If a rentcharge is shown as being informally exonerated on title information, does this apply to the current registered owner? Or does the informal exoneration only apply to the parties to the document which informally exonerated the rentcharge?

This Q&A considers the situation where, at some point in time, the land was noted as being transferred free of the rentcharge and therefore no longer is shown on the current Register of Title, rather than being formally extinguished.

The three main ways in which a rentcharge can come to an end are:

1. •

   by express release by the owner of the rentcharge to the owner of the land charged

2. •

   by merger when the owner of the rentcharge and the owner of the land charged become the same person, or

3. •

   by Redemption under the Rentcharges Act 1977

Also note that except for rentcharges which are exempted, Rentcharges Act 1977, s 3, provides that every rentcharge will be extinguished at the expiry of the period of 60 years from 22 August 1977 or from the date when it first becomes payable, whichever