Land Registry questions

MKhaffaf

Hello,

I recently completed purchase of freehold title for our leasehold house and the AP1and TP1 title transfer application had been made to the Land registry. After over 4 months waiting for this to be processed (I understood there are a lot of applications and its not an unusual turnaround for application process), we were informed that there is a Restriction on the title been put on by the landlord (now former landlord as we purchased the freehold). The restriction states: "No disposition of the registered
estate (other than a charge) by the proprietor of the registered
estate , or by the proprietor of any registered charge, not being a
charge registered before the entry of this restriction, is to be registered without a written consent signed by XXX Limited or their conveyancer"
I just don't understand why such restriction had been applied which post dates our freehold purchase completion date? Also to try and remove the restriction, apparently we can ask XXX to complete form RX4 to withdraw the restriction, but is XXX obliged to complete this form or can refuse? Thanks in advance for any advise.

FirstHouseMadness

I am currently in the process of trying to buy a house and I would own both the Leasehold & Freehold on the property, the house is a middle house of three with a shared driveway that passes in front of all three houses. here is a list of the concerns:

1.) The Leasehold has only 66 years left, I have been informed that you cannot extend a lease when you own it, meaning when this 66 years is up, the access rights (which are present in the LH but not the FH) will also expire. Meaning me as the middle house will not be able to pass over the end of the first houses driveway to access my own, without trespassing.



2.) I have been told by a solicitor that it may be difficult to get the land registry to transfer the prospective rights upon merging the titles due to there still being 66 years of the lease left, and those rights would remain for the duration that the LH would have lasted even if merged and LH removed. Simply put even if the titles were merged the access rights would remain for 66 years but if the land registry will not transfer the rights there will always be a shorter and shorter lease which cannot be extended nor can the rights be transferred, effectively leaving the house without driveway access.



3.) The neighbouring property has been approached to sign a deed of easement in order to make these rights "permanent" as this would trigger an automatic transfer of rights upon merging of titles, but the neighbour has refused to sign this document meaning this is no longer an option.


4.) I have been informed that the Land Registry are in talks about removing all Leaseholds from HOUSES in a bid to simplify the system... would this mean any rights would be automatically transferred if this was to happen or would rights be lost with messy situations like this?



5.) I worry that if I was to buy this as my first home, in 10 years time there will be 56 years remaining on the lease and when I come to sell (estimate of time I plan to spend at this property) this will then put any prospecting buyers off as they will find out that the Lease cannot be extended, and it will be forever getting shorter and shorter with access rights also running out of time.


I really see no way forward with this house, and before this all falls through I was hoping to get some opinions from here to help influence this decision, I don't want my first home to be difficult to sell, but equally im sure there are much worse situations out there that have been effectively resolved... Where do I go from here?!

Thanks In Advance.

Slithery

FirstHouseMadness wrote: »

3.) The neighbouring property has been approached to sign a deed of easement in order to make these rights "permanent" as this would trigger an automatic transfer of rights upon merging of titles, but the neighbour has refused to sign this document meaning this is no longer an option.

How much did you offer them?

FirstHouseMadness

Slithery wrote: »

How much did you offer them?

Well legal fee's were offered to be paid by the vendor (current negotiations are between the owner of the neighbouring property and the vendor), he didn't request any money and stated they didn't understand what they were signing which would suggest they didn't/weren't willing to get it looked over by a solicitor. The vendor has also offered to pay for them to do it at an earlier stage and they have made no mention of wanting money, they have now come back and stated they don't understand what they're signing and it doesn't benefit them basically saying that's their final stance on this. The people that we are trying to get to sign are the landlords of the property as they actually rent it out, and they are farmers not sure if this makes any difference....

Land_Registry

MKhaffaf wrote: »

Hello,

I recently completed purchase of freehold title for our leasehold house and the AP1and TP1 title transfer application had been made to the Land registry. After over 4 months waiting for this to be processed (I understood there are a lot of applications and its not an unusual turnaround for application process), we were informed that there is a Restriction on the title been put on by the landlord (now former landlord as we purchased the freehold). The restriction states: "No disposition of the registered
estate (other than a charge) by the proprietor of the registered
estate , or by the proprietor of any registered charge, not being a
charge registered before the entry of this restriction, is to be registered without a written consent signed by XXX Limited or their conveyancer"
I just don't understand why such restriction had been applied which post dates our freehold purchase completion date? Also to try and remove the restriction, apparently we can ask XXX to complete form RX4 to withdraw the restriction, but is XXX obliged to complete this form or can refuse? Thanks in advance for any advise.

Such restrictions are quite common and does it really post date your freehold purchase as that is what you are now applying to register. The restriction, I imagine, is on the freehold title a part of which you are now buying. But if it has been added after your completion then something to query with your conveyancer as to whether a priority search was in place to protect your purchase at the time.

You'll also need to ask your conveyancer as to what the legal position is with regards their refusal to withdraw it. Much will depend I suspect on why it has been applied for and added, namely what is their interest

Land_Registry

FirstHouseMadness wrote: »

I am currently in the process of trying to buy a house and I would own both the Leasehold & Freehold on the property, the house is a middle house of three with a shared driveway that passes in front of all three houses. here is a list of the concerns:

1 and 2) if you own the freehold and leasehold then you will have difficulty extending it. Something to explore with your conveyancer and one option might be to have joint ownership on one of the tenures and sole ownership on the other to then achieve a variation.

It can be quite common for the lease to grant rights which the freehold does not enjoy hence merging one into the other is usually not pursued

Discuss section 3.4 of our PG on determination of leases - merger.

3) - no comment as statement of fact

4.) Unusual and in modern parlance we would call this 'fake news' - would be interested to read where this information came from?

5.) the problem will not resolve itself over time as you suggest

FirstHouseMadness

Land_Registry wrote: »

1 and 2) if you own the freehold and leasehold then you will have difficulty extending it. Something to explore with your conveyancer and one option might be to have joint ownership on one of the tenures and sole ownership on the other to then achieve a variation.

It can be quite common for the lease to grant rights which the freehold does not enjoy hence merging one into the other is usually not pursued

3) - no comment as statement of fact

4.) Unusual and in modern parlance we would call this 'fake news' - would be interested to read where this information came from?

5.) the problem will not resolve itself over time as you suggest

Thank you for your reply, in relation to question 2, why is it that upon application of merger, that the Land Registry would not transfer the access rights to the freehold?

I have been advised that it is likely the request could be refused, but why? surely if we are trying to stop something from expiring in future years, then the Land Registry should be able to support us in this task?

Excuse my limited understanding, feeling somewhat desperate to find a solution here. Have you got any further comments to help my understanding?

Land_Registry

FirstHouseMadness wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, in relation to question 2, why is it that upon application of merger, that the Land Registry would not transfer the access rights to the freehold?

I have been advised that it is likely the request could be refused, but why? surely if we are trying to stop something from expiring in future years, then the Land Registry should be able to support us in this task?

Excuse my limited understanding, feeling somewhat desperate to find a solution here. Have you got any further comments to help my understanding?

There are two things to consider here. The first is the rights themselves and how they were granted/reserved. Were they in the actual lease for example or a separate deed noted on the leasehold title only? This can impact as was it intended that the right you refer to was registered on a leasehold tenure which exists for a limited term. As such the right may well expire when the lease does. But the devil will be in the detail as to how the right was granted/reserved and how it is registered against other affected titles no doubt.

The second is the linked guidance I referred you to. Clearly you need to rely on your legal advice here but you'd need to explore with them as to why it might be refused. We would not consider such an application until it was actually made and we are a registration authority rather than a legal adviser.

So it's not an issue of support from us you need it's a question of what is the legal position re how the rights were granted/reserved and do they/could they benefit the freehold tenure as well.

This is something your solicitor will have to unravel and resolve for you and then decide whether an application should be made and if so of what type

SweetPie

Hi,

First of all thank you so much for providing this service - what a great idea and makes it so much easier to access your service.

We are currently in the process of considering purchasing a house whose leasehold was signed in 1925. The current owner has provided us with a copy of the leasehold document and it has in it the name of a solicitor and location, but I can't find that solicitor's name now (understandably). We want to make enquiries as to how much it would cost to purchase the freehold. How do we find out who the current solicitors are? We are not too keen to go back to the current owner as the situation is a bit complicated.

Thank you!

da_rule

SweetPie wrote: »

Hi,

First of all thank you so much for providing this service - what a great idea and makes it so much easier to access your service.

We are currently in the process of considering purchasing a house whose leasehold was signed in 1925. The current owner has provided us with a copy of the leasehold document and it has in it the name of a solicitor and location, but I can't find that solicitor's name now (understandably). We want to make enquiries as to how much it would cost to purchase the freehold. How do we find out who the current solicitors are? We are not too keen to go back to the current owner as the situation is a bit complicated.

Thank you!

You could contact the Law Society as they keep some records of when firms close down who has taken over their business or when firms merge/change names etc. However, even if you can find the solicitor this doesn't mean that they will still be instructed by the freeholder (given the passage of time).

Alternatively, you can look on the Land Registry and see if the freehold title exists for the property. If it does then you can download the title register for £3. This will then give you the contact details for the freeholder (assuming they've kept it updated).

If the title isn't registered or it is but the freeholder has moved etc then there exists a process for acquiring the freehold when the freeholder is absent.