The new Contractual Control Register: key risks, deadlines and actions for landowners and developers

Insight

18.06.2026

Businesses and charities will be required to submit information about their ‘contractual control rights’ to a new public register when this is launched by the Land Registry on 6 April 2027.

Compliance is mandatory; failure to do so, or the provision of false or misleading information (whether knowingly or recklessly), will amount to a criminal offence under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.

What is a contractual control right?

A contractual control right is a right to control the future ownership or disposal of registered land (short of actual ownership) through:

an option agreement;
a pre-emption agreement;
a conditional sale agreement or land promotion agreement; or
a direction – ie a right to direct that the proprietor disposes of land to a third party or the party giving the direction.

At present, information about these arrangements is not necessarily publicly accessible, and so the introduction of this new register is aimed at increasing transparency.

Which contractual control rights will be exempt?

To qualify as a contractual control right, the right must be held for the purposes of an undertaking and must not be exempt.

There are a small number of exemptions, and the government have noted that these are to be interpreted narrowly:

Short leases: rights that relate to leases with a term of less than 15 years remaining at the time the right is granted.
Short-term rights: rights with a total period of control of less than 18 months (taking into account any extension provisions).
Security arrangements: rights protecting the repayment of a loan or financing or the payment of overage.
Rights granted exclusively for non-development purposes: rights granted exclusively for purposes that do not relate to the future development (meaning not related to the development of one or more dwellings, or of buildings with more than 100 square metres of floorspace). For example, rights granted for maintenance, utilities or farming will be exempt.
Section 106 arrangements: rights in the appropriate planning agreement relating to the provision of infrastructure, amenities or services in connection with a grant of planning permission.
National security/defence: rights in a contract made for purposes of national security or defence.

Who is responsible and what information will need to be provided?

The grantee (generally the beneficiary of the right) is obliged to submit prescribed contractual control information for each contractual control right including:

details about the parties;
the type of contractual control right;
key details about the agreement;
the mechanics for exercising the right (such as the date it can be exercised and details of any relevant conditions);
the duration of the right (including extension, renewal and termination provisions); and
details of the affected land.

Payment arrangements and consideration do not need to be disclosed (despite the primary legislation allowing for this), which reduces some of the commercial sensitivity around the greater transparency.

The contractual control information must be submitted to the Land Registry digitally by a regulated conveyancer.

The Land Registry will publish the database as soon as possible after 6 April 2028 and will update it no less frequently than once a month.

When must contractual control rights be registered?

Rights that are granted on or after 8 June 2026 up to and including 5 April 2027 must be submitted for registration by 6 October 2027.

For rights granted on or after 6 April 2027, the application for registration must be made within 60 days of the right being granted.

Any assignments or variations of an applicable right will also need to be submitted for registration within 60 days of the assignment or variation (even if the original right did not need to be registered when it was originally created).

If a right is exercised, expires or determines on or after 6 April 2027, the information must be submitted within 60 days.

The Land Registry may refuse an application for a notice or restriction relating to the right to be registered on the main register until the relevant information has been provided to the contractual controls register. Therefore, as most contractual control rights need to be protected by a notice or restriction on the main register, in practice the application to submit the contractual control information must be made much sooner than the relevant deadline.

What is the impact of the Contractual Controls Register?

Impact on SMEs

The register aims to support SMEs by bringing greater transparency around land control arrangements; however, the reporting obligations will add administrative costs that could disproportionately affect SMEs.

This transparency will also expose developers’ strategies and target sites to competitors. This could deter developers (particularly SMEs), from investing in schemes if better-resourced rivals can exploit that information and move more quickly to bring forward competing proposals.

Advance notice of development

Just the existence of this type of agreement can itself be commercially sensitive, and making information publicly available may pressurise landowners and developers to signal schemes earlier. Whilst this could encourage earlier engagement with communities about proposed developments, it may prompt an increase in pre-application engagement, objections and resistance, placing further strain on the planning system and potentially delaying projects and increasing costs.

Site assembly and land pricing

Site assembly and land pricing may be affected. If landowners can see that developers have secured contractual control rights over neighbouring land, they gain leverage in negotiations over strategic parcels, ransom strips and access rights, and may seek higher prices for these. This increased transparency reduces developers’ negotiating position, potentially making site assembly more difficult and expensive.

Lack of practical benefit?

The principal barriers to housebuilding are not transparency around contractual controls, but issues such as viability, planning complexity and construction skills shortages. In addition, with the register updated only monthly, the information available to third parties is unlikely to be up to date at the time it is searched anyway.

Impact on the Land Registry

The Land Registry is already overstretched, with a significant backlog in processing registration applications that impedes investment, development, financing and asset management transactions. It is unclear whether the Land Registry has the capacity to effectively manage an additional register.

What should businesses and charities do now?

Businesses and charities will need to update internal processes to keep track of contractual control rights which are entered into (or have already been entered into) on or after 8 June 2026 and may need to reassess planning strategies (including the timing of applications, site promotion and community engagement).

Where disclosure is a concern, developers and landowners may want to consider alternative legal structures such as share purchases or outright acquisitions.

Any variations or assignments of contractual control rights which are currently being negotiated should be completed before 6 April 2027 where possible, if the parties want to avoid submitting the information to the new register.

Whilst the register aims to improve transparency, it introduces new compliance burdens and potential commercial risks. Businesses and charities should act now to review their arrangements and processes to ensure they are prepared for the new regime.

This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.