Guidance

Practice guide 84: contractual control rights

Published 26 October 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Please note that HM Land Registry’s practice guides are aimed primarily at solicitors and other conveyancers. They often deal with complex matters and use legal terms.

1. Introduction

This guide relates to the Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026, which apply to registered land in England and Wales. The Regulations are part of the government’s aim to improve transparency over who has a stake in land development, support more efficient and fairer land market operation and help local authorities and communities understand who controls land in their area.

Under the Regulations, information must be provided to HM Land Registry about rights contained in certain contracts relating to land, such as an option, conditional contract rights and a right of pre-emption (contractual control rights). Contractual control information must be provided when a new contractual control right is granted or when an existing right is varied or assigned in writing. Once contractual control information has been provided about a right, confirmation is also required when it is exercised or comes to an end, whether in relation to the whole or part only of the land affected.

The Regulations were made on 8 June 2026 and will come into force on 6 April 2027. The requirement to provide information will apply from 6 April 2027 and will include a duty to provide contractual control information in respect of contractual control rights granted between 8 June 2026 and 5 April 2027 – see The grant of a contractual control right on or after 8 June 2026 but before 6 April 2027 for further information.

This guide is intended to help you understand what rights are covered, what information must be provided, and when and how you must provide it.  It does not replace legal advice, nor does it modify or override the text and meaning of the Regulations and definitions contained within the Regulations. We will review and update as necessary in line with operational developments and feedback. We welcome your feedback in helping us improve our services and guidance, please see Our commitment and your feedback for more details about how to contact us.

1.1 Further information and links

• Information about access to the contractual control information dataset, which will be made available from 6 April 2028, will be published as soon as possible.

• For more general information about the protection of rights, including contractual control rights, on the register of title see practice guide 19: notices, restrictions and the protection of third party interests in the register.

• For more detail about the consequences of failing to comply with the Regulations see Contractual control agreements.

For guidance on how the Regulations relate to specific scenarios, see Contractual control rights scenarios.

2. Terms used in this guide

In this guide the following terms have the following meanings.

‘Business Gateway’ – means our API channel that allows direct integration between our customers’ businesses and our systems for managing registration processes digitally. Note: providers of software that integrates with Business Gateway may not offer their customers all the functionality referred to in this Guide. Customers should check with their own supplier that the software provided to them meets their individual needs and expectations.

‘Contractual control information’ – means the information that the Regulations require a grantee to provide in respect of a contractual control right – see Categories of contractual control information for guidance about the categories of contractual control information.

‘Contractual control information dataset’ – means the dataset of contractual control information that we will publish and keep up to date from April 2028.

‘Contractual control right’ – refers to one of the categories of right defined in the Regulations about which contractual control information must be provided. See Contractual control rights for guidance about what constitutes a contractual control right.

‘Conveyancer’ – means an individual who is personally regulated under the Legal Services Act 2007 to carry out reserved instrument activities relating to land registration. Note: this does not include employees of regulated conveyancing firms if they are not personally regulated.

‘Grantee’ – means the person who can enforce a right or (where applicable) has a legal right to request or direct that the owner transfers or leases the affected land.

‘Portal’ – means our online portal for lodging land registration applications digitally.

‘Regulations’ – means the Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026.

‘Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)’ - unique number identifiers for every addressable location in Great Britain.

3. Contractual control rights

The Regulations apply to certain rights that give someone, commonly a developer or land promoter, the ability to control future sales or leases of registered land.

The Regulations apply to four general categories of contractual control rights.

• An option to make the landowner transfer or lease land.

• A conditional contract – where the grantee can make the landowner transfer or lease land once specified conditions are met.

• A right of pre-emption that may entitle the grantee to a transfer or lease of land.

• A legal right to direct or request the landowner to sell or lease land. These rights are often included in land promotion agreements where the grantee can make the landowner sell the land on the open market and share the proceeds with the grantee.

Often a contractual control right will be the only or main right in the contract that creates it. In other cases, a single contract may create multiple rights. If more than one of those rights meet the criteria for being a contractual control right, contractual control information will have to be provided about each right that does so.

Although in many cases the nature and description of the contract will provide a clear indication that it is likely to include one or more contractual control rights, that will not always be the case. This guidance should help you identify:

• the necessary criteria for a right to qualify as a contractual control right; and

• exemptions that prevent a right from being a contractual control right.

If you are not sure after reading this guidance whether a right is a contractual control right you should refer directly to the Regulations.

