Certificate Required to Finalise the Land Registry Application

lewb86

Hi everyone,

8 months ago, my Sister bought a house on the shared ownership scheme.

Today she received an email from the solicitors asking for payment for a certificate which is required to finalise the land registry application. This is what the email said:

I write further to my letter of 13th July and would be grateful to receive a cheque from you in the sum of £54.00 as I urgently need to forward payment to DJC Property Management Limited in order to obtain the certificate required to finalise the Land Registry application.

My Sister questioned what the £54 is for and they replied:

The additional £54 is required to obtain a Certificate from the Management Company. There has been a great delay in the Land Registry processing applications on this particular development as although newbuilds always take a bit longer, there have been issues they have needed to resolve concerning the Landlords’ title which have now been done. However, this now means that in order to complete the registration of everyone’s Leases we now need to obtain a certificate from the Management Company which then needs to be forwarded to the Land Registry to enable them to complete individual registrations including yours.

Rather frustrating that this is taking so long but without payment of the Management Companys’ fee of £54 they will not issue the Certificate and we cannot register you as the new owner at the Land Registry. I am confident that once this has been issued the registration formalities should be completed very quickly.

My Sister continued to question the fee and they replied:

I completely understand your frustration and the three matters I have on this particular development have all come up against the same problem. Without obtaining this Certificate the Land Registry will not register you as the new owner of the property and it is therefore essential that this is obtained. This does happen from time to time but generally we are provided with information on all costs up front. There are some matters though when issues arise following completion that were unexpected, particularly when there are still outstanding issues at the Land Registry with the Landlords’ Title being registered; that is really the issue that has delayed matters for properties on this particular development.

That being said, I am keen to tie up the registration formalities for your property as soon as possible and therefore if you are able to forward payment to me that will enable me to do so. These are not charges for my firm, simply the Management Company’s charges for issuing the certificate we need. I hope the above helps explain the position a bit better and I am sorry for any inconvenience caused. As I said, these are not charges made by my firm but a third party.

My Sister asked why the fee was not mentioned at the very beginning and they replied:

I do completely understand and I do try and advise all clients up front as to all anticipated costs. Unfortunately, sometimes issues arise post completion that we were not aware of initially which means we unfortunately have to contact clients to advise them of the same. The delay on this particular development has been due to the delay in the Land Registry registering the Landlords’ title which needed to take place before they can process your application and this is the same for the other properties I am dealing with on this development. Until that application had been completed the Land Registry could not process ours and it is therefore only now that this issue has come to light.

So my question is, does this sound legit?

davidmcn

It's a very full explanation, if your sister still doesn't understand what it's for then perhaps she should lift the phone to her solicitor.

G_M

Is your sister doubting the legitamacy of the Management Company to charge this fee? It's not an unusual fee, and in some cases ManCos charge much more!

Or is she doubting the legitamacy of the solicitor? Perhaps suspecting them of inventing a non-existant fee in order to raise an extra £54 for themselves? If that's the case, let me assure her, via you, that yes, the Americans really did put a man on the moon. On the other hand, it IS true that Elvis faked his own death in 1977, and lived quietly in Canada until 1996.