Deeds not transferred on leasehold garage, owner missing!

Harryp_24

you thought a garage under a coach-house was freehold? be happy the coachhouse hasnt charged you for his buildings insurance!

hazyjo

I had a house with a similar set up. There was a flat over our two LH garages. We had to pay insurance and service charge. The house was separate and FH.


Was a nightmare when we bought as there was no link between the two (which the owner's solicitors had missed when they bought it as a new build). They had to arrange for a deed of variation (or rectification - I think they changed it to that) which added a couple of months to the purchase/sale, and around £1,500 to the vendor's bill. Took 5 long months in the end - we'd originally planned to exchange within 3 weeks of the offer and had been going 90 to the dozen getting everything sorted.


Our mortgage offer was only valid for 3 months (ridiculous seeing as most purchases take that long on average) so we had to request an extension which thankfully was granted. Was still tight though!


Good luck!


Jx

dizzybee001

Yes, I realise that I should have asked that, but it was never mentioned by the seller and I hadn't heard of this before. Looking at the lease, it's clear the owner of the flat could charge me a contribution but I have never in 5 years been asked , neither has my next door Neighbour who has lived in her house since it was built. It wouldn't have put me off the purchase. I just wish I'd been told.

kirtondm

You are not liable for the charges for the garage as you don't own the leasehold the original owner still does - ? unless I am misunderstanding

dizzybee001

Hi
No I am not liable legally but the legal owner has never been asked for any contribution either or my neighbour who owns a garage under the coach house as well.
The point is that it seems I can't get the deeds transferred to me without both original owners signing the transfer form, and one of the owners has disappeared:(.

dizzybee001

Thanks hazyjo

Glad it worked out for you in the end, these things can be so stressful!
X

dizzybee001

Hi update on this. I spoke to the solicitor who dealt with my purchase, he seems to think that because there is a covenant in my deeds that say the house cannot be sold without selling the lease for the garage that he can make an application to the land registry to get the deeds changed. Anyone have any idea how long that might take? I am trying to hold off Taylor wimpey whilst I get this sorted but I think I'm going to have to come clean about the situation! Would appreciate anymore advice (and reassurance!). Thanks in advance

hazyjo

dizzybee001 wrote: »

Hi update on this. I spoke to the solicitor who dealt with my purchase, he seems to think that because there is a covenant in my deeds that say the house cannot be sold without selling the lease for the garage that he can make an application to the land registry to get the deeds changed. Anyone have any idea how long that might take? I am trying to hold off Taylor wimpey whilst I get this sorted but I think I'm going to have to come clean about the situation! Would appreciate anymore advice (and reassurance!). Thanks in advance

Prob same as I had. By the time they all faffed around in deciding what we needed (indemnity policy didn't cut it), it added a good 6 weeks, prob longer. Hopefully yours will get the ball rolling quicker without all the faff over what to do.


Jx

dizzybee001

Thanks Jo. Guess it's in the hands of fate now. I'd kind of accepted I won't get this new house so if I do it will be a bonus! X

Land_Registry

dizzybee - there are no fixed timescales for this type of thing as each situation has to be treated on merit and as you can see from other posters every situation is different.

To transfer the legal ownership you invariably need a legal deed, namely a deed executed and dated which then transfers the title.
Where one of the legal owners cannot be traced then it can be a case of applying to the court to act in their place. This normally happens where they are missing assumed dead so vanished/disappeared needs to be explained and what efforts have been made to trace clarified and evidence produced.

kirtondm's example is unusual in my experience as in all cases it is about risk and how large that is and who bears that risk. If the solicitor confirmed things as suggested then that may have been accepted as minimalising the risk as they were taking the responsibility. Not all may do that so I would treat that as your best case scenario.

The issue you have is that you are a few more solicitors/sellers/buyers on from that scenario so getting one of them to shoulder that risk may be an issue.

Those involved may 'faff' around but there are legal requirements involved and as you appreciate ultimately the responsibility for checking that the registered details match what you think you are buying rests with both you and your solicitor. Solicitors won't visit the property themselves so the Q of is it as you expect is one for the buyer to ponder and confirm. If uncertain then that's when you raise it with your solicitor to clarify/confirm. That isn't faffing around either though.

The faff here I imagine will be your solicitor contacting the previous solicitor(s) and waiting for any responses before deciding on next steps. The previous solicitors/sellers may not be as quick to try to respond/help as you might like.

The ultimate goal of course is to get the registered title changed. We won't consider the circumstances/evidence until an application is made. Your solicitor will be aware of that

I hope you are able to resolve this quickly but do rely on your solicitor here. And do update us re what happens next be that trying to trace the other owner or making an application or any other scenario