For guidance on how the Regulations relate to specific scenarios, see Contractual control rights scenarios.

3.1 Criteria for a contractual control right

3.1.1 The right must arise under a written contract

As the description suggests, the Regulations only apply to contractual rights. This means that statutory rights, or those created by court order cannot be contractual control rights. In this context, ‘contract’ includes a deed, whether or not any consideration is given in return for the right.

3.1.2 The right must relate to a future transfer or long lease of registered land

Each category of contractual control right entitles the grantee to control the long-term future ownership of the land affected.

An option or other contractual right will only be a contractual control right if it entitles the grantee to control the transfer of freehold land or the grant or sale of a long lease by the registered owner.

This means that the following examples are not contractual control rights.

• An option to acquire only an easement or other right over registered land.

• A contract for the grant of a lease with a contractual term of less than 15 years.

• A contract to take a transfer of a registered lease that has less than 15 years of its contractual term left at the date of the contract.

The Regulations apply only to rights affecting registered land. Almost all land in England and Wales is now registered, but a right granted only over unregistered land is not a contractual control right at that point. However, contractual control information may need to be provided later if the land later becomes registered and the right is varied or assigned, or if a notice or restriction is later applied for to protect the right on the register of title. See When must information be provided about a contractual control right? for guidance about the events that trigger the requirement to provide contractual control information.

3.1.3 The right must be held ‘for the purposes of an undertaking’

Only rights held for the purposes of an undertaking can fall within the scope of the Regulations.

In practice, this means that rights acquired for business, charitable, or public purposes may be contractual control rights. By contrast, rights acquired purely for personal purposes will not be. For example, an option acquired by an individual as a private investment or to purchase a plot on which to build their own home would not be a contractual control right, even if it has all the other characteristics of such a right.

For these purposes, “undertaking” is interpreted broadly. It includes businesses, charities and similar organisations, as well as the exercise of functions of a public nature.

Most contractual control rights are likely to be granted to companies or other organisations. Although less common, a right granted to one or more individuals may still be a contractual control right where it is held for the purposes of an undertaking, for example where individuals are carrying on a business or acting as trustees of a charity.

3.1.4 The right must generally be enforceable against the proprietor of the registered estate

In larger development projects, a developer who has acquired a right to obtain land from the registered proprietor may enter into further agreements to sell or lease all or part of that land in specified circumstances. These secondary rights may be granted to other developers or to those who will ultimately own the land once development is complete. As a result, a complex chain of rights can arise while the land remains in the ownership of the original proprietor.

Generally, only the primary right, which enables the grantee to control a future disposition by the registered proprietor, will be a contractual control right.

However, an exception applies where a notice or restriction is entered in the register to protect a secondary right, such as a conditional sub-contract. In that case, the secondary right will be treated as a contractual control right if it would otherwise meet the criteria for a contractual control right, but for the fact that it was granted by someone other than the registered proprietor (see Applying for a notice or restriction in respect of a contractual control right).

3.2 Exempt contractual rights

3.2.1 Short-term rights

A right that can only last for a period of less than 18 months will not be a contractual control right.

A right will not qualify for the short-term exemption if the contract allows it to continue for 18 months or more, even if the initial period is shorter. For example, a right to buy land conditional on planning permission may continue during any planning appeal. If this could take the total period to 18 months or more, the exemption will not apply.

3.2.2 Rights held for non-development purposes

The Regulations aim to improve transparency over who has a stake in land development, in particular development that relates to housing or other building.

A right that is held exclusively for a purpose that does not relate to housing development, or any other development that creates 100 square metres or more of floorspace in a building will be exempt.

This exemption is quite specific and should be interpreted narrowly. The following guidance may help.

• Development has the same meaning given in section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

• Housing development includes provision of any sort of dwelling, including flats. It also includes the provision of housing by changing the use of an existing building.

• The exemption will not apply if the right supports housing or other relevant building development, even where that development will take place on different land. For example, an option to acquire land for an access road serving new housing on adjoining land would not be exempt.

• An option acquired over land generally in the hope that it will increase in value is unlikely to qualify for this exemption. Often the hoped-for increase will relate to future development.

• The exemption is likely only to apply where the grantee can establish that they have a clear purpose for acquiring the right and that purpose does not relate to development.

We have worked through some scenarios indicating how this exemption may apply to commonly encountered types of contractual rights; see Contractual control rights scenarios.

3.2.3 Rights to secure future payment of overage

In the context of the property market, overage generally refers to an obligation to pay further consideration to a former landowner, often when planning permission is granted or when some other circumstances arise that lead to an uplift in the value of the land.

