Land Registry questions

Land_Registry

Emalou2 wrote: »

Hi.
We are currently buying a barn conversion with various restrictions.
We have a problem with one of the covenants which was made between the builder and the person who first purchased the converted barn.
The agreement states that any successor in title should go into the covenant with the builder. The issue we have is that the builder retired and dissolved the company in 2017. We cannot therefore be ‘certified’ to bind into the agreement.
Our seller has applied for the restriction to be lifted (which our solicitor doesn’t think the LR will do) in order for us to purchase.
The problem being is that the covenant relates to shared areas and drainage of which is also with the other barn owners.
They are effectively in a covenant which cannot be upheld as there’s no one to enforce it.
I don’t think they realise.
My question is how long is this likely to take to get rectified and how to get the matter resolved once we have moved in.
Obviously we want to maintain the integrity of the property and shared areas but don’t want to pee people off by telling them this covenant has to be reworded (which will undoubtedly cost them money)

Much will depend on whether it is a covenant or a restriction. Waiving a covenant is a very different matter to disapplying a restriction for example, which is what you appear to be referring to.

So it all depends what it is and what evidence the solicitor submits to enable the application to proceed. The average timescale is 11 working days but these may take a little longer as they are often considered by one of our lawyers.

AceKingPin

Hello, I'm remortgaging my property, and have discovered that I have the following restriction in my title register:

RESTRICTION :-Except under an order of the Registrar no
disposition by the proprietor of the land is to be registered without
the consent of (a community housing trust).

I have subsequently contacted them about obtaining this consent, and they have said the following:

"It is not necessary to remove the title restriction, (the housing trust) approve this as per attached letter. Please however note that a Notice of Charge WILL be required and must be accompanied by the fee of £132"

What is a Notice of Charge? Is there a form I need to fill in?

I have no idea why this restriction is in place, and will I have to obtain consent every time I seek to remortgage? Why would they say it's not necessary to remove the restriction (I did ask them if it was possible, and provided mortgage offer documents)?

They have provided a letter giving consent and their bank details for making the £132 payment, stating: "Please note that documents will not be registered until our fees have been received"

Am I obliged to pay in order to successfully complete the remortgage? Or can I take a route to try to remove this restriction alternatively?

Many thanks for any help you can provide.

G_M

AtullGupta wrote: »

....
What is a Notice of Charge? Is there a form I need to fill in?
I believe the relevant form is AN1 . However this would presumably be completed by the solicitor acting for your new lender.

I have no idea why this restriction is in place, and will I have to obtain consent every time I seek to remortgage? Why would they say it's not necessary to remove the restriction (I did ask them if it was possible, and provided mortgage offer documents)?
It's not necessary to remove the restriction in order to re-mortgage if consent is granted, as here. But yes, consent, plus the form and fee, will be needed each time unless the restriction is removed.


.....

Am I obliged to pay in order to successfully complete the remortgage? No Or can I take a route to try to remove this restriction alternatively? Yes.
But it has to be one or the other.

Your first task to get it removed is to understand why it was registered in the first place.

Land_Registry

AtullGupta wrote: »

Hello, I'm remortgaging my property, and have discovered that I have the following restriction in my title register:

RESTRICTION :-Except under an order of the Registrar no
disposition by the proprietor of the land is to be registered without
the consent of (a community housing trust).

I have subsequently contacted them about obtaining this consent, and they have said the following:

"It is not necessary to remove the title restriction, (the housing trust) approve this as per attached letter. Please however note that a Notice of Charge WILL be required and must be accompanied by the fee of £132"

What is a Notice of Charge? Is there a form I need to fill in?

I have no idea why this restriction is in place, and will I have to obtain consent every time I seek to remortgage? Why would they say it's not necessary to remove the restriction (I did ask them if it was possible, and provided mortgage offer documents)?

They have provided a letter giving consent and their bank details for making the £132 payment, stating: "Please note that documents will not be registered until our fees have been received"

Am I obliged to pay in order to successfully complete the remortgage? Or can I take a route to try to remove this restriction alternatively?

Many thanks for any help you can provide.

You’ll need to ask them what it is to be sure. It’s their term so whilst it could be an Agreed Notice (AN1) it seems unlikely otherwise they’d presumably have called it that.

The restriction means you need their consent if you sell or mortgage for example. Presumably the trust has some 8nterest in the property - is there anything else registered that refers to them or did you get any information on it when you bought?

You’ll need to do some more research first to identify what their interest is and to see if it’s still valid. If it is then you’re not going to be able to remove the restriction without their consent

AceKingPin

Section C2 and C3 also states:

(22.05.1997) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 26 March 1997 made between (1) a Council (who bulk transferred restrictive covenants to the housing trust) and (2) the former occupants contains restrictive covenants.
NOTE 1:-Where relevant, the provisions contained in the earlier documents or registers referred to in the above deed are set out in the registers of this title.
NOTE 2:-Copy in Certificate.
(22.05.1997) The Transfer dated 26 March 1997 referred to above contains a reservation of a rent charge as therein mentioned.

Does any of the above point towards the reason? Assume I have nothing to lose by asking the housing trust directly about the nature of their restriction?

Thanks again for any help.

da_rule

AtullGupta wrote: »

Hello, I'm remortgaging my property, and have discovered that I have the following restriction in my title register:

RESTRICTION :-Except under an order of the Registrar no
disposition by the proprietor of the land is to be registered without
the consent of (a community housing trust).

I have subsequently contacted them about obtaining this consent, and they have said the following:

"It is not necessary to remove the title restriction, (the housing trust) approve this as per attached letter. Please however note that a Notice of Charge WILL be required and must be accompanied by the fee of £132"

What is a Notice of Charge? Is there a form I need to fill in?

