Land Reg DELAYS

tfa

Hi All,

Anyone here had much experience with the Land Reg? We are buying a Maisonette which has also being going through a lease extension. The seller has completed the lease extension and both parties are now fairly ready for exhange time. They pushed for a late June completion which we have said is fine. The seller solicitors said they have forwarded the lease change details to Land Reg and expected it to be done in a few days.

Yesterday we have been told by the sellers solicitors that Land Reg have said they are short staffed and behind so to expect 6 to 12 weeks! Given this sale has been through a lease extension we are 3 months into our mortgage offer and due to exchange/complete over the next two week, this has left everyone right up the swanny.

Any advice on pushing the Land Reg to moving a little quicker?

Cheers.

Land_Registry

tfa - the average time for completing such applications is 40 working days and it has been that way for a few months now so I am unsure why the seller's solicitor felt it would only take a few days?

Where there is a linked transaction such as an onward sale we ask applicants to contact us with the details and where possible we will try to expedite such applications.

The seller's solicitor will hopefully have already contacted us on that basis but something worth confirming with them?

kleapatra

Hi

I've been waiting for my lease extension to be registered at land registry since February! I have not heard a thing- my solicitor said at the time she thought worst case scenario it would be middle of May but I'm still waiting! More worryingly I've accepted on offer on my house today so now I really now that lease done and dusted asap

Land_Registry

kleapatra - the delays on some types of registration can be longer than mentioned so hopefully your solicitor has got in touch and explained the urgency attached to this. If not then encourage them to do so asap to see if we can expedite the application for them

kleapatra

Thank you Land Reg rep - I have literally just heard from my solicitor who said current delays are standing at 6 months but she's going to try and expedite my application

helibob

Hope it's ok to jump in on this thread too. Is the timescale the same for registering ownership? We're trying to buy a place where the plot has to be split and the other property has to register before our purchase can go ahead. Unfortunately, it's not we who are registering the property, so I'm not sure if/how we can let LR know that the registration is delaying our purchase (not blaming LR for this; it's just the latest, and hopefully last, thing delaying our purchase, but if it's possible to get it expedited, this would remove a large weight from my shoulders)

Land_Registry

helibob - the same delay is likely to occur unfortunately at the moment

We normally ask the applicant to inform us re the linked transaction/urgency as it is their application and they may be aware of other issues affecting it as well from their own perspective.

I would encourage you to contact those directly involved to ascertain the current state of play and enquire if they have contacted us already re expediting the application.

helibob

Thanks for the info. I'll ask my lawyer to make sure other party has done as you've suggested.