Land Registry questions

Land_Registry

POPPYOSCAR said:

Land registry rep.

You are amazing.

You help and advise people even on a Sunday afternoon!

I have learned a lot from both posting and just reading this thread.

Thank you.

Very kind but it’s a digital world and the last year and more has emphasised that making a difference, no matter how small at our end can be significant for the recipient. OP stressed with selling so hopefully our post can soothe that and highlight a way forward. 

chainpain

Hello,

I came across this thread and was wondering if any insight or info could be given with an issue we are currently having with our buyer's, as our chain is in imminent danger of collapse due to delays (nearly six months in). I'll try my best to explain in brief but apologies if this is long. 

The property we are selling is a standard 1st floor maisonette layout (leasehold). The ground floor consists of: external entrance door, short hallway leading to stairs to first floor landing, doorway leading to first floor living space. Only the first floor living space is fully shown on the title plan, with the stairway shown leading down. However, the lease does state within the definition of what's included in the flat:

h) The staircase leading from the first floor of the Flat to the ground floor and the external door leading thereto

The site plan also clearly shows the property boundary as the external entrance door. 

Our buyer's solicitor were not satisfied with this and argued it wasn't clear that half the stairs, the hallway and entrance door were part of the property, as they were not on the plan drawing. Our solicitor contacted the Land Registry who agreed there was an error and expedited the case and make an amendment. Our solicitor received a response mid-last week from a Senior Registrar, which he thought was very clear and made it explicit that the Lease and plan drawings needed to be read in conjunction with each other. 

However, our buyer's solicitor are still not satisfied with this response from the LR and are seemingly arguing that it is still not clear that the hallway belongs to the property. Confusingly they also keep making reference to a 'porch', which the property does not have. I think this is because they have seen the plans for the ground floor property below us, which does have what would be considered a 'porch' area, but this is a different layout to our property. We can't fully get to the bottom of what the issue is as they are avoiding talking to our solicitor and have only communicated via our Estate Agent. They are adamant that this issue will affect re-sale down the line, but the property has changed hands at least 3 times and this has never come up. 

The buyer's solicitor have said they are contacting the LR today to ask for further changes. We are assuming they are wanting a ground floor plan drawing to be created to explicitly show the full stairway, hallway and entrance door. However, we are concerned that the LR have already provided a response to this case and may not be willing to make further changes. Or, if it is agreed that a new plan can be drawn, that this will take quite a lot of time and we already have parties threatening to collapse the chain this week if no progress (our buyer has stated they don't care if part the chain collapses whilst this is under review, but we do care!)

We'd be grateful for any help that can be given, happy to provide further info privately. 

Land_Registry

chainpain said:

Hello,

I came across this thread and was wondering if any insight or info could be given with an issue we are currently having with our buyer's, as our chain is in imminent danger of collapse due to delays (nearly six months in). I'll try my best to explain in brief but apologies if this is long. 

The property we are selling is a standard 1st floor maisonette layout (leasehold). The ground floor consists of: external entrance door, short hallway leading to stairs to first floor landing, doorway leading to first floor living space. Only the first floor living space is fully shown on the title plan, with the stairway shown leading down. However, the lease does state within the definition of what's included in the flat:

h) The staircase leading from the first floor of the Flat to the ground floor and the external door leading thereto

The site plan also clearly shows the property boundary as the external entrance door. 

Our buyer's solicitor were not satisfied with this and argued it wasn't clear that half the stairs, the hallway and entrance door were part of the property, as they were not on the plan drawing. Our solicitor contacted the Land Registry who agreed there was an error and expedited the case and make an amendment. Our solicitor received a response mid-last week from a Senior Registrar, which he thought was very clear and made it explicit that the Lease and plan drawings needed to be read in conjunction with each other. 

However, our buyer's solicitor are still not satisfied with this response from the LR and are seemingly arguing that it is still not clear that the hallway belongs to the property. Confusingly they also keep making reference to a 'porch', which the property does not have. I think this is because they have seen the plans for the ground floor property below us, which does have what would be considered a 'porch' area, but this is a different layout to our property. We can't fully get to the bottom of what the issue is as they are avoiding talking to our solicitor and have only communicated via our Estate Agent. They are adamant that this issue will affect re-sale down the line, but the property has changed hands at least 3 times and this has never come up. 

