Land Registry questions

Land_Registry

doodle60 said:

Could someone from Land Registry possibly advise me? When we purchased our new build property in 2001 the builder applied to Land Registry to register our plot in our names. However, a small area of around 1metre by 3 metres of retained land owned jointly by the two building limited companies who shared the whole site was not transferred (even thought the plan of our plot supplied by our builder did not show this retained land). So our plot was registered at Land Registry minus this oblong of land at the side of our garage. We fulfil all the criteria for Adverse Possession but one of the limited companies has been in liquidation for several years. My question is would this fact alone prevent us from applying for Adverse Possession?

No. A claim as to ownership is generally made in spite of who the actual legal owner is. In essence you are taking possession so who or what they are doesn’t impact on your actual taking possession. 

Please do get legal advice on what is a very complex area of the law  

Land_Registry

SprostonGreenHead said:

Hi LR. I have a general question about adverse possession claims of registered land with regard to statutory notices given to title holders:

Where the title-holder responds within the 65 working day notice period, stating they consent to the application, and assuming all other aspects of the application are in order and there's no other reason for LR to reject it, does LR begin to act upon that immediately, or will the 65 working day notice period still need to run before matters can progress?

Also, if the title-holder were to object and serve counter-notice for LR to consider the application under Schedule 6, Para 5 of Land Registration Act 2002, does the next part of the process begin immediately or will the 65 working day notice still need to run?

Thank you.

Replies are acted upon when received. The 65 days only runs on if other replies are awaited or if none are received at all 

SprostonGreenHead

Land_Registry said

Replies are acted upon when received. The 65 days only runs on if other replies are awaited or if none are received at all 

Thank you.

Cedartree123

Hi @LandRegistry we are hoping to buy a house which still has an old mortgage charge attached to the title deeds for a mortgage which was paid off many years ago. This needs to be removed from the title deeds. The other sides solicitors are very confident this can be sorted quickly, is this true?

Land_Registry

Cedartree123 said:

Hi @LandRegistry we are hoping to buy a house which still has an old mortgage charge attached to the title deeds for a mortgage which was paid off many years ago. This needs to be removed from the title deeds. The other sides solicitors are very confident this can be sorted quickly, is this true?

Yes if the lender discharges it electronically. That can happen in seconds once they hit the submit button. 

Any other way for example post/paper will take longer usually as wider checks are often needed 
Do rely on your solicitor though as they will be aware of the wider processes involved too 

sallythassos

Hi @Land_Registry

We are looking at completing a transfer of equity to put the property into joint names. The property will then be sold.

How long does it take to for Land registry to be updated and can a sale of the proceed to completion if land registry hasn't been updated to reflect the new joint ownership?

Many Thanks

Land_Registry

sