15. Priorities

This chapter explores the issue of how property rights interact, and how conflicts between rights-holders are resolved. This is not a question of competing validity, but rather, of competing priorities. Understanding how priority rules operate is one of the most significant elements of land law. The chapter first explains the general priority rules for registered land. It then looks at the special priority rules in place for cases involving dispositions of registered land; for cases involving registered charges; and for cases involving first registrations. The chapter also considers some exceptional cases where these normal priority rules are supplanted by rules bespoke to particular scenarios. Here, it discusses priority searches; waiver and consent; the special rules relating to acquisition mortgages; the registration gap; overreaching; and subrogation. Finally, the chapter examines the consequences of a loss of priority.