Government consultation regarding ‘contractual controls on land’

The government launched a consultation on 24 January 2024 seeking views on the time, cost, and market impact implications of collecting and publishing information about ‘agreements, such as option agreements, that are used to control land short of outright ownership’. Essentially, it’s about options, pre-emption agreements, land promotion agreements and conditional contracts for sale or lease relating to registered land in England and Wales.

The government’s concern is that although the contractual control agreements may be protected on registered titles, they are not recorded in an easily accessible or transparent way. The government is seeking to create a public, freely available dataset comprising the ‘what, where, who and when of contractual control agreements’. The government thinks that the new data set will allow prop tech companies to create tools and applications to improve efficiency in site identification and assessment by local planning authorities and developers and help communities and local authorities understand the likely path of development in their area. 

The regulations are expected to commence in April 2026 and to affect new agreements and existing agreements entered into from April 2021.

The consultation states that the government does not propose collecting or publishing the actual contract. The proposed information to be collected includes:

• the date and type of agreement;
• the parties names and relevant registration numbers for corporate bodies;
• the term of the agreement (including details of any right to extend);
• the property to which it relates (including title number); and
• the Solicitors Regulation Authority details of the professionals involved.

The consultation proposes that conveyancers will be required to submit the information, so that shouldn’t create too much of an additional burden for affected parties in respect of new agreements.

The proposed retrospective effect is likely to be more burdensome and on an initial review of the proposals, that is our main concern. Affected parties would be required to audit all of their deeds, identify all live ‘contractual control’ agreements, complete and submit forms relating to them. If that process is required, then we can work with you on that if it would be helpful for us to do so.

Note, there may be criminal offences for failure to comply. 

Responses must be provided by 20 March 2024 and here is a link to the consultation.