Land Registration / transfer of title deeds - how long?

Gazump

How long is this supposed to take after completion on a property?

Gazump

My solicitor is supposed to do it.

But its been over a month! They said it is normal to have delays. But that means I'm still not officially the owner of this property right?

Richard_Webster

The main delay is the time the seller's mortgage lender takes to produce the discharge of the seller's mortgage.

I have one where we completed on 7th October and despite the seller's solicitor continually pressing them it took over 2 months for the Nationwide to send the notification of discharge to the Land Registry - we sent the application off for registration on 17th December. (Nationwide aren't normally bad and are quite good at most things when we deal with them, but this was an exception.) A few years ago a certain other major lender would often take 4-6months and became a national joke amongst conveyancers and Land Registry staff. They have now cleaned things up.

lauraellajane

Interesting... I'm getting a bit worried about getting our deeds through - my husband and I completed at the end of September but we still haven't heard anything from our solicitor, despite chasing them up. We've paid them fully after they chased us for payment about a month after completing. (should I regret doing that?!)

Didn't know the lender had anything to do with it though - should I perhaps be calling Halifax to see if there's a delay there? Thanks

G_M

The seller's lender won't speak to you about it so no point ringing. All you can do is keep chasing your solicitor to keep chasing the lender.

Natcurvygirl

as a former Land Registry staff member (23 yrs b4 i took voluntary redundacy!) I can assure you the reason for the delay will be with either your solicitor or as previous poster suggested the vendors mortgagors delaying sending the discharge forms to the Land Registry.If you are sure that your solicitors have actually lodged your application with the LR you can phone the LR to establish when they recieved the application and if a requisition has been issued to your sols for evidence of discharge . In normal applications where no requisitions have to be raised applications are completed very quickly ! Hope this helps a bit ?:))

lauraellajane

Ahh okay thanks both! Thought it was meant my lender would have apart to play.

As we've bought a new build I'll chase up solicitors then land registry I think.

G_M

lauraellajane wrote: »

Ahh okay thanks both! Thought it was meant my lender would have apart to play.

As we've bought a new build I'll chase up solicitors then land registry I think.

Assuming your solicitor is also acting for your lender (usually) then he will register the property in your name with your lender's charge on the property at the same time.

However beofre that, the seller's lender's charge on the property must be removed (and the seller probobly relies on the money you hand over at Completion to pat off the charge (mortgage).

So yes, the delay is almost certainly the seller's lender.

lindos90

Just found this thread by accident, we moved at the end of october, and I assumed all that needed to be done had been done, but now im not so sure.

Should I be expecting something in the post from our solicitors, to confirm we are now registered?

orangefender

G_M wrote: »

However beofre that, the seller's lender's charge on the property must be removed (and the seller probobly relies on the money you hand over at Completion to pat off the charge (mortgage).
QUOTE]

This is incorrect; the Land Registry procedure changed a few months ago for transfers. The Land Registry should deal with registration of the transfer and the new lender's charge first. Removal of any old charges (if any) are now dealt with separately to avoid this type of delay.

You should speak to your solicitors and ask them for an update. The delay could be for a number of reasons, particularly a new build.