About the Adjudicator

The Adjudicator is an independent judicial office created by the Land Registration Act 2002. The Adjudicator is Edward Cousins. There are over 30 deputy Adjudicators, of whom 3 are full time and the remainder are part time. The full time deputy Adjudicators are:

• Ann McAllister
• Owen Rhys; and
• Michael Michell.

The service provided to the public is to resolve disputes about registered land in England and Wales. Most of these disputes are referred by the Land Registry.

In the future, the Adjudicator will also determine appeals against decisions of the Land Registry concerning Network Access Agreements.

The Land Registry keeps and updates the register of titles to land in England and Wales. If a person wishes to alter the register that person will apply to the Land Registry to make that change.

The Land Registry will normally give notice of the application to others who may be interested in the land in question before making any changes. If somebody who is given notice objects to the application and the parties cannot resolve their dispute by agreement the Land Registry will refer the dispute to the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry unless it considers either the application or the objection to be groundless. It will then be dealt with in a similar way to the way in which a court would do so.

The Adjudicator to HM Land Registry is completely separate from and independent of the Land Registry. If you want to find out more about the Land Registry, you can visit the Land Registry website.

Applications to rectify, correct or cancel documents (for example a transfer) relating to registered land are also dealt with by the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry. These cases are sent in directly from members of the public.