SIMR as part of HIP

markandjayne

Hi
selling my deceased aunt's bungalow and have just had the HIP back.
It contains a SIMR rather than land registry copy (built in 1957).
The text says
No registered estate, caution against first registration or application for first registration or application for a caution against first registration is shown on the index map inrelation to the property.
Please can anyone shed light on what this means and if just having this will cause any sale difficulties.

thanks

david29dpo

Not a problem. It simply means the house is unregistered, ie not on the land registry computer. It happens a lot with houses that have not been sold for many years. It replaces the title plan.The HIP company should have asked for the deeds to do a epitome of title, this replaces the title register.

markandjayne

Thanks
what do they get from the title deeds?

SooSoo_4

The same basic information as would be shown on the Land Registry documents (if the property had been registered) namely the ownership details over the last 15 years, any charge details and a plan (if there is a plan available from the deeds). Copies of the relevant Conveyances, charges etc., will be listed on the Epitome and included in the HIP.

david29dpo

Excellent answer.

Richard_Webster

The HIP for an unregistered property should contain details of the unregistered title - an epitome which is a list of documents and copies of all the relevant ones going back at least 15 years.

Preparing one of these would be beyond the average non-solicitor HIP company, so they cheat but just putting in the SIMR which really doesn't tell you very much other than the property is not registered.

Maybe they are still assembling the HIP and the epitome will be added later!

david29dpo

If this is the case, and it could be if you have used a cheap provider, It will be a illegal HIP!

markandjayne

Thanks for your views.
In this case, the property has been owned by my aunt and uncle for 50+ years - so it sounds like the epitome required is just a copy of their deeds. Does that sound right?

david29dpo

The epitome is not just a copy of the deeds. As said above, its certain documents going back at least 15 years, mainly to prove title. The deeds are needed by the HIP provider to construct the epitome. If you now have the finished HIP with no epitome, get on to your provider, quick.