Finance Act 2003

79Registration of land transactions etc

(1)A land transaction to which this section applies, or (as the case may be) a document effecting or evidencing a land transaction to which this section applies, shall not be registered, recorded or otherwise reflected in an entry made—

(a)in England and Wales, in the register of title maintained by the Chief Land Registrar,

(b)in Scotland, in any register maintained by the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, or

(c)in Northern Ireland, in any register maintained by the Land Registry of Northern Ireland or in the Registry of Deeds for Northern Ireland,

unless there is produced, together with the relevant application, a certificate as to compliance with the requirements of this Part in relation to the transaction.

This does not apply where the entry is required to be made without any application or so far as the entry relates to an interest or right other than the chargeable interest acquired by the purchaser under the land transaction that gives rise to the application.

(2)This section applies to every land transaction other than—

(a)a contract for a land transaction under which the transaction is to be completed by a conveyance, or

(b)a transfer of rights (within the meaning of section 45) under such a contract.

In this subsection “contract” includes any agreement and “conveyance” includes any instrument.

(3)The certificate must be either—

(a)a certificate by the Inland Revenue (a “Revenue certificate”) that a land transaction return has been delivered in respect of the transaction, or

(b)a certificate by the purchaser (a “self-certificate”) that no land transaction return is required in respect of the transaction.

(4)The Inland Revenue may make provision by regulations about Revenue certificates.

The regulations may, in particular—

(a)make provision as to the conditions to be met before a certificate is issued;

(b)prescribe the form and content of the certificate;

(c)make provision about the issue of duplicate certificates if the original is lost or destroyed;

(d)provide for the issue of multiple certificates where a return is made relating to more than one transaction.

(5)Schedule 11 makes further provision about self-certificates.

In that Schedule—

• Part 1 contains general provisions,

• Part 2 imposes a duty to keep and preserve records, and

• Part 3 makes provision for enquiries into self-certificates.

(6)The registrar (in Scotland, the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland)—

(a)shall allow the Inland Revenue to inspect any certificates or self-certificates produced to him under this section and in his possession, and

(b)may enter into arrangements for affording the Inland Revenue other information and facilities for verifying that the requirements of this Part have been complied with.