Where that happens, the former landowner often imposes a charge or other rights to secure payment of the further consideration. This exemption ensures that such rights will not be contractual control rights.

3.2.4 Security for loans or finance

A right that is necessary or incidental to security for a loan or financial instrument is exempt from being a contractual control right. Often financial charges, security arrangements and other provisions incidental to loans or financial instruments include provisions that could, but for this exemption, fall within the definition of a contractual control right.

The purpose of such rights is not to allow the grantee to control a future disposition of the land for the purposes of development but is to ensure that they can recover money they are owed if the borrower defaults on repayment, usually from the proceeds of selling the land.

3.2.5 Rights in certain section 106 agreements

A right contained in a contract made with a local planning authority under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 will be exempt from being a contractual control right, but only where it relates exclusively to the provision of infrastructure, amenities or services in connection with a grant of planning permission.

3.2.6 National security or defence

A right contained in a contract made for the purposes of national security or defence is exempt from being a contractual control right.

4. When must information be provided about a contractual control right?

This section will provide guidance about the following.

• When contractual control information must be provided about a right for the first time.

• The further events that will trigger a requirement to provide updated contractual control information.

For guidance on the information that must be provided when a recorded right is exercised or otherwise comes to an end see Information about the determination, expiry or exercise of a recorded right.

4.1 Events occurring on or after 6 April 2027 that trigger the requirement to provide contractual control information about a right for the first time

If any of the following events occur on or after 6 April 2027, contractual control information will need to be provided. Those events are:

• the grant of a new contractual control right

• the assignment of an existing contractual control right

• any written variation of an existing right that alters any of the contractual control information.

If a new contractual control right is granted on or after 6 April 2027, the grantee must provide contractual control information about the right within 60 days of the grant. Similarly, if a pre-existing contractual control right is assigned or varied on or after 6 April 2027 the grantee must provide contractual control information about the right within 60 days of the assignment or variation.

An application for a notice or restriction in respect of a contractual control right will also trigger a requirement to provide contractual control information about the right. See Applying for a notice or restriction in respect of a contractual control right.

You should assess whether a right is a contractual control right at the date when the trigger event occurs. For instance, contractual control information would not have to be provided about an option granted in 2025 (before the Regulations had been made) even though it is assigned in 2028, if by the assignment date the option period has so little time left to run that it has become a short-term right (see Short-term rights) and for that reason it no longer qualifies as a contractual control right.

4.2 The grant of a contractual control right on or after 8 June 2026 but before 6 April 2027

If a new contractual control right is granted during the period between the date when the Regulations were made (8 June 2026) and their commencement date (6 April 2027) the grantee must provide contractual control information about that right once the Regulations are in force. The grantee must do this before 6 October 2027.

Important

You may need to provide information about rights granted on or after 8 June 2026, even though the Regulations were not yet in force when those rights were granted.

Information about those rights must be submitted once HM Land Registry’s digital submission service becomes available in April 2027.

It is only the new grant of a contractual control right during this period that triggers a requirement to provide information about the right. The assignment of an existing right in the period, or a variation that is not so fundamental as to amount to a surrender and regrant of the right will not have the same effect. However, the grantee of a new right must provide up to date information about the right, so if the right is assigned or varied before the Regulations come into force, the information that the grantee later provides will need to reflect those changes.

4.3 The requirement to update information provided about a contractual control right when it is assigned or varied

Once contractual control information has been provided about a right, the grantee of the right must confirm and update the contractual control information provided within 60 days of the right either being assigned or being varied, where the variation is in writing and alters any of the contractual control information already provided.

This is the case even if by the time of the assignment, the right no longer qualifies as a contractual control right, perhaps because it has become a short-term right (see Short-term rights), or because the assignee has acquired the right exclusively for a purpose that is not related to development (see Rights held for non-development purposes).

There is one exception to the requirement for the grantee to confirm and update the contractual control information that has already been provided following assignment or variation. This is where the assignment or variation is soon followed by an event that brings the right completely to an end, provided the grantee confirms that the right has ended before the expiry of the 60-day period for reporting the assignment or variation (see Information about the determination, expiry or exercise of a recorded right).

