For sale: caveat emptor

THE system of land registration was, according to Lord Wilberforce in Williams&Glyn's Bank v. Boland [1981] A.C. 487, 503, “designed to free the purchaser from the hazards of notice–real or constructive–which, in the case of unregistered land, involved him in enquiries, often quite elaborate, failing which he might be bound by equities”. The hapless purchaser of land may well consider the remedy just as hazardous as the complaint. Certainly, in the light of Ferrishurst Ltd. v. Wallcite Ltd. [1999] 2 W.L.R. 667, no obituary can yet be written for elaborate enquiries.