transfering a property help and advice needed please

stevie-b

Hi this is my first post so please be gentle

I have my late grandfather’s house,or think I have. The current value is £100,000. There is no mortgage on it and the leasehold was handed to me upon his death in 1999. I returned to the area and lived there while caring for my grand mother until my marriage in 2002. My Grandmother continued to live there until she moved in with my mother in 2007. I purchased the freehold of the property from the local authority in 2008 while I was renovating the property.

I am in the process of taking out a mortgage on the property. However, I have been informed by my solicitor that the original transfer of the lease was not recorded on the land registry and that only the freehold is registered. My Solicitor is insisting that my Grandmother goes to a solicitor and transfers the leasehold to me before she can process the morgage.

I am concerned with the tax implications of transferring the lease now and wondered if it was possible to backdate the transfer.

John_Pierpoint

I'm no expert on the Land Registry rules.
When the bright idea of having a central registry was put into law in the late 1800's (I believe) there was the most amazing back log of work to be done coupled with massive changes to land law. Initially only certain areas of the country had to register land and only then when it changed hands for money.

By the mid 70's in England the system had got to the stage where all monetised transactions had to be registered and the Registry could start on other transactions as well. (At least leases with a fair period to run, what most of us would call "rents" are still excluded).Computerisation helped cope with the volumes.

A transfer on death is called an assent and these are (I think) now a matter of compulsory registration. Were you left the lease in a will?

It looks to me as though who ever sorted out grand dad's estate did not complete the job or back then did not need to. ("It will only cost you more fees" - and enable you to escape the clutches of the legal profession?)

It looks to me as though the solicitor who conveyed the freehold did not do the paperwork correctly.
Or Grandfather was all talk and never got a round tuit and put the instruction in his will?
(Do you have a copy?!?).

I think my very first step would be to check with the Land Registry, when transfer on death became a matter of compulsory registration. There were changes of this sort as recently as April this year.

stevie-b

thanks for taking the time to reply John.
I was not left the lease in a will i was mearly handed it and kept it in a draw. We thought that as I now held the lease i would be the lease holder.

I am rather anoyed at the solicitor who conveyed the freehold. Its the same solicitor who is now telling me that the leasehold was not registered. I have the original emails instructing them to purchase the freehold and combine the freehold with the leasehold, but that doesn't seem to count for much.

It's what happens in the future regarding Tax payments that is worrying me.