The buyer's solicitor have said they are contacting the LR today to ask for further changes. We are assuming they are wanting a ground floor plan drawing to be created to explicitly show the full stairway, hallway and entrance door. However, we are concerned that the LR have already provided a response to this case and may not be willing to make further changes. Or, if it is agreed that a new plan can be drawn, that this will take quite a lot of time and we already have parties threatening to collapse the chain this week if no progress (our buyer has stated they don't care if part the chain collapses whilst this is under review, but we do care!)

We'd be grateful for any help that can be given, happy to provide further info privately. 

How old is the lease and when was it registered? 

I ask as since 2014 we don’t map the leasehold extent in the way they may envisage. We map the footprint and rely on the lease and it’s plan 
If it’s been registered in the last 6-7 years then refer them to PG 40 supplement 5 section 8 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/land-registry-plans-title-plan/land-registry-plans-title-plan-practice-guide-40-supplement-5

chainpain

Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry, it won't let me quote the above. 

The lease is from 2004, dated 18 February 2004. 

The title number is: WYK759741 if this helps at all. 

Land_Registry

chainpain said:

Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry, it won't let me quote the above. 

The lease is from 2004, dated 18 February 2004. 

The title number is: WYK759741 if this helps at all. 

We had an application to amend submitted at the start of the month but that was completed on the 9th. The freehold title was amended also. I can see we had a further contact as well but that was replied to/resolved on 17th so things are hopefully ok and moving for the chain again 

chainpain

Land_Registry said:

chainpain said:

Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry, it won't let me quote the above. 

The lease is from 2004, dated 18 February 2004. 

The title number is: WYK759741 if this helps at all. 

We had an application to amend submitted at the start of the month but that was completed on the 9th. The freehold title was amended also. I can see we had a further contact as well but that was replied to/resolved on 17th so things are hopefully ok and moving for the chain again 

Hi, thank you, these dates align with the contact our solicitor had with the LR. Sadly, our buyer's solicitor said on the 20th that they were unhappy with the responses/resolution and were going to contact the LR again on the morning of the 23rd (yesterday). Is it possible to see if they did make contact yesterday? It's worrying if they haven't when this is the only issue that requires resolving.  

Land_Registry

chainpain said:

Land_Registry said:

chainpain said:

Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry, it won't let me quote the above. 

The lease is from 2004, dated 18 February 2004. 

The title number is: WYK759741 if this helps at all. 

We had an application to amend submitted at the start of the month but that was completed on the 9th. The freehold title was amended also. I can see we had a further contact as well but that was replied to/resolved on 17th so things are hopefully ok and moving for the chain again 

Hi, thank you, these dates align with the contact our solicitor had with the LR. Sadly, our buyer's solicitor said on the 20th that they were unhappy with the responses/resolution and were going to contact the LR again on the morning of the 23rd (yesterday). Is it possible to see if they did make contact yesterday? It's worrying if they haven't when this is the only issue that requires resolving.  

If they have then they’ve not referred to the specific title or used the same email/contact thread 

chainpain

Land_Registry said:

chainpain said:

Land_Registry said:

chainpain said:

Hi, thanks for responding. Sorry, it won't let me quote the above. 

The lease is from 2004, dated 18 February 2004. 

The title number is: WYK759741 if this helps at all. 

We had an application to amend submitted at the start of the month but that was completed on the 9th. The freehold title was amended also. I can see we had a further contact as well but that was replied to/resolved on 17th so things are hopefully ok and moving for the chain again 

Hi, thank you, these dates align with the contact our solicitor had with the LR. Sadly, our buyer's solicitor said on the 20th that they were unhappy with the responses/resolution and were going to contact the LR again on the morning of the 23rd (yesterday). Is it possible to see if they did make contact yesterday? It's worrying if they haven't when this is the only issue that requires resolving.  

If they have then they’ve not referred to the specific title or used the same email/contact thread 

Thank you for looking into. It sounds like they haven't made contact, which is concerning, but at least I can make others aware of this and get things followed up. 

Teapot2021

Good morning @Land_Registry, just wondering if there were any updates on the shared ownership registration please? If you can see any thing on your system? 

Reference number MG5D25B. Thankyou. 

Land_Registry

Teapot2021 said:

Good morning @Land_Registry, just wondering if there were any updates on the shared ownership registration please? If you can see any thing on your system? 

Reference number MG5D25B. Thankyou. 

That application was completed on the 20th Aug