If multiple events occur within a short period and each would normally require the grantee to provide or update contractual control information, the grantee does not necessarily need to submit a separate report after each event. The grantee who holds the right when the first event occurs remains responsible for ensuring the required information is provided within 60 days (or, in the case of a grant of the sort outlined in The grant of a contractual control right on or after 8 June 2026 but before 6 April 2027, by 6 October 2027). However, they do not need to submit a report for the first event if updated information reflecting the later event is provided before that deadline.

4.4 Applying for a notice or restriction in respect of a contractual control right

Most contractual control rights are protected on the register of title either by a notice, or by a restriction, or in some instances by both types of entry.

The application is usually made immediately after the right is granted to ensure its priority is adequately protected. The applicant must have provided contractual control information about the right by the time they make the application, even though the 60-day deadline will not yet have expired. We will not generally accept an application for a notice or restriction that is made whilst a requirement to provide contractual control information remains outstanding.

Where a notice or restriction is sought to protect a right that would fall within the definition of a contractual control right except for the fact that the grantor has not yet been registered as proprietor, the Regulations treat that right as a contractual control right.

The application for a notice or restriction acts as a separate trigger for the provision of contractual control information. This means that information must be provided before the application proceeds, even though the right may have been granted long before the Regulations were made and even though it may not since have been assigned or varied.

HM Land Registry will ask someone applying for a notice or restriction to confirm whether the entry relates to a contractual control right and, if so, whether the requirements of the Regulations have been complied with.

5. How to provide contractual control information

HM Land Registry’s digital submission service will be available from 6 April 2027. A new service - ‘Report contractual control over land’ - will be launched in Portal, with Business Gateway to follow. We will be working with third party Business Gateway integrators to ensure they have everything they need to provide their customers with access to the new service, and we will publish technical guidance with more detail about how to make submissions before the service is launched.

6. Who must provide the required information

6.1 Responsibility for providing information

The grantee of a contractual control right is responsible for providing the required information to HM Land Registry and must ensure that the information is provided by a conveyancer using our digital systems.

This includes contractual control information (see The information that must be provided as well as the information that must be provided when a contractual control right has been exercised or has otherwise come to an end.

Although the grantee is responsible for providing the required information and will be accountable for material errors or omissions, they do not have to repeat information that someone else has already provided.  For example, where multiple rights arise under a single contract, a conveyancer acting for one grantee may agree to provide the contractual control information relating to all the rights granted.

Where the contractual control right is protected in the register of title by a notice or a restriction (see Applying for a notice or restriction in respect of a contractual control right) the applicant for the register entry is also responsible for providing contractual control information before proceeding with their application. Whilst, technically, this may mean that multiple people could be responsible for providing the same information, we will only require that it is provided once, and in most instances the grantee of the right will also be the person applying to protect the right on the register.

6.2 Information must be provided by a conveyancer

A conveyancer providing information to HM Land Registry on behalf of a grantee must be an individual qualified to act in land registration matters, such as an individually regulated solicitor, licensed conveyancer or chartered legal executive. This is necessary to assure the accuracy of the information provided.

Employees of regulated conveyancing firms who regularly make land registration applications for their firm will only be able to provide information required by the Regulations if they are personally regulated (though it may have been prepared for submission by a colleague).

We will ask the individually regulated conveyancer providing the required information to confirm their professional registration number and the name of the authority that issued it. For instance, if the conveyancer is a solicitor we will ask for their individual Solicitors Regulation Authority number. We will not publish this information. As conveyancers are not regularly asked to provide their professional registration number, they should have this to hand when providing the information required by the Regulations.

When a contractual control right is assigned or varied, the grantee will need to provide updated information about the right, which should be current information about the right at the date it is provided. The grantee does not have to use the same conveyancer that provided information about the right when it was first granted. This is equally the case where a grantee has to tell us that a contractual control right has been exercised or come to an end.

7. The information that must be provided

The contractual control information that must be provided to us when a contractual control right is granted, varied, assigned, or when an application is made to protect it in the register is summarised in Categories of contractual control information.

Where the same contract contains more than one contractual control right, information must be provided separately for each right. The information only needs to be provided once, even where more than one person is responsible for providing it. Where information is common to more than one right, we aim to minimise the need for it to be repeated.

Where the Regulations require that details are provided in relation to certain information, we will obtain those details by asking conveyancers to answer questions about the right. In most cases the conveyancer will be asked to select one or more from multiple-choice answers to provide the required information.

We are conducting user research with conveyancers and with future users of the dataset. Our aim is to design a service that captures the information needed to improve land transparency, support a fair and efficient land market, and help local authorities and communities understand who controls land, while minimising the cost and administrative burden on those providing the information.

