Land Registration Notices Launched Online

The Land Registry has launched a new Notices page on its website, as part of a wider response to the recommendation of the Tynwald Select Committee on Voluntary Registration of Land.

Using existing powers, the Land Registry now require publication of Notices to be published online if land is acquired by adverse possession, where rights are claimed through long usage or where registration is applied for but title deeds cannot be produced in order to guarantee absolute title to the land.

Since the online system was introduced in February 2018, five Notices have been published with the most noteworthy application published by Manx National Heritage to register their ownership of the high profile site of Hango Hill – an ancient place of execution where Illiam Dhone was shot in 1663 for treason and where the ruins of Mount Strange can still be found.

Nick Arculus, Land Registrar at the Isle of Man Central Registry, commented:

‘Notices are already given when required by the Land Registry Rules 2000 or by a direction of the Registrar or Land Commissioner but the additional practice of publication on the Land Registry website will be an additional safeguard against fraud or concealment or even honest oversight and help us to protect the integrity and accuracy of the Register.’

The online system is part of the Land Register’s commitment to developing greater transparency in the registration process and a concerted effort to raise the profile of the role played by the Land Registry, which promotes an active land market and productive land use, makes possible the security of tenure and the development of a mortgage market on which the Isle of Man’s economy depends.

The Land Registry welcomes feedback on the new online system, which can be found at www.gov.im/landregnotices, where members of the public can also find details of how to object or register an interest on land the subject of voluntary registration. Notices are also published on the Land Registry Twitter page @IOMLandRegistry