Background

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 provides a framework for regulations that require information to be supplied to the Land Registry for certain purposes. On 8 June 2026 the Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations were made pursuant to that Act, setting out requirements for the provision of information relating to contractual control rights. 

What is a contractual control right? 

A contractual control right (CCR) is a right that:

• arises under a written contract;
• relates to the development, use, or disposal of land in England or Wales;
• is held for the purposes of an “undertaking” (which includes businesses, charities, and similar endeavours and the exercise of public functions);
• generally is granted by the proprietor (or someone entitled to be registered as proprietor (Proprietor) of a registered freehold or registered leasehold with 15 years or more remaining at the date the CCR is created;
• is not exempt;
• is for a Relevant Disposition – a transfer of a registered freehold or registered leasehold with an unexpired term of 15 years or more or the grant of a lease out of a registered estate for a term of 15 years or more; and
• falls into one of the categories set out below.

Category One – call options

An option to bind the Proprietor to make a Relevant Disposition.

Category Two – conditional contracts

A conditional contract for a Relevant Disposition.

Category Three – pre-emption rights

A right of pre-emption relating to a Relevant Disposition.

Category Four – rights for a party to direct the Proprietor to make a Relevant Disposition 

To:

• a person who is not a party to a contract for a Relevant Disposition; or
• either a person who is not a party to such contract or the entity to whom the right is granted.

The extent of Category Four is uncertain. It could include promotion agreements and collaboration agreements.

When must contractual control information be provided? 

CCRs granted before 6 April 2027

If CCRs are granted on or after 8 June 2026 but before 6 April 2027, contractual control information (CC Information) must be provided to the Land Registry before 6 October 2027. Parties entering into potentially registrable CCRs will need to maintain sufficient information to comply with that deadline. 

CCRs granted on or after 6 April 2027

CC Information in respect of CCRs granted on or after 6 April 2027 must be provided to the Land Registry within 60 days of a trigger event occurring on or after 6 April 2027. 

The following are trigger events:

• The creation of a new CCR
• Assignment of a CCR or a right for which CC Information has previously been provided
• Any written variation that alters the CC Information

The requirement to provide CC Information, imposed on the party benefitting from the CCR, will effectively operate as a mandatory registration obligation alongside existing Land Registry requirements. 

Applications for notices and restrictions

CC Information must also be provided by the applicant on an application to the Land Registry for a notice or restriction in respect of a contract containing a CCR.

Determination, expiry, or exercise of a CCR

The Land Registry must be notified within 60 days of determination, expiry, or exercise (in whole or in part) of a CCR.

Submission by conveyancer

CC Information and notifications regarding determination, expiry, or exercise of a CCR must be provided to the Land Registry by a conveyancer – generally a solicitor, licensed conveyancer, or chartered legal executive – although the Land Registry will have a discretion to waive this requirement in certain circumstances.

What information must be provided? 

• The date of the contract, relevant parties, land affected, title number, address, details of the category of CCR, period during which the CCR subsists, details of land held separately from the surface (including airspace), and where the party granting the CCR is an individual, their date and place of birth
• Also, for Categories One, Two, and Four, the date from which the CCR can be exercised or if that date is contingent on specified conditions, details of those conditions – a potentially cumbersome task for complex conditional contracts

Notably, the Regulations do not require financial details, such as price, to be disclosed.

Exemptions

Some CCRs are exempt from registration, including those:

• contained in contracts made for national security or defence purposes;
• relating to security for payment of overage;
• enabling lenders to enforce security over property;
• granted exclusively for purposes that do not relate to future development resulting in the provision of (i) one or more dwelling-houses (including flats) or (ii) a building where the floorspace created by the development is 100 square metres or more; 
• where the total period during which the rights can be exercised is less than 18 months; or
• contained in an agreement under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 relating exclusively to the provision of infrastructure, amenities, or services in connection with the grant of planning permission. 

Land Registry obligations

The Land Registry must retain all relevant CC Information and publish relevant data as soon as possible after 6 April 2028, with monthly updates after that.

Enforcement

The Land Registry may refuse to register or update a notice or restriction relating to a CCR if it is not satisfied that the required CC Information has been provided. 

Offences

It is a criminal offence to:

• fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with any requirement imposed by the Regulations; or
• knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information 

Penalties and officer liability 

Penalties include imprisonment and/or a fine and may be imposed on officers of companies, partnerships, and corporate or unincorporated bodies (e.g., directors, members of an LLP) who authorise, permit, participate in, or fail to take reasonable steps to prevent the commission of a relevant offence. 

Practical implications

• Parties entering into options, conditional contracts, pre‑emptions, promotion agreements, collaboration agreements, and similar arrangements will need to identify at an early stage whether the arrangements need to be registered.
• Systems should be put in place now to track CCRs that are created on or after 8 June 2026, with a view to complying with the 5 October 2027 long‑stop for pre‑commencement CCRs and the 60‑day deadline for trigger events from 6 April 2027.
• Given the criminal sanctions and potential officer liability, governance, training, and compliance procedures will be vital for organisations that commonly use contractual control mechanisms in land transactions.

Comment

Government guidance comments that:

"Many land deals are made through private contracts that do not transfer ownership but give a developer or promoter the right to control or benefit from future development. These arrangements are currently opaque to the public, local communities and local planning authorities, and other market participants – making it harder to understand land use patterns or identify available land for development.

“By requiring information about those rights to be provided to the Land Registry, the Regulations 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.”

That may be the case; however it is far from certain that the improvements in transparency and public awareness that the government envisages will be delivered in practice by this regime.

The Regulations create another administrative and cost burden for developers and the Land Registry – one that is likely to be disproportionate to the benefit of the information that will be made available as a result – and by fixing a criminal sanction for non-compliance the real estate industry will be compelled to adjust and adopt it.

Those wishing to view the published data will need to request it from the Land Registry, which may impose conditions on the person making the request. That requirement may deter members of the public and local communities, and local authorities may lack the necessary resources to access and make meaningful use of the information.

In addition, given the existing and well-publicised issues with Land Registry resourcing (resulting in a large backlog of registration applications), there are real concerns from the industry as to how the Land Registry will be able to cope with this additional burden.

From a development perspective, the information that will be available may be of some use in identifying sites where contractual control arrangements are already in place, potentially reducing duplication of effort by developers and promoters seeking to assemble sites. However, the regime does not address any of the underlying barriers to development, such as planning delays, infrastructure constraints, or the availability of development finance. Transparency alone does not unlock land for development; it merely reveals who holds the relevant interests and often that will be known by parties “on the ground” in any event.

The real test will be whether the information collected is made available in a format that is genuinely useful and whether it catalyses practical engagement between landowners, developers, local authorities, and local communities, rather than simply adding yet another unwanted layer of regulatory compliance and cost to development.

Client Alert 2026-138