Freehold property, lease mention on charges register. PLEASE help!

jellymoomin

Hi,

I am hoping there is someone somewhere who can advise us on this issue as our solicitor is not making our options very clear.

We are in the house buying process and have discovered that although the property is classed as freehold, the title register document shows a lease in the charges section. There is only just over 40 years left on it.

The vendor is selling on behalf of her family member and thought that the leasehold was purchased and that the freehold and leasehold were merged. However, there’s no paperwork to back this up and after filling in an OC2 form for the land registry, they cannot find a lease or any relevant paperwork.

Our solicitor says our vendor's solicitor needs to approach the Land Registry to delve into their archives. Isn't this what the 0c2 form is for? I highly doubt anything will come out of this.

I have spoken to the Land Registry who have confirmed the house is freehold, and that the leasehold info just means that they once ‘had sight’ of a lease (whatever that means).

Does anybody have any idea what our options are here? Or what else we need to explore?

Our solicitor mentioned a tailored indemnity policy, but I’m not sure that’s enough reassurance for us.

Is there another way around this?

Thanks ever so much,

Jessica

A: Property Register

This register describes the land and estate comprised in the title.
Location : Location

1 (xx.xx.1978) The Freehold land shown edged with red on the plan of the above Title filed at the Registry and being [property address].

B: Proprietorship Register
This register specifies the class of title and identifies the owner. It contains any entries that affect the right of disposal.

Title absolute
1 (xx.xx.2003) PROPRIETOR: [vendor name] of [property address],

C: Charges Register
This register contains any charges and other matters that affect the land.
1 Lease dated 24 March 1955 for 99 years from 25 March 1954.
2 The land is subject to rights of drainage.

[END OF REGISTER]

Richard_Webster

Possibly the lease was never registered. If it was created in 1955 then at that time quite a lot of the copuntry was not subject to compulsory registration.

If the lessee bought the freehold whne he already owned the lesehold he would have had to register his freehold title (or it might lready have been regiostered). A specific application would be needed to merge the lease into the freehold. The unregistered leasehold title would have to be produced to show that the person who had the lease had a good title to it and therefore when he bought the freehold the lease couold be eliminated.

jellymoomin

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

So is it possible that when the leaseholder bought the freehold they didn't surrender the lease but then sold the freehold on (while retaining the lease)?

If the lease cannot be traced anywhere and only has a mention in the charges register, what are the various courses of action? The concern is the risk that no one seems to be able to find it.

Can someone turn up on our doorstep and demand to live at the house? And is an indemnity policy appropriate for this kind of issue?

Thanks so much,

Jess

Land_Registry

jellymoomin wrote: »

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

So is it possible that when the leaseholder bought the freehold they didn't surrender the lease but then sold the freehold on (while retaining the lease)?

If the lease cannot be traced anywhere and only has a mention in the charges register, what are the various courses of action? The concern is the risk that no one seems to be able to find it.

Can someone turn up on our doorstep and demand to live at the house? And is an indemnity policy appropriate for this kind of issue?

Thanks so much,

Jess

Yes that is possible and in many ways that's the risk here hence the need to either have it removed or insuring against the risk of someone turning up claiming that they now own that leasehold interest.

Saying that we once had 'sight of the lease' is perhaps not the best way of explaining why it is noted on the register. When the freehold title was first registered I would assume that the details of the lease were provided in some way.

Whilst it may be helpful to understand the basis as to why it was registered the key factor now is what happened to it, namely was it determined in some way as suggested by others already. If we don't have a copy on file and there are no details as to who the lease was made between then proving that it is no more may prove tricky.

Your solicitor should be able to advise you on this and the indemnity issue, including whether digging too deeply for the lease information might affect finding someone willing to offer that indemnity

jellymoomin

Hello

Thank you for your reply. The title is absolute so that is reassuring. We haven't done any digging really, we just don't feel that our solicitor is making it clear whether this is a massive issue or not.

I've seen similar cases where people say their solicitor advises abandoning the purchase and others who say an indemnity is fine.

All the best,

Jess

jellymoomin

Hello again,

Does anyone have any further advice on this please?

Jess