Malcolm Dowden & Elinor Clark on a mortgagee’s consent to the grant of a lease
In June 2006 the Land Registry changed its practice relating to the class of title awarded on first registration of a lease, where the freehold or superior lease out of which it was granted is subject to a mortgage.
Before 19 June 2006 the Land Registry would approve absolute title only if; the mortgagee had consented to the grant of the lease, and evidence of that consent accompanied the application; or the lease fell within Law of Property Act 1925 s 99 and the statutory power of leasing had not been excluded; or the mortgage gave an express power to grant the lease.
If none of those criteria applied, the Land Registry would register the lease with good leasehold, prompting complaints from practitioners that, unless there was a restriction on title in favour of the mortgagee, the lack of mortgagee’s consent should not prevent registration with absolute title.
Since 19 June 2006 absolute title is approved “if that class of title would have been approved had there been
