The government has issued draft regulations and accompanying guidance setting out a new requirement to register certain Contractual Control Agreements (CCAs) at HM Land Registry. The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 (the Regulations) are expected to be made in the coming months and will come into force on 6 April 2027.
The Regulations form part of the wider transparency agenda in the land market. They will establish a centralised, publicly accessible register of CCAs administered by HM Land Registry, enabling local authorities, communities, developers, researchers and the general public to see who controls land earmarked for potential development, even where legal ownership has not yet changed hands. This represents a significant shift for the development sector, which has traditionally relied on confidential strategic land arrangements.
Developers should carefully consider how these new obligations may affect their commercial strategies. Once operational, the register will make strategically sensitive information available for public inspection, including to competitors. It is therefore important to identify now which existing and future agreements may fall within scope.
CCAs are agreements that give a party an element of control over how land is disposed of or developed without transferring legal ownership. Under the Regulations, the following written agreements will generally be registrable where they relate to registered land:
To fall within scope, the contractual control right must last for at least 18 months, or be capable of extension beyond 18 months. CCAs concerning unregistered land will not require registration.
CCAs excluded from the new registration requirements include:
Where an agreement serves multiple purposes, and any part constitutes a registrable contractual control right, registration may still be required. Assignments or variations of otherwise exempt agreements on or after 6 April 2027 may also trigger registration.
The Regulations and guidance specify the information that must be submitted for each registrable CCA, including:
For all CCAs except pre emptions, the date from which the right may be exercised must also be stated, together with any contractual conditions precedent.
Where a party is a corporate entity, its registration number must be provided. Where a party is an individual, their date and place of birth must be supplied, although this information will not appear on the public register.
The obligation to register a CCA falls on the grantee (the party receiving the benefit of the right), typically the developer. All submissions must be made digitally to HM Land Registry via an individually regulated conveyancer.
This marks a departure from usual HM Land Registry processes, which typically allow applications to be lodged either directly by the applicant or by a supervised employee. The stricter requirement reflects the complexity and sensitivity of the information involved. HM Land Registry is currently finalising the operational design of the new register and application process.
Concerns have been raised regarding the additional administrative burden this may place on HM Land Registry, which is already managing significant workloads and registration backlogs.
The grantee must submit the required information within 60 days of a triggering event, which includes the grant or assignment of a CCA, any written variation that creates or alters a CCA and the determination, expiry or exercise (in whole or in part) of a CCA.
The disclosure duty begins once the Regulations are made, expected in the next few months. Timing requirements are as follows:
The 60 day rule also applies to variations, assignments, expiry, partial exercise or termination occurring on or after 6 April 2027.
Failure to register the CCA at HM Land Registry does not affect the validity or enforceability of the underlying agreement but if the grantee does not register the CCA within the required timeframes then it will constitute a criminal offence, potentially leading to prosecution and penalties.
Also, HM Land Registry may refuse to register a notice or restriction in relation to the CCA where the mandatory information has not been submitted.
Non-compliance could affect funding for projects, negatively impact negotiations with landowners and cause delays to project delivery.
Developers may be wary of the reputational and commercial sensitivities inherent in disclosing information about their strategic land deals. The introduction of the Regulations means more information than ever will be made available to competitors and other third parties about private dealings involving land. It is important for developer clients to:
It is clear that the requirement to disclose key information in commercially sensitive agreements will have wide-ranging implications for developers. For more information, please contact our real estate team.
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