European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
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puted, perhaps leading to the loss of connection to amenities; zones are applied to<br />
the property perhaps leading to the property being built without valid permission;<br />
or a property purports to be sold free from encumbrance but is in fact subject to a<br />
developer’s mortgage. All these examples could be solved by enquiry with a properly<br />
constituted <strong>and</strong> administered state l<strong>and</strong> registry. Unfortunately not all state<br />
l<strong>and</strong> registries are at an advanced stage of development may not be easy to access,<br />
or the state may not yet centralize information or keep it up to date centrally.<br />
How do they work?<br />
However L<strong>and</strong> Registries are more than just a deposit of information, in some<br />
jurisdictions the actual act of registering a right over property in the Register will<br />
create that right. So in some jurisdictions the absence of registration of a right<br />
would mean the right did not exist, even if the purchaser had h<strong>and</strong>ed over money,<br />
even moved into the property itself. Most systems fall under either the Register<br />
of deeds model where the fact of the transaction is recorded but no right created<br />
via registration, or the Register of title model where the right is created via registration<br />
<strong>and</strong> greater precedence is given to registered rights <strong>and</strong> a greater level of<br />
certainty achieved by reference to the register which the state would “insure” by<br />
compensation to anyone who loses through an error in the Register or its administration.<br />
The second model gives a high degree of certainty but requires a high<br />
degree of administration, infrastructure <strong>and</strong> state financial guarantee. It is the<br />
view of the <strong>European</strong> L<strong>and</strong> Registry (ELRA) project that this high degree of legal<br />
certainty is essential throughout the EU if real property transactions are to be as<br />
safe as possible facilitating the wider aims of the EU.<br />
In jurisdictions with administratively advanced L<strong>and</strong> Registries it is easy to take<br />
for granted the peace of mind offered by a State guaranteed source of information,<br />
reliable <strong>and</strong> easy to access. Not all jurisdictions enjoy such an advanced level<br />
of administration, however, <strong>and</strong> legal certainty of information is hard to come by.<br />
If the purchaser is local or a citizen of the State they will have some local knowledge<br />
about the property or zone or region that might help them steer clear of<br />
trouble, but if the purchaser is from another Member State, they are placed at a<br />
disadvantage without the backup of an accessible L<strong>and</strong> Registry. The variety of local<br />
sources of information that must be consulted, the lack of a single up-to-date<br />
map to consult, the lack of transparency of money charges over property or the<br />
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