A grantee must also tell us where a right recorded in the contractual control information dataset comes to an end, including where that is because the right has been exercised wholly or in part. See Information about the determination, expiry or exercise of a recorded right for more guidance.

7.1 Categories of contractual control information

7.1.1 Details of the grantor and grantee

The following information is required to identify the parties uniquely.

• Full names.

• Entity identification (if applicable): if either party is a company or another entity that has legal personality, a public registration number, the authority that issued it (for example, Companies House or Charity Commission) and the country of incorporation should be provided.

• Date and place of birth of the grantor (if an individual): to ensure accurate identification. We will not publish this information.

Conveyancers acting for a grantee who will need to provide contractual control information about a right should anticipate their need to provide this information where one or more of the grantors is an individual.

In some instances, the registrar may accept that it is unreasonable to expect the grantee to provide this information. For example, an existing right may be assigned without the involvement of the proprietor of the affected land and neither they nor the assignor may hold, or be able to obtain the required information.

Important

Dates and places of birth are part of the required contractual control information. Because private individuals may not expect to be asked for this information, conveyancers acting for the grantee should collect it before the right is granted or varied.

7.1.2 The type of contractual control right

The grantee will be asked to specify which of the four categories of contractual control right is applicable: is the right:

• an option

• a conditional contract

• a right of pre-emption,

• a right to direct or request a landowner to sell or lease land.

7.1.3 Date, parties to and title or description of the contract that created or conferred the right

This information will help users identify rights they already know about in the dataset and discover any recorded rights of which they were previously unaware.

7.1.4 Date from which the right can be exercised (unless it is a right of pre-emption)

The date from which the right can be exercised must be provided. If the date depends on specified conditions being met, a brief description of those conditions must be given instead.

7.1.5 Initial period of control

This is the initial period during which the grantee has control of the affected land. The period will start on the date of the contract and continue up to the latest date when the right can be exercised, disregarding any provisions to extend that date. Where the end date cannot be determined under the contract, a conveyancer will be able to confirm this.

7.1.6 Provisions in the contract to extend the initial period of control

Any provisions or entitlements under the contract to extend the initial period of control.

7.1.7 Entitlement to terminate the right

Details of any entitlement for either party to terminate the right.

7.1.8 The title number(s) of the registered estate(s) affected by the right

All affected title numbers must be specified. If we have provisionally allocated a title number but the application to register the new title has not yet been completed, the provisional title number should be provided.

7.1.9 The location of the land affected

Where a right affects the whole of each affected registered title, we will not require any additional information to locate the land affected. We will be able to establish this from the data we already hold about the extents of those titles.

Where only part of land in a registered title is affected by a right, we will require information to identify the part(s) of the land affected.

One way to provide this information is to upload a digital file containing spatial data (that is, a computer-readable map showing the extent of the affected land) in an approved format: currently Shapefile or GeoJSON using British National Grid (BNG) coordinates.

Such a file may be easy to obtain where a surveyor or other professional has been engaged to prepare a plan for the contract creating the right. The grantee’s conveyancer may wish to ensure that a suitable digital file is provided for use in submitting contractual control information.

Important

If you intend to upload a digital file containing spatial data consider arranging for it to be prepared at the same time as the contract plan. Discuss this in advance with the surveyor or other professional who is  preparing the plan to minimise costs and avoid duplicated effort.

If a suitable digital file is not available, we will provide other ways for the conveyancer to identify part of a registered title affected by a right. We will not require the conveyancer todetermine the right’s precise legal extent; it is required only to show which land is affected for transparency purposes.

7.1.10 Address of the land

Give the physical location of the land covered by the right, including any postcode that exists for the land. We may also ask for any Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) that applies to the land.

7.1.11 Sub-surface land and airspace

The conveyancer must confirm whether the area subject to the right includes land (including airspace) that is held separately from the surface land.

7.2 Information about the determination, expiry or exercise of a recorded right

Where contractual control information has been provided about a contractual control right, the grantee must also confirm within 60 days once the right has come to an end. This is to ensure that the contractual control information dataset is kept up to date and is not cluttered with details of rights that no longer affect the land.

The grantee must confirm the following information within the 60-day period:

• whether the right came to an end because it was determined, whether it expired or whether the right was exercised

• whether the right has wholly ended, or whether it continues to affect part of the land affected

• if the right has only ended against part of the land affected the grantee must provide sufficient details to identify the part of the land affected.

The definition of ‘exercised’ in the Regulations differs slightly between the different types of contractual control right.

