Restriction on Land Registry Deeds

smackygb

Hello All.My property was built nearly 3 years ago, and was the result of 2 brothers selling their land to a building company, who in turn built a number of plots on the land. When I bought my property from the building company, there was an entry on the land registry for a restriction as follows:

"(22.10.2007) Restriction: No disposition of the registered estate (other than a charge) by the propietor of the registered estate or by the proprietor of any registered charge is to be registered without a cerificate signed by the proprietor for the time being of the estate registered under title number XXXX or its conveyancer that the provisions of clause XXX of the transfer dated 28/09/2007 referred to in the charges regsiter have been complied with".

This restriction refers to an agreement made between the original land owner and the building company to ensure that the building company completed the road system around the plots and this has obviously been done, and had been passed onto my plot , and was not picked up on by the solicitor acting on my behalf at the time. I am now selling, and my buyers solicitor has requested searches and has identified this. My new solictor acting on my behalf now has indicated I cannot sell, until I can get this restriction removed (he thinks obtaining a certificate will still put off the new owners as they will inherit the same issue).

The problem I have is that the land owners who has applied the restriction are 2 brothers, and they have no obligation to sign the RX4 form my solicitor has sent them politely asking if they can sign. My solicitor has recommended that we wait a bit to see if we can coax them to sign - but I have been told the brothers are notoriously slow in responding to legal matters.

My solicitor has indicated that if we do not get a positive response, we should apply ourwselves to have the restriction removed using an RX3 form.

Both my previous and new solicitor have both indicated that although it looks like a mistake that this restriction was carried over onto my plot, there is no guarantee that this restriction will be automatically lifted, and potentially the 2 brothers can contest any request from the land registry.

My wife and I are in bits over this. Is it likely in our case that the land registry will automatically remove this restriction, or as the brothers are named on title number XXXX they will be written to anyway and given the opportunity to contest ? And how long do they get to respond ? One of the solicitors thinks it's 15 working days ?

Any advice would be dearly appreciated

smackygb

BTW - I also received an opinion from an online property expert who said I should phone the land registry immediately to see if they could remove this entry without any further action. Of course, I understand it takes 2 to 3 days for them to assess the details.

Land_Registry

I can only respond in very general terms as this matter clearly relates to a specific property/title and it is often best to pursue such matters in writing with us to establish the registration details - you may have done this already but in case you have not then.......

The restriction is what is known as a voluntary restriction and as such one which would need to be withdrawn (form RX4) or cancelled (form RX3).

In the case of an RX3 application and providing the application was accepted, we would serve notice on the restrictioner(s) and provide 15 business days for a reply as you state.

With regards the advice of your online expert it would appear that this would relate to whether an error had been made in carrying forward the restriction to the plot sale. If an error is alleged then it is investigated and in some cases a response issued within 2/3 days. It can of course be longer depending on the nature of the error and if the register needs to be corrected then affected parties e.g. the restrictioner(s) may need to be informed etc. There is no general rule of thumb on this and each instance is treated on merit.

The determining factor with any attempt to 'correct the title' is likely to be the issue of whether or not the restriction was intended to affect individual plot sales.

You refer to an Agreement - does it mention anything re such an intention perhaps? You may of course not have seen the Agreement but are merely acting on information received.

You also mention other plots so it might be worth checking with your neighbours to see if any of them encountered such problems or indeed whether they have had the restriction entered against their title as well? This may help with identifying the best/quickest solution although they may of course be unaware or simply not had any dealings with their properties since first buying.

In the circumstances doing a little more digging with a friendly neighbour might be helpful although you may prefer not to do this for other reasons.

If you believe that the restriction has been brought forward in error then email us the details using our Contact Us details online - quote the title and restriction details and much of the information you have provided above.

We can then check the registered title and records relating to the restriction and plot transfer. We should then be able to advise as to whether the restriction was correctly entered on the title and if so reiterate how to have it removed.
As your solicitor suggests the better course of action is likely to be it's removal rather than obtaining a certificate unless of course the intention was to restrict each plot sale as well, albeit unlikely based on your summing up - information from your neighbours (especially recently moved in ones) will help on this i.e. a certificate was obtained rather than an RX4.

smackygb

Thanks for your reply. Things have moved on now, and I can confirm that some of the other plots have this restriction against their titles too. My solicitor has sent forward today an RX3 form under the context that the restriction was against the TP1 form that was between the land owners and the building contractor.We have had contact with the land owners - who are private individuals - and they have stated that not all what was agreed in the TP1 form has been completed (they have contested that not all the perimeter fencing has been completed) - but again - this has nothing to do with us as an individual plot owner - as we have entered into no agreement with the original land owner. Is it correct that the land owners will now have to prove that we are legally obliged to ensure the roads are maintained, etc, as all aspects on the TP1 form clearly state ? Lastly, one of the plots does not have this restriction. The owner is a retired widower, and cannot exactly specify what restrictions she had removed, but she is now "restriction free" and can sell her property. I have requested her solicitor details so we can pass this onto our own solicitor. If she had this restriction, and it was removed - and we inform the land registry of this in our RX3 form application - will it automatically mean our restriction will be lifted immediately, without informing the land owners ? In other words - as she has already jumped through all the hoops, we don't have to ?
We had asked the land owners if they would remove by signing an RX4 form - but they wanted us to pay for their legal advice to see where they stand ! Obviously, we have refused and have therefore submitted an RX3 form. Any further advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Fire_Fox

What does your solicitor say?

smackygb

Hi Fire Fox. I actually have 2 solicitors acting on my behalf. The one who represented my original purchase (who got us into this mess) and the one representing our sale and subsequent purchase for our propsed move now. The former is pushing for an RX3, whereas the latter is keen that we resolve direct with the land owner using an RX4 form. Things are getting messy now, as the landowner has indicated that the premiter fencing (that ironically splits the plots to another area of his own land) will require about 60-70 meters of fencing at a cost of around £1500. I cannot inform the other plot owners, as I feel they will not contribute towards the cost, as they know we are moving and need this resolving quickly. If I agree to pay, this will be little more than extorsion. The key issue is waiting to see what land registry say now....so it's a case of sitting tight for now.

Land_Registry

smackygb wrote: »

Lastly, one of the plots does not have this restriction. The owner is a retired widower, and cannot exactly specify what restrictions she had removed, but she is now "restriction free" and can sell her property. I have requested her solicitor details so we can pass this onto our own solicitor. If she had this restriction, and it was removed - and we inform the land registry of this in our RX3 form application - will it automatically mean our restriction will be lifted immediately, without informing the land owners ? In other words - as she has already jumped through all the hoops, we don't have to ?QUOTE]

As an RX3 application has now been made it would be wrong for me to add any further general comments here.

However with regards your query re the 'restriction-free owner' I would expect a notice to still be served. Generally speaking a notice will not be served when either the restriction goes automatically e.g. after a date as specified in it's wording has passed OR the consent of the restrictioner to it's removal is given/implied in say the certificate given OR a court order instructs the removal - none of these appear to apply here

I would also add that as her recollection is unsure it is difficult to know what 'hoops' (if any) have been jumped through - there are, as you now appreciate, a number of complexities involved with the registration and subsequent withdrawl/cancellation of restrictions and as mentioned previously each application is treated on merit.

Let us all know how this one plays out

smackygb

Having spoken to my solicitor this morning, it seems he has not yet posted the RX3 form (he was not allowed to email it over last night).

He has suggested we ask our neighbour who had the restriction removed to call her solicitor to ask permision for our solicitor to contact them to understand what restrictions were removed, and who removed them (ie was it the land owners who gave permission or was it land registry who instructed the removal).

My neighbour has now infact done this, and we can enquire to see what need to be done.