FTB: Discrepancy between lease and land registry

amishra

Hello,

I am a first time buyer and was wondering if someone could give me some advice about an issue with the flat I am in the process of buying:

The issue is that:

The lease says the flat is on the 4th floor, the land registry says the flat is on the 5th floor.

My solicitor says that a simple deed of variation on the lease should fix it. After waiting 4 weeks trying to sort out this issue with the seller's solicitor, I have been informed that the seller thinks the land registry entry is the one that needs updating.

I have been in the process for 9 weeks now, and I am thinking of walking away from this as I have not exchanged contracts. This seems dodgy to me and I am afraid there will always be issues selling this flat in the future as any buyer would raise an eyebrow when they learn about this issue. I was prepared for anything, but never thought dodgy leases existed!

And advice would be much appreciated,

Regards,
Abby

Hoploz

Well clearly it needs sorting and the seller will have to get it done whoever buys it. If you have had enough and can find something better then walk. But if you'd ultimately still like to buy it then be prepared to sit it out and remember to look at the bigger picture. It will all be forgotten about after you move in

tizzle6560

Get the Deed of Variaiton done. I needed a D.O.V to confirm that the garden was private and part of my property's demise only, as this differed from what the lease said.

A couple months of agonising legal crap and additional fees but it was all worth it.

When you come to sell down the line, it will be one less issue for a solicitor to pick up on.

G_M

amishra wrote: »

The lease says the flat is on the 4th floor, the land registry says the flat is on the 5th floor.

My solicitor says that a simple deed of variation on the lease should fix it. After waiting 4 weeks trying to sort out this issue with the seller's solicitor, I have been informed that the seller thinks the land registry entry is the one that needs updating.

So is the flat on the 4th or 5th floor?

Why has it taken you 4 weeks to work out that it is the Land Registry that's wrong, not the lease! And/or why has it taken you 4 weeks to tell your solicitor which floor the flat is actually on?

He's never been there - he doesn't know unless you tell him........

martindow

Could it be the way people are counting floors?

Ground floor, 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th floor. The 4th floor is the 5th floor if you count floors from street level.

G_M

martindow wrote: »

Could it be the way people are counting floors?

Ground floor, 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th floor. The 4th floor is the 5th floor if you count floors from street level.

We'll have no truck with Americans here!!!!!

eddddy

From here it looks more like: Basement Level Flat, Lower Ground Flat, Mezzanine Lower Ground Flat, Garden Level Flat, Entrance Level Flat, Upper Ground Flat, Mezzanine Upper Ground Flat and Penthouse Flat.

Land_Registry

If the lease is wrong then it will take time to sort out. If we are wrong it still needs to be sorted but if the error is easily rectified, for example we don't end up with two 4th floor leases, then correction of our error should be quicker.

OP has not come back though so maybe now resolved?