Priority

1. Criteria for setting priority. How is priority established? Is priority guaranteed by the fact of presenting firstly a document against other document that is potentially incompatible?

Priority is accorded under Rule 58 of Land Registration Rues and in general priority shall rank for priority of registration in the order in which they are received by the Authority.

2. Are there any possibilities of that a document presented later may go ahead or prevail in priority rather than other documents or deeds presented earlier?

If an application is rejected, it will be deemed to have been received only when re-lodged in order. So if application A is lodged today and application B lodged tomorrow, if application A is examined and found not to be in order for registration it is rejected. B then has priority if the documents presented for registration are in order. Parties may of course agree to postpone priority in certain circumstances.

3. Let’s suppose a document presented firstly that consequently holds priority but is affected by defects or lack of legal requirements. How long would it keep priority against other document presented later?

It will keep its priority unless rejected. Many applications require queries to be raised and responded to prior to completion. It is only when replies are in and documents fully in order that registration is made effective from the date of lodgement, therefore priority is not lost. If seriously defective, the application and deeds are rejected in the first instance and priority is lost.