The Land Charges Act 1972 (LCA 1972) provides for certain charges and incumbrances relating to unregistered land to be registered as land charges in the land charges register maintained by the Land Charges Department of hm land registry (based at its office in Plymouth). This is an entirely separate register to that for substantive title registration.

Land charges protect the interests, in unregistered land, of third parties who do not hold the title deeds to the land and so cannot control when and how the land is disposed of.

LCA 1972 also requires HM Land Registry, in addition to the register of land charges, to maintain the following registers:

1. •

   pending land actions and pending actions in bankruptcy

2. •

   writs and orders affecting land and writs and orders in bankruptcy

The registers of pending land actions and pending actions in bankruptcy and writs and orders affecting land and writs and orders in bankruptcy can be searched separately when a bankruptcy only search is required (for example, prior to completing a mortgage