I have no idea why this restriction is in place, and will I have to obtain consent every time I seek to remortgage? Why would they say it's not necessary to remove the restriction (I did ask them if it was possible, and provided mortgage offer documents)?

They have provided a letter giving consent and their bank details for making the £132 payment, stating: "Please note that documents will not be registered until our fees have been received"

Am I obliged to pay in order to successfully complete the remortgage? Or can I take a route to try to remove this restriction alternatively?

Many thanks for any help you can provide.

A notice of charge is simply a letter stating that you intend (or have) charged the property to XX mortgage lender. The requirements of how and when you have to serve the notice should be in the transfer which gave rise to the restriction, or just ask the trust.

Is this a leasehold property (i.e. a flat or leasehold house)? If so, it would probably be that the lenders interest in the property would not be registered with the freeholder (and therefore not covered by the freeholders insurance) until you give them the required notice and pay the fee.

If the trust won’t consent to remove the restriction it’s unlikely that any application you make will be successful as the trust will be notified of the application by the Land Registry and can oppose it. Cancelling a restriction generally only works where the party with the benefit of the restriction no longer exists etc so compliance is impossible.

Land_Registry

AtullGupta wrote: »

Section C2 and C3 also states:

(22.05.1997) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 26 March 1997 made between (1) a Council (who bulk transferred restrictive covenants to the housing trust) and (2) the former occupants contains restrictive covenants.
NOTE 1:-Where relevant, the provisions contained in the earlier documents or registers referred to in the above deed are set out in the registers of this title.
NOTE 2:-Copy in Certificate.
(22.05.1997) The Transfer dated 26 March 1997 referred to above contains a reservation of a rent charge as therein mentioned.

Does any of the above point towards the reason? Assume I have nothing to lose by asking the housing trust directly about the nature of their restriction?

Thanks again for any help.

It reads as if the restriction is linked to the rentcharge so something to speak to the Trust about to confirm. I suspect payment asked for is to cover your outstanding rentcharge payments and once settled they’ll consent.

When you bought your conveyancer will/should have explained what the rentcharge entailed. If you have a copy of the Transfer then that will explain the terms and purpose as well. And each property on the same development will have the same I suspect.
If you don’t have a copy then you can apply by post for one

AceKingPin

Thank you for your continuing responses - I asked the lawyer from the council which sold these covenants to the housing trust and got the following response back:

"The Stock Transfer document from 2007 [from council to housing trust] states that the benefit of all covenants and other matters in favour of the Transferor ( ie the Council ) contained in any documents, transfers of land formerly in the ownership of the Transferor were assigned to the Transferee (trust) (with the exception of any covenants as to the repayment of any sum or part by which a purchase price was discounted imposed on the sale of any property formerly owned by the Council.

The original restriction was probably designed to protect the character of an individual area of the town the house is in."

Land_Registry

AceKingPin wrote: »

Thank you for your continuing responses - I asked the lawyer from the council which sold these covenants to the housing trust and got the following response back:

"The Stock Transfer document from 2007 [from council to housing trust] states that the benefit of all covenants and other matters in favour of the Transferor ( ie the Council ) contained in any documents, transfers of land formerly in the ownership of the Transferor were assigned to the Transferee (trust) (with the exception of any covenants as to the repayment of any sum or part by which a purchase price was discounted imposed on the sale of any property formerly owned by the Council.

The original restriction was probably designed to protect the character of an individual area of the town the house is in."

I’m unsure as to how this affects things as it’s the Trust you need to engage with here to understand what the ‘charge’ is for and what the payment secures etc ahead of getting their consent.

If you are looking to challenge the restriction being there at all then you still need that understanding. The Council’s reply adds to the picture but by saying ‘was probably......’ it doesn’t confirm things for you

AceKingPin

Land_Registry wrote: »

It reads as if the restriction is linked to the rentcharge so something to speak to the Trust about to confirm. I suspect payment asked for is to cover your outstanding rentcharge payments and once settled they’ll consent.

When you bought your conveyancer will/should have explained what the rentcharge entailed. If you have a copy of the Transfer then that will explain the terms and purpose as well. And each property on the same development will have the same I suspect.
If you don’t have a copy then you can apply by post for one

Thanks for this, I found a copy of the transfer. It is a Transfer of Part, with the council as Transferor and the former occupants as Transferee, who paid a sum of money for the full title guaranteed.

This seems to be a lease agreement giving the transferor some remaining rights after this transfer, and looks like the purchase of the freehold on the property.

The transferor's remaining rights seem to cover:
1. Rights of way and passage and repair access to water / gas / electrics / phone services
2. Perpetual annual rentcharge of £1 forever
3. To force the transferee into restrictive lease covenants I think
4. To force transferee to contribute a reasonable proportion of expenses of surveyors
5. Various lease responsiblity clauses on the transferee regarding good upkeep of the property
6. Notification to report relevant works required to transferor
7. Transferee to not dispose of property when sum of money in lease remains outstanding

And the key part (I think):

The transferee hearby covenants with the transferor to pay them the sum specified in particular lease clauses if at any time there has been a disposal in the breach of a specific clause & the transferee applies to HM Land Registry to enter the following restriction in the proprietorship register of the title to the property: "Except under an order of the Registrar no
disposition by the proprietor of the land is to be registered without
the consent of (a community housing trust)."

Does this shed any light on the restriction? Is it valid any longer, given the transfer to the housing trust?

And to repeat a former question I asked, what happens if I try to proceed with the mortgage completion without paying the £132 consent sum, would it not go ahead?

I asked the Housing Trust officer who told me to go an ask my solicitor (who will charge me to pursue this, which I want to avoid).

Many thanks again for any responses you can provide.