The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 establish a new disclosure regime for contractual control over registered land in England and Wales. The regime comes into force on 6 April 2027 and requires certain holders of development-related control rights, short of ownership, to give information to HM Land Registry for later publication. (statutoryinstruments.parliament.uk) The legal basis sits in Part 11 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Explanatory Memorandum, the purpose is to close a transparency gap: agreements can shape when land is sold, promoted or developed without transferring title, while existing title entries are often too inconsistent to provide a clear market picture. (legislation.gov.uk)
The regime is aimed at four broad categories of right commonly seen in development transactions: options, conditional contracts, pre-emption rights and certain promotion-style arrangements. It applies to registered land in England and Wales where the right is held for the purposes of an undertaking, and it excludes leasehold estates with fewer than 15 years left when the right is created. (gov.uk) The exemptions are substantial and will matter in practice. Government material says the carve-outs include national security or defence arrangements, loan and finance security, non-development rights, rights connected only to section 106 infrastructure or service obligations, and rights with a total period of control of under 18 months. The consultation response presents those exclusions as a proportionality measure rather than a withdrawal from the transparency objective. (gov.uk)
The main duty falls on the grantee of the contractual control right, usually the developer, promoter or other beneficiary of the agreement. Government guidance states that information must be provided within 60 days where a relevant right is granted, assigned or varied in writing in a way that changes the required data, and that HM Land Registry must also be told when the right expires, is exercised or otherwise comes to an end. (gov.uk) There is also a transitional rule for deals signed before commencement. The same guidance states that rights granted after the Regulations are made but before 6 April 2027 must still be reported, with a filing deadline of 6 October 2027. The Explanatory Memorandum adds that the final model does not create the wider retrospective disclosure window explored during consultation. (gov.uk)
The information burden is detailed rather than nominal. Government guidance says submissions must identify the grantor and grantee, include entity registration details where relevant, record the date and description of the agreement, specify the type of right, explain when the right can be exercised or what conditions trigger it, set out the initial control period and any extension or termination provisions, and identify the affected title, address and any separate sub-surface or airspace element. (gov.uk) The filing route is also prescribed. The Explanatory Memorandum states that the information must be submitted by a conveyancer using HM Land Registry’s channels, while the guidance says the digital service will be available from 6 April 2027. The registrar may waive parts of that route where insisting on it would be unreasonable, and the Regulations also allow limited waiver of an individual grantor’s date and place of birth where the grantee cannot reasonably be expected to supply them. (legislation.gov.uk)
Publication is delayed, but it is central to the scheme. HM Land Registry must retain the information and, from April 2028, begin publishing contractual control information in a dataset updated at least monthly. Government guidance says the service is intended to be accessible, standardised and reusable rather than a closed administrative record. (gov.uk) Not every data field will enter the public domain. The guidance is explicit that dates and places of birth collected for individual grantors will not be published, even though they may be required for identification and validation. That means the public-facing database is designed to show who controls land and for how long, without releasing the most sensitive personal identifiers. (gov.uk)
The enforcement mechanism is tied directly to land registration practice. Government guidance states that most contractual control rights will be protected through a notice or restriction, and that HM Land Registry may refuse an application for that entry until the information required by the Regulations has been provided. The Explanatory Memorandum adds that regulation 10 amends rule 72 of the Land Registration Rules 2003 to support that refusal power. (gov.uk) Compliance risk does not stop at delayed registration. The Ministry’s Explanatory Memorandum says that failure to comply, or the deliberate or reckless provision of false or misleading information, engages the offence provision in section 225 of the 2023 Act. Government guidance makes the same point in plainer terms, noting that non-compliance may lead to prosecution. (legislation.gov.uk)
For the land market, the policy case is clear. Ministers told Parliament that the existing market has been too opaque for too long, while the Explanatory Memorandum says current title information is limited, unclear and not easily searchable. The Government expects a standardised dataset to help local authorities, communities and smaller builders see which land is already under contractual control and where genuinely available sites may sit. (hansard.parliament.uk) The Explanatory Memorandum estimates annual business costs at about £4.2 million, with HM Land Registry start-up costs of about £4.6 million and ongoing running costs of roughly £200,000 a year. For practitioners, the practical effect is likely to be a stronger emphasis on clean drafting and accurate file data for options, promotion agreements and similar deals entered into after the regime is made. That final point is an inference from the filing requirements and the registrar’s refusal power, rather than an express statement in the instrument. (legislation.gov.uk)