Strategic land under the spotlight: the new Contractual Control Regulations

On 9 March 2026, the Government published a draft of  The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026 (“the Regulations”).  The Regulations mark a significant shift in land transparency in England and Wales.  For the first time, key information about option agreements, conditional contracts, pre-emption rights and certain promotion arrangements will have to be provided to the Land Registry and, in due course, held in a public register.

Objectives of the Regulations

The Government’s rationale for the Regulations is to improve transparency in the land registration system by ensuring that contractual arrangements conferring control over registered land are made known to the public.  The Government’s view is that the current lack of visibility around contractual control arrangements makes it harder for local planning authorities, communities and market participants to understand who is controlling land and where development may be coming forward.  They also believe that greater transparency would support a fairer and more efficient land market, with particular benefit for smaller developers and local authorities trying to identify deliverable sites.

Scope

The party benefiting from the contractual control right, such as those contained in option agreements, conditional contracts, or certain rights associated with promotion agreements will be required to submit information about that right to the Land Registry.  This will include details of the parties, the type of right granted, the land affected, the duration of the right, conditions that the right to exercise may be subject to, whether it can be extended and whether the land includes areas below or above the surface, such as subsoil or airspace.

Exclusions

There are a number of proposed exclusions from the duty to disclose such rights. These include:

• rights granted solely as security for a loan, mortgage or overage obligation;
• rights affecting leasehold interests with 15 years or less unexpired (which would, for example, mean that landlord pre-emption rights or rights to renew contained in such leases would not be disclosable);
• rights held exclusively for non-development purposes;
• rights with a total period of control of less than 18 months;
• rights granted under planning agreements relating to the provision of infrastructure, amenities and services; and
• rights contained in contracts entered for national security or defence purposes.

Timeline for implementation

The draft currently proposes that, for any disclosable arrangements entered into after the Regulations have been made (date to be confirmed) but before 6 April 2027, the required information must be submitted to the Land Registry by 6 October 2027.  This means that any in scope rights granted during this transitional period will be caught.

For any disclosable arrangements entered into after 6 April 2027, the required information must generally be provided within 60 days of a trigger event.  Trigger events include the grant of a new right, a written variation, an assignment, and the expiry, exercise or other determination of the right.

From April 2028, the Land Registry will start publishing the core contractual control information on a database.  Whilst we know that the Land Registry will run the registration platform and that the database will exclude any personal information of the transacting parties what is not yet clear is how the rights will be registered

Enforcement

Failure to comply with the Regulations, or the knowing or reckless provision of false or misleading information, may amount to a criminal offence under section 225 of the Levelling up and Regeneration Act 2023.  There may also be a practical land registration consequence: where a contractual control right would ordinarily be protected by a notice or restriction on the registered title, the Land Registry may refuse to complete registration until the required information properly disclosed.

Conclusion

The Regulations will have a significant impact on landowners and developers.

Potentially landowners could be more cautious about allowing land to be promoted for development, as the disclosure of such arrangements, potentially prior to there being any meaningful scheme developed, could enable nearby communities to mobilise objections at a much earlier stage.  The Government may argue that this level of transparency is the very point of the Regulations.

Developers and promoters seeking to keep confidential commercial arrangements for the delivery of large-scale development may look at alternative structuring for site assembly. For example, there could be more appetite for outright land purchases, although such arrangements would favour those with capital that are prepared to put it at risk.

Regardless of how the market reacts, landowners, developers and promoters need to take note of the Regulations and their wide-ranging impact.

How we can help

If you would like to discuss how these changes may affect you, please do contact our commercial real estate team.