Lease extension not registered

lostmatt

I'm in the process of buying a flat and a sticking point has arisen as the lease extension has not been registered yet with the land registry. The seller has agreed with the landlord to extend it, the money for this has been paid and contracts signed, the only thing left is to register it with the land registry.
My solicitors are adamant that they can't proceed until this is done as they wouldn't be able to register the lease in my name with the registry until this is completed, they also refer to the fact that they are acting on behalf of the mortgage lender so me saying I am satisfied that the extension is in place is not sufficient. The sellers solicitors say this kind of thing happens often and my solicitors be able to exchange and complete before the registration is confirmed (using the fact there is a contract between the seller and the landlord to show the lease has been extended).




I'm keen to move as soon as possible so if this is an unnecessary hold up I want to avoid it, obviously I also want to be sure that the land registry won't reject the application.
Any advice? Does anyone know which solicitors are right on this?
Is registering the lease extension with the land registry once it's contractually agreed just a formality or could there be issues?

marksoton

I wouldn't take the chance. I've no idea of this technicality but given the choice i'd go with your own legal representation.

Besides which it's not really in your hands if the lender isn't happy.

SmlSave

Think worse case scenario and there's something wrong with the lease extension - are you and your lender prepared to take that risk?

Your solicitor is trying to protect you

Land_Registry

Holding fire until the lease extension has been registered is the normal way of handling this nowadays for the reasons already advised.
The lender won't want to take the risk (even if you will) and the seller's solicitor will probably not give you the undertaking your solicitor would want to resolve any issues that might be raised.

Lease extensions are fairly common nowadays as historically leases were granted for 99 or 125 years so now need to be extended to be financially viable.

Whilst in some cases you could buy and then look to extend yourself I suspect the length of term left means your lender would not lend against it until extended hence the situation you have re extend, sell, mortgage.

Getting them registered does add in a delay to the sale process as this type of work is currently taking longer than we would like. The registration process can be expedited providing there is a linked transaction, such as your purchase but the applicant (the seller's solicitor) needs to provide details of the onward sale and ask us to expedite their application.