Wednesday 14th January 2014
Statement on Land Registry Unilateral Notice
Warminster Town Council has been contacted by several residents who have recently received letters from the Land Registry notifying them of the Marquess of Bath’s application to register Longleat Estate’s mineral rights over the land that belonged to the manor centuries ago. This statement is being issued by the Town Council in response to these approaches in order to pass on the information that we have been able to find out so far, and to provide links to the relevant Land Registry websites for more detail. Please note that the Town Council is not in a position to advise residents on any course of action, and this statement is for information only.
Until the Land Registration Act of 2002 interests in mines and mineral rights existed but did not need to be recorded on the Land Register. However, following the Act the interests needed to be recorded by 12th October 2013 in order to be protected. Longleat believes the interest in the mineral rights has been in the ownership of the family for hundreds of years and has registered this interest accordingly. According to Longleat they are not seeking to create any new rights but to protect existing ones, as reported in a statement to Warminster Community Radio.
Residents are concerned about what this application means in the context of their properties. It would appear that these rights and interests have always existed, and for some properties the register may already show that mines and minerals are not included in the title deeds.
If this is the case these home owners will not receive a letter from the Land Registry. This means that one resident in a street may receive a letter while their neighbour does not. For those whose title deeds do not already show that mines and minerals are not included in the property this now needs be entered by law, and the fact that the Marquess of Bath has an interest will be added to the deeds of any property that is affected.
If any property owner believes that this entry should not be added to their title deeds they should be able to prove that the right or interest does not exist or has been transferred to someone else. They can then object to the entry on these grounds, asking for the unilateral notice to be cancelled, using Land Registry form UN4. It does not cost anything to submit this form, and there is no time limit on it. However, any groundless objections will be dismissed by the Land Registry lawyers.
Residents have also expressed worries that following recent publicity these letters have been sent out in order for the rights owner to have access to the mineral rights for the purposes of fracking. The Land Registry Public Guide 25 makes it clear that any oil or gas belongs to the Crown, not to the owners of the land, and they would have to grant licenses to extract them.
The information from the Land Registry can be found on the following websites:
www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-25 (from which form UN4 can be downloaded)www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/guides/public-guide-26
For more information (but not advice on course of action) contact Heather Abernethie, Town Clerk, Warminster Town Council, telephone 01985 214847. email: admin@warminster-tc.gov.uk