overreaching
n. The process by which interests in land are converted on sale of the land into corresponding interests in the capital money arising from the sale.

Where land is held on a trust of land, the Law of Property Act 1925 provides that a purchaser of the land shall take free of the beneficiaries’ interests, provided that the purchase money is paid to at least two trustees or a trust corporation (City of London Building Society v Flegg [1988] AC 54 (HL)). A mortgagee exercising his power of sale is able to overreach the mortgagor’s estate and equity of redemption and convey the land free from the equitable right: the mortgagor’s rights are transferred to the purchase money, the mortgagee being trustee of any such funds remaining after paying off the mortgage debt. A sale by the tenant for life of settled land also overreaches the interests of the beneficiaries.

Overreaching in general affects only equitable rights.

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