Overreaching

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title: "Overreaching" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["english-property-law"] description: "Concept in English land law" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overreaching" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Concept in English land law ::

Overreaching is a concept in English land law and the Law of Property Act 1925. It refers to a situation where a person's equitable property right is dissolved, detached from a piece of property, and reattached to money that is given by a third party for the property. This happens, according to City of London Building Society v Flegg in any case where property is bought or mortgaged in a contract with two or more title holders.

Overreaching can only exist where a trust is in existence and a property is sold. It occurs when the purchaser paid to at least two trustees in monies. The occupiers of a property in such a situation cannot then claim that their occupation of the property is an overriding interest, as the joint trustees have brought that occupation to a close through the sale of the property.

By purchasing the property from trustees, under Section 2 of the Law of Property Act 1925, the occupation rights of any other party are automatically extinguished. If such a party claims an overriding interest in the land, that interest is converted by attaching a monetary interest to the land, such as a purchase price, and the interest claimed by the party is 'overreached'; this conversion is often referred to as the doctrine of equitable conversion.

If only one owner exists, there is a risk that a third party could claim occupation and overreaching cannot apply.

The issues of overreaching and overriding interests are often closely linked, and the case of Birmingham Midshires v Sabherwal examined both issues.

Overreaching is a process whereby certain equitable rights in land which might otherwise have enjoyed protection in the system of registration on the occasion of a sale of that land to a purchaser for value are "swept off" the land and transferred to the purchase money that has just been paid.

References

References

1. "Law of Property Act 1925".
2. [2000] 80 P. & C.R. 256
3. [[Martin Dixon (academic lawyer). Martin Dixon]], "Modern Land Law", Routledge Cavendish, 6th edition p.93

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