• For an option agreement, it means the exercise of the option.

• A conditional contract is exercised when the required disposition is made.

• For a pre-emption right, it means the exercise of the right.

• A right to direct or request that a disposition is made is exercised when the disposition is completed.

When providing details to identify the parts of the land against which the right has come to an end, the grantee’s conveyancer will be able to upload a suitable digital file with spatial data to identify either that area or the area continuing to be affected by the right. If none is available, we will provide other ways in which the conveyancer can identify the area. If the right only ceases to affect one or more whole title extents, the conveyancer will be able to confirm this and will not have to do anything more than simply identify the relevant title numbers.

Important

If you will want to upload a digital file containing spatial data to identify either the land no longer affected by a contractual control right or the land that is still affected, you should consider arranging this in advance with any surveyor or other professional plan-drafter engaged to prepare a plan showing the same extent, as this should minimise cost and avoid duplicated effort.

See The location of the land affected for an explanation of what is meant by a digital file containing spatial data and for the suggestion that a conveyancer may wish to arrange for such a file to be provided by a surveyor or other professional who has prepared a contract plan.

Note: in most cases, the requirement to provide information will follow a trigger event that will have been overseen by a conveyancer. However, when a right expires without being exercised or otherwise consciously determined, the grantee will need to ensure that their conveyancer provides us with the required information.

8. Our commitment and your feedback

The Regulations impose new requirements on grantees and their conveyancers. Equally, we are responsible for collecting and publishing the information about contractual control rights required under the Regulations.

We will design and build services that are as easy as possible for our customers to use both in providing information to us and in accessing the data we publish. To help us with this we are carrying out extensive user research; we are refining our plans in response to the invaluable feedback we receive and preparing for 6 April 2027 when the Regulations take effect.

As we continue to build our digital submission service, we are not yet able to confirm the exact questions we will ask conveyancers to answer in respect of relevant contractual control rights. We will publish technical guidance with more detail on how to make submissions before the service is launched.

Our aim at this stage is to provide general guidance about the approach we are taking and about the requirements in the Regulations. We hope this guidance helps you to identify the contractual control rights for which information must be provided and understand where similar rights fall outside the scope of the Regulations.

If you have a question about the provision of contractual control information or about anything in this guidance, please let us know. You can send an email to: contractualcontrolsteam@landregistry.gov.uk

You can also send us a suggestion or provide feedback to the same address. For instance, please let us know if you do not know how the Regulations are likely to apply to a common set of circumstances and you believe that it would help for us to publish specific guidance to assist customers.

9. Things to remember

Here are some key points to remember to make sure you and your clients comply with the new legal requirements:

• Although the Regulations are not yet in force, they will apply to some rights granted on or after 8 June 2026. Conveyancers should check and advise their clients whether any rights recently or soon to be granted will be affected. Contractual control rights and the scenarios we publish Contractual control rights scenarios may help you with this.

• If you identify a contractual control right for which you will need to provide contractual control information, consider doing the following.

  • If the right is granted before the Regulations are in force, make a forward calendar reminder so you don’t overlook the requirement to provide information when our digital submission service becomes available in April 2027 (see The grant of a contractual control right on or after 8 June 2026 but before 6 April 2027).

  • In such a case, ensure that you retain a copy of the contract creating the right so you can answer the questions we will ask you when the time comes for you to provide the required information.

  • If the grantor is (or includes) a private individual, make sure you have obtained their date of birth and place of birth (see Details of the grantor and grantee).

  • If the right affects only part of the land in one or more of the affected titles, you may need to obtain a digital file containing spatial data to identify the extent of the land affected (see The location of the land affected).

  • Advise your client that they will need to instruct a conveyancer to confirm when the right comes to an end (wholly or in part). They may need to make a forward calendar reminder for the date when the right is due to expire, if it is not brought to an end (or exercised) earlier than that date.

If you have been handling the grant, assignment or variation of a contractual control right on behalf of your firm or if you are dealing with its protection on the register, remember that an individually regulated conveyancer will have to assure the accuracy of the required information. They will need to provide their professional regulation number (such as a solicitor’s individual SRA number – not the SRA number for their firm) when they do so.

Remember that it is an offence to fail to provide information required by the Regulations unless you have a reasonable excuse. Also, we will not generally agree to enter a notice or a restriction in the register in respect of a contractual control right until all the required information about the right has been provided.

We only provide factual information and impartial advice about our procedures. Read more about the advice we give.