One of the greatest contributions of the technology that surrounds us is immediacy. Private companies are betting very strongly on technology for the user. On the other hand, the public administration is often still far from being included in the culture of technological immediacy. And that can be a problem. An example of the potential for technological and technical improvement is the operation of the Land Registry.
One of the maxims of mortgage law, and the motto of the registrars, is a Latin phrase with the translation “first in time, greater in right” (prior in tempore, potior in iure). It means and implies that the act that first accesses the Registry has better rights than what is registered afterwards and that what is accessed afterwards will be conditioned by what was accessed first. To give an example, when registering two mortgages, whichever is the first will depend on the mortgage itself. The second mortgage will be conditioned by the existence of the first one. If the first mortgage is executed, the second will be cancelled from the Registry, but the first mortgage will not be affected by the execution of the second.
Each time a property is transferred or a mortgage is constituted, the notary before whom the deed is granted must request information from the Registry regarding the ownership and existing charges on the property, as well as the documents that have been presented and that are pending registration. For a period of 9 days from the receipt of the application, the registrar must inform the applicant notary of any other application on the same property made by another notary and of any document submitted for registration that affects the property.
To make that notice, submitted a deed for registration, someone has to see that a notary has requested information about that property, from the Registry notify the notary’s office, have someone at the notary’s office see the notice and notify the notary before the deed is signed. If the document is presented to the Registry at the same time that the new legal transaction is granted, the document presented to the Registry prevails because it is earlier in time. To give an example, if 5 minutes before someone buys a house, a seizure is presented for registration on that same house and the notice from the Registry, as it is not in real time, reaches the authorising notary after the deed of sale has been granted, the purchaser would be buying a seized property.
The Land Registry works very well and in many ways is adapted to new technologies. But not all. And taking into account that the order of receipt of documents is an essential circumstance when registering a right, it would be convenient to update its operation to provide the system with greater immediacy in the management and transmission of information. Currently we have enough technology to view online the state of charge of a plot of land without waiting for the application to be processed and receive the information. Obviously there would be some lag, but it would not be necessary to make the request in advance.
However, no matter how much the time between the submission of the document and the relevant notice is reduced, there will always be a certain time lag between these two events. A possible solution could be that requests for information from notaries would be treated as provisional filing entries and all documents that arrive at the Registry later would have to wait until the entry is consolidated, or declined, before being registered. If, during the period of validity, the deed in question is granted, those provisional filing entries shall become definitive filing entries. This would ensure, for example, that the registry information provided to the notary is true and accurate and would prevent an acquirer from having to bear a burden from a third party.
