In an effort to increase transparency in the land market and support housing delivery, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has proposed a new Land Transparency Register for Developers following a consultation in Spring 2026. It will be affected by The Provision of Information (Contractual Control) (Registered Land) Regulations 2026, which awaits Parliamentary approval. The expected commencement date is 6 April 2027. 

“Contractual control agreements are widely used in the land market as a means of securing rights over land short of outright ownership. They allow developers and land promoters to control land and prevent others from purchasing it while they, for example, pursue planning permission, negotiate access, assemble neighbouring sites, or secure funding.”

“Historically, there has been no legal requirement for these agreements to be disclosed or recorded. To address this, Parliament passed new powers in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 to require the disclosure and publication of information about contractual control agreements.”

The new register will apply to any person with the benefit of a contractual control right relating to residential or mixed-use development, including developers and land promoters. The burden to disclose falls on the party with the benefit of the right, within 60 days of it being granted, varied or assigned.

Parties will be required to disclose the following data which will be published in a publicly available dataset from April 2028 (to be updated monthly), with a grace period to report existing but undisclosed rights. It includes all options and conditional contracts to acquire a freehold or leasehold property or a new lease (leases with a term of less than 15 years unexpired are exempt) plus rights of pre-emption (first refusal) for such acquisition, and rights to direct the transfer or lease to a third party. Parties must disclose two categories of information:

• the identity of the grantor and grantee, the type of contractual control, exercise conditions, duration (including any permitted extensions or right to terminate), and the title number, address, and postcode of the affected land,  and
• the termination, expiry, or exercise of the right (in whole or in part) must also be reported to HMLR.

Exceptions to disclosure are numerous and include national and defence security contracts, size of property (e.g. under 100 square meters of floorspace) and section 106 rights that relate exclusively to infrastructure, amenities, or services.

There will be financial penalties for non-compliance, and “knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information”, both of which will constitute an offence under section 225 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. Conviction carries a maximum prison term of two years.

The register will be maintained by HM Land Registry, and will operate as a transparency dataset rather than forming part of the Land Register itself and will not create or affect property rights.

The proposed register is intended to increase transparency in the land market by revealing who controls land intended for development, allowing local authorities, communities and market participants to better understand the pipeline of potential housing sites.