Buying an Unregistered House

Gemsi110

Hello, Advice appreciated!

I'm buying a house which is unregistered on land registry. Owners been there for 30 years and never registered the property. Anyone know of any risks if I we do first registration after completion of sale?

Clutterfree

We are going through the same thing.
The solicitor did the checks and ensured everything was in order.
Only thing is, instead of it costing the usual £135 (I think) to register in our name, it will cost us £270 due to first registration.

brodawel

We are also going through the same thing. The vendors solicitor is registering it as we speak. No idea how long it takes though.

brodawel

Gemsi110 wrote: »

Hello, Advice appreciated!

I'm buying a house which is unregistered on land registry. Owners been there for 30 years and never registered the property. Anyone know of any risks if I we do first registration after completion of sale?

I would get advice from your solicitor before you exchange. Make sure you will get full title and not possessory title.

G_M

Are you doing the conveyancing yourself?

If so, it sounds as if you have a steep learning curve. Maybe start by conveyancing a registered property.

If not, then your solicitor will deal with this.

Gemsi110

Did you ask vendors to pay for it?

Gemsi110

brodawel wrote: »

We are also going through the same thing. The vendors solicitor is registering it as we speak. No idea how long it takes though.

Did you get vendors to pay for it?

Gemsi110

G_M wrote: »

Are you doing the conveyancing yourself?

If so, it sounds as if you have a steep learning curve. Maybe start by conveyancing a registered property.

If not, then your solicitor will deal with this.

No I'm not doing it myself but I I'm trying to find out if there are any risks involved. My conveyancer has stayed it will be done after completion

brodawel

Gemsi110 wrote: »

Did you get vendors to pay for it?

We didn't ask. We got a call from our solicitor letting us know that their solicitor was registering it. I could be wrong but I thought they had to do this, not us. The EA told us there were no deeds and no proof of ownership and we would get a possessory title. Turns out to be utter rubbish and they do have proof from the 1970's. We probably would not have proceeded with a possessory title. Make sure you know the situ with yours before committing yourself.

Clutterfree

We were told by our solicitor that if the vendors solicitor did the first registration it takes much longer than if our solicitor does it for us.
No idea why though.

Land_Registry

A few things to add here, which may help.

Whilst an unregistered property is rare in some areas of England and Wales it is not that unusual and of course all were once unregistered.

Any risk is usually associated with whether the seller has the deeds, namely can prove their ownership, or not. If not the risk increases and that's where the possessory title often comes into play.

The difference in fee is because a first registration cannot be submitted electronically. Buying an already registered property can be and that attracts the reduced fee.

Timescales can vary but the current average for a first registration is approx 60 working days from receipt by us to registration.
Who submits the application makes no difference re our timescale.

If there is a linked transaction such as an onward sale e.g. vendor registering to help with the onward sale then the solicitor can request expedition and provide evidence of the onward sale. If all in order then this can reduce the timescale considerably.