The negative nature of the land register

When one acquires real estate in Belgium, one puts his trust in the land register that the previous mentioned owner was effectively the owner of the real estate. Thus one hopes to get the certainty that he will not lose the real estate he bought. The interventions of the notary and the registrar of the land register contribute to this expectation. However, despite this legitimate hope, the Belgian land register does not offer this certainty. As a general rule, one is not protected if the previous owner of the real estate somehow retroactively loses the estate. This can happen in various cases, for instance when the sale by which the previous owner acquired the real estate is declared null. If this happens, one loses his real estate and only maintains a personal claim. This characteristic of the land register is classically called its ‘negative nature’. There are only separate cases in which one is protected anyway, but these lack coherence and thus cannot offer the peace of mind one hopes to have as to his real estate.

This PhD proposal firstly aims at analysing this problem in depth. In a subsequent step, various alternatives will be scrutinized that might lead to a more general protection for the third acquirer. In the final part, which is of a normative nature, it will be studied if and, if yes, to what extent, the third acquirer deserves protection.