Not registered with Land Registry - does it matter?

Peartree

My parents have been in discussion with their solicitors about wills and so on. During the course of this the solicitor discovered their property isn't registered with the Land Registry.

They bought the house as a new build and have been the only owners. They paid off the mortgage years ago and have the deeds lodged with their solicitors.

The solicitor said that it is not unusual for houses which haven't ever transferred ownership not to be registered.

My question is - is this likely ever to cause them any problems? I understand it is around £300 to register the house - whilst they have no problem in spending that amount, obviously, they'd rather not if it this is never likely to present an issue.

G_M

This guide will give you the dates of which areas in Eng/Wales became compulsory registration areas on which dates. The last areas were included in 1990.

If the property has changed hands since the date of compulsoy registration in the area concerned, it should have been registered. If it wasn't, whoever did the conveyancing is at fault.

If it has NOT changed hands, then registrtion was NOT compulsory.

There are many (though a gradually diminishing number) unregistered properties.

When they eventually change hands, proof of Title will be undertaken in the same way that ALL Titles were transfered prior to compulsory Land Registration, and they will then be registered.

mustang1

If there was no need for them to compulsorily register the property then there will be no problem. They can sell the property unregistered and the buyer will have to register when they purchase the property. It's not a big deal.

Land_Registry

G_M and mustang1 are quite correct of course with their posts and much of the time dealing with unregistered property poses no problems. However issues can arise for example where the 'deeds' have been lost (not happened here) or where a buyer's conveyancer may be reluctant to deal with an unregistered property.

Such reluctance is very rare but it can happen and I only mention it as I have come across the odd example although often linked with other issues around the sale of the property. As to whether it would be a 'big deal' or not though is impossible to say as you are reliant on a third party to make such a decision when buying the property.

Solely from providing a wider view and for other viewers of this post the following online material may be of interest here.

Our website also includes information on how to register .

You have referred to a fee of around £300 but the fee for a voluntary registration is in fact a reduced one (it will be less from 22nd October onwards as well) so you might want to check again here

You may also want to take a look at our Public Guide 8 re the advantages of registering as well.