Doctrine of Notice

• 2 considerations when it comes to unregistered title conveyancing:

  1. Who owns the title?
  2. Are there any 3rd party interests which may bind a purchaser?
• Legal interests automatically bind the purchaser.
• Some equitable interests may bind the purchaser, others won't.

  • Equitable interests may not necessarily bind a purchaser as ling as the doctrine of notice is adhered to.
• Doctrine of Notice

  • Gives an indication as to whether not not an equitable interest is given priority over a purchaser of the estate.
• In order for a purchaser to be free of an equitable interest which is not registerable under the Land Charges Act 1925, the purchaser must have fulfilled the following elements:

  1. They must have acted bona fide i.e. in good faith.
  2. They must be the purchaser for value.
  3. They must have acquired the legal estate/interest.
  4. There must have been not notice of the equitable interest.
• Bona Fide

  • The purchaser must not have acted in a way which is fraudulent or dishonest as he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
  • This is often easy for the purchaser to prove.
• Purchase for Value

  • If an individual received the estate as a gift or through inheritance, they will always be bound by the equitable interests as they did not purchase the estate for valuable consideration.
  • There has to be valuable consideration in the purchase.
  • If an individual in purchasing the estate, they get the estate in return for some form of value, usually money.
  • Draws a distinction between those who receive land as a gift/through inheritance and those who purchase.
• Purchaser of a legal estate/interest

  • The purchase of which the individual is relying on the doctrine of notice has to be a legal interest in the land, not an equitable one.
  • You cannot rely on an equitable interest to gain priority over other equitable interests through the doctrine of notice.
  • The doctrine of notice is a requirement for legal interests in the land to attempt to jump the queue over equitable interests.
• If you are purchasing an equitable interest, then you will be bound by the previously existing equitable interest.

  • Follows the 'first in time, first in right' rule for equitable interests.
• Fundamental maxim that equity will act temporally.

  • If there are multiple good claims, it is the first in time which will take priority.
• No notice of equitable interest

  • Consideration must be given as to whether or not the purchaser was given notice as to the existence of the equitable title.
• 3 Types of Notice

  1. Actual notice
  2. Constructive notice
  3. Imputed notice
• Actual Notice

  • Has the purchaser of a legal estate been given actual notice of the equitable interest?
• Lloyds v Banks

  • '[If the purchaser] has in some way been brought to an intelligent apprehension of the nature or the [interest] which has come upon the property, so that a reasonable man, or an ordinary man of business, would act upon the information and would regulate his conduct by it[...]'
  • Objective test