Land Registry questions

Land_Registry

saddergran said:

Just completed house purchase and checked up about stamp duty. There would be none to pay but as I have not sold my previous house I have to pay 3%.
A solicitor can complete a SDLT form on line immediately. HMRC cannot send me a form online, they have to post it to me, it may take up to 14 days! I then have to post it back and pay the tax within 14 days of the purchase date or pay a fine and interest.  How can HMRC insist on using snail mail instead of a download when it is almost guaranteed to cause a late payment and fine?
on top of this, to register the property a solicitor can do this online at a cost of £135 where joe public has to submit forms and pay £270. How can this be right?

I can’t really help re HMRC processes but I’m pretty sure you don’t get fined if you submit the form and fee in time. So your payment is taken from date of submission and not the date on which they process it - I’m sure they can confirm though 

The reduced fee for professional customers using our secure portal (not all do) is largely due to the way we are able to handle their applications as the online service simplifies the service/process for us. We’ve been able to build such a portal, at some expense, as we have a formal business relationship with these customers which allows us to build in security protocols and identity confirmation. 

Currently we don’t have a similar service for joe public as they tend to be one-off applicants and as such require a different set of security/identity protocols and checks, not all of them based on submission of their paper application. As a result we have to charge the actual fee rather than a reduced one. 

Sorcerer2018

Hi All,

I am the executer for my mums estate, after getting the deeds for the house, we noticed that they are in a different first names to my mum and dad's actually names, the same last name however the first names have been entered as their "nicknames", names i remember then being called when I was a kid. Since Probate doesn't match their "nicknames". Will this cause an issue when trying to register the property, and transferring ownership over to the beneficiaries.  As you can imagine I don't really have documentation in their nicknames, I can provide evidence of house blue prints, and council tax etc going back many years etc, 
Any ideas on how to proceed?

Haircut15

After advise. Land reg won't remove restriction on title that is in favour of management company. Freehold property with unadopted road.
Have said may disapply restriction for purpose of sale.  
If no management company why not remove restriction permantly?? The road past to the crown when management company got struck off.  Is there circumstances when land reg refuse to disapply a restriction?? Concerned I may not be able sell the house in the future 

Land_Registry

Sorcerer2018 said:

Hi All,

I am the executer for my mums estate, after getting the deeds for the house, we noticed that they are in a different first names to my mum and dad's actually names, the same last name however the first names have been entered as their "nicknames", names i remember then being called when I was a kid. Since Probate doesn't match their "nicknames". Will this cause an issue when trying to register the property, and transferring ownership over to the beneficiaries.  As you can imagine I don't really have documentation in their nicknames, I can provide evidence of house blue prints, and council tax etc going back many years etc, 
Any ideas on how to proceed?

Yes it is very likely to be a problem as the names won’t match so you have two options really. 

The first is to use a conveyancer to submit the application and convince them that the parties are one and the same. The conveyancer can then certify same on application. 

The second is to complete and provide a stat Dec or statement of truth to explain the discrepancy or shared name/nickname 
If neither appeal then you can apply and provide official documentation evidence which confirms the shared name/nickname but from your post you don’t appear to have any. 

As such I’d recommend getting some legal advice/assistance 

Land_Registry

Haircut15 said:

After advise. Land reg won't remove restriction on title that is in favour of management company. Freehold property with unadopted road.
Have said may disapply restriction for purpose of sale.  
If no management company why not remove restriction permantly?? The road past to the crown when management company got struck off.  Is there circumstances when land reg refuse to disapply a restriction?? Concerned I may not be able sell the house in the future 

I’d suggest following our advice. If we said we won’t remove it but you can ask us to disapply it 
If you satisfy us re why it should be disapplied with regards a specific application then it shouldn’t normally be refused. It’s quite common to disapply in such cases but much rarer to cancel 

never_again_123

I'd be really grateful for some advice please. I'll try & make this as succinct as possible.

We bought our house in 2007. It was leasehold. We were informed by our seller that he, along with neighbours had moved the back garden fence back by approx 2 meters 30 odd years before. I can't remember all the ins and outs, but basically the titles that were transferred to us were minus the 2 meters of land (as everyone thought it to be unregistered,  including our seller!). We felt that if anything cropped up, we'd just move the fence back. For context, it's a scrappy bit of land with a few rocks and a couple of trees. We've never used it for anything substantial. Just kept it tidy. The fence has been there for 40 plus years now.

In 2018, we purchased the freehold (the leasehold has now been dissolved)

Fast forward to now and being in the process of selling our house. It turns out our old seller DID own the 2 meters of land at the back. We know he had no intention of keeping it as he didn't even know he owned it. 

The 2 meters of land shows on Land Registry as leasehold and in our old sellers name. He passed away a couple of years after selling to us. 

So we just wondered what our best options are? Would Land Registry be able to investigate and possibly re-draw the lines of our title? (as we believe it was a genuine mistake when we bought). Is adverse possession an option if not? Move the fence back? Any help would be very gratefully received. Whilst this isn't the reason for our sale falling through, it has been an issue that kept cropping up in enquiries.

Land_Registry

never_again_123 said:

So we just wondered what our best options are? Would Land Registry be able to investigate and possibly re-draw the lines of our title? (as we believe it was a genuine mistake when we bought). Is adverse possession an option if not? Move the fence back? Any help would be very gratefully received. Whilst this isn't the reason for our sale falling through, it has been an issue that kept cropping up in enquiries.

We’d only investigate and redraw anything if an application were made. So they key is unravelling what’s happened since 2007 as presumably previous owners are now unable to assist. 

So the best advice I can offer is that you speak to your conveyancer to piece together the evidence you have either to confirm ownership through occupation or that there was a mistake in the conveyancing or registration at some point. 

sam6719

Morning, we have an rx4 form being processed and it was expedited on Monday, when do you think this will realistically be resolved and is the land registry working in the week between Christmas and new year due to the backlog?

Thanks Sam!

Land_Registry

sam6719 said:

Morning, we have an rx4 form being processed and it was expedited on Monday, when do you think this will realistically be resolved and is the land registry working in the week between Christmas and new year due to the backlog?
Thanks Sam!

If it’s been expedited then it should be considered within 10 working days, usually sooner. 

Everything then hinges on it being in order 
We always work over the Christmas and New Year. Whilst available resource will be reduced we will still be working - Merry Christmas 

minty777

What does "Application lodged by" mean and is that the start of a process or end of?
Like application  lodged by *a bank, bulding society, any government body etc?