The Role of the Law Mandating Official Registration of Immovable Property Transactions in Achieving Transactional Transparency and Economic Security with Emphasis on the Experience of England

Abstract

Achieving transactional transparency and economic security constitutes one of the most important objectives of advanced legal systems in the field of immovable property registration. In Iran, the enactment of the Law Mandating Official Registration of Immovable Property Transactions (2024) represents a turning point in the transformation of the registration system and in addressing challenges such as land grabbing, conflicting transactions, and document forgery. This law seeks allows to restore public trust in the property ownership system and to provide a foundation for legal and economic security by requiring the registration of all transactions through notarial offices and intelligent electronic systems. The present study aims to analyze the role of this law in promoting transactional transparency and economic security, with particular emphasis on the legal experience of England within the framework of the Land Registration Act 2002. The main research question is as follows: To what extent can the Law Mandating Official Registration of Immovable Property Transactions, similar to the English registration system, enhance transactional transparency and guarantee economic security? The findings indicate that achieving this objective requires the implementation of fundamental principles of registration law, including the mirror principle (transparency of ownership information), the curtain principle (protection of unnecessary information), and the principle of state guarantee in the issuance of title documents. A comparison with the English land registration system demonstrates that, without state-backed compensation mechanisms for registration errors and without the integration of registration data systems, the new law will face challenges in fully achieving its intended objectives. The research method adopted in this study is descriptive–analytical, based on a comparative examination of legal sources, judicial practices, and registration systems in the two jurisdictions.