Questions over property ownership.

Jema88

Hi,

I'm new and looking for a bit of advice regarding a property we are looking at buying through an auction.


The house next to us has been empty for ages and we made an offer to the owners' family in Late Jan/early Feb. They told us a few weeks later that they had sold it to someone else and we thought that was that.

Then this week we found that it is up for auction at the end of this month and we are looking at trying to buy it again. Thinking that she may not have sold it, but instead put it through the action herself. We again asked if she would consider an offer. She has come back confirming that she has sold it to a third party and has nothing to do with the sale.

This would be all well and good, but the land registry still says it is owned by her father and has not changed hands since the 60's.

This has, naturally made me worry about the validity of the sale. I am hoping that someone could help me with this.

Is this normal? I would expect that house would need to be in the name of the current owner for them to be able to sell it? Is this the case? It also seems like a very quick turn around for a sale to be completed and to be resold on.

How can I verify that if we buy it that there would be no legal issues? I am thinking about requesting further vendor details from the auction house. Do you think I will get them?

Sorry if my questions sound a bit dim. :rotfl:

G_M

Well before buying at auction, whatever the property, you should get a solicitor to check the legal Title.

And a surveyor to examine the building (unless you are confident in your own abilities). And have your finance in place (cash, or firm mortgage offer).

But on the face of it, it seems strange. The Land Registry site should show the current owners - are you sure you checked on the correct LR site? There are many imposter sites!

Or perhaps she lied to you for whatever reason, and actually the family still own and are selling via auction?

Land_Registry

I suspect the property still refers to the original owner, as you mention buying from the family, so I assume he has died. And they have simply not updated the register to reflect the fact that the property is now theirs.

Normally the executors will register the property in the names of any beneficiaries but if they sell then they will most likely have relied on the Probate to show that they can legally deal with (sell) the property.

Whilst not registering the change of ownership on death can be easily explained quite why the new owners have not then registered is unusual although the set of circumstances you have described suggest we simply do not know all that has happened at this stage.

Verifying that you are buying from the people legally able to sell is all part of any conveyancing process whether that is at auction ro through an estate agent - how that works at auction though would be for your solicitor to explain

da_rule

My understanding is that there is a term in most auctions (not just house auctions) that the seller actually has legal authority to sell the property. If they don't it is a breach of the terms and the sale is void. You may be able to claim for costs etc as well.