings, numbering, broken coloured lines etc.
However, where an easement such as a right of way can be clearly identified. For example a passageway at the back of the property, we will make a verbal description of it in the register rather than provide a separate plan reference and register entry for it.
When preparing title plans we follow Land Registry convention It is helpful if those conventions are followed when deed plans are prepared, particularly with regard to rights of way. Where the colour references for rights of way on existing deeds do not follow the conventions. We will reproduce the references shown in the deed on the title plan where practicable.
The position of specific drainage rights granted by a deed are normally shown on the title plan by a coloured broken line and referred to in the register.
On developing estates, easements granted and reserved in individual deeds by the vendor are likely to be similar and of a general nature including rights of way over estate roads, common passageways, and rights of drainage. We will not show individual references for such easements on developing estates, but will make a general verbal entry in the register to cover such matters. It is sometimes difficult to show all boundary detail or all plans references on a title plan mapped at the source survey scale, for example where the title has extensive or intricate easements or covenants. To overcome this we may need to add an enlargement or a supplementary plan to depict the land more clearly.
11. Other information on a title plan
The extracts of the Ordnance Survey map on which the title plans are prepared may show information not directly relevant to the registration, for example, map symbols such as Ordnance Survey field or parcel numbers. These will have no special significance in relation to the registered title unless such markings have been used as plan references for land affected by easements or covenants. In that case they will have been circled in blue with a corresponding entry referring to it in the register. We no longer use Ordnance Survey parcel numbers as references on the title plan.
Example 1: A Contemporary vector title plan
Reference
Land Registry. (2019). HM Land Registry plans: title plan (practice guide 40, supplement 5) . Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-title-plan/land-registry-plans-title-plan-practice-guide-40-supplement-5. Last accessed 20th July 2019.