On 9 April 2025, the Law of Property Act 1925 turned 100! The Law of Property Act 1925 (“LPA 1925”) modernised and streamlined property transactions in England and Wales. For property lawyers, the LPA 1925 is still significant today as both an academic and practical piece of legislation shaping modern land transactions. Here’s why:
Legal Interests
Prior to 1925, a range of legal estates in land existed. The LPA 1925 reduced the number of legal estates to just two – freehold and leasehold – simplifying the conveyancing process and making property transactions universal. The legal estates are technically known as:
(a) an estate in fee simple absolute in possession (freehold); or
(b) a term of years absolute (leasehold).
The LPA 1925 then sets out what legal interests or charges exist, including familiar terms such estate rent charges, a legal mortgage or an easement.
The principle of “overreaching” was created. Overreaching is a legal process that occurs when a property held under a trust of land is sold or transferred. It’s a protective mechanism designed to ensure that the interests of beneficiaries in the proceeds of land are safeguarded.
Deeds and Other Formalities
Property practitioners know that a conveyance of a legal estate or interest must be executed as a deed. The LPA 1925 sets out that if a legal estate or interest is not made by deed, it will only take effect as an “equitable” interest, and not legal.
The LPA 1925, however, failed to give clarity to the requirements of a deed. Another piece of legislation, the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, does that job and provides the requirements for a valid deed to be in writing, incorporate all terms agreed and be signed by each party.
The Start of Land Registration
Though a system of title registration was loosely created as early as the Doomsday Book in 1066, the LPA 1925 set the scene for the Land Registration Act 1925 (“LRA 1925”) and the foundations for the HM Land Registry that we use today. The Land Registry is the centralised system for recording property ownership and maintaining a reliable public record.
From 1925, conveyancing became faster, more efficient, and legal costs decreased. We have, however, currently taken a step back in terms of the speed of registration of land dispositions at HM Land Registry, which can now take up to 3 years to complete. Reform of this is required, but neither the LPA 1925 nor the LRA 1925 are to blame.
Other 1925 Acts
We should not overlook the fact that 1925 was a big year for property legislation generally, as there were six major Acts of Parliament passed in that year, namely:
- Law of Property Act 1925
- Land Registration Act 1925 (which was updated by the Land Registration Act 2002)
- Land Charges Act 1925 (which was repealed by the Land Charges Act 1972)
- Settled Land Act 1925, and
- Trustee Act 1925 (with both being reformed by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996)
- Administration of Estates Act 1925.
These Acts may well require their own blogs, but this should not detract from the LPA 1925 which was the major path to reform.
The Future
While the LPA 1925 was transformative in its time, the world has significantly changed given social, technological, and economic changes. Although it seems unlikely that the LPA 1925 will be reformed wholesale, there are imperfections that could do with updating, streamlining and clarifying.
In particular, major reform of leasehold interests are now on the political horizon, with the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2025 now being law and the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill 2025 set to reinvigorate commonhold land shortly.
Happy 100th birthday to the Law of Property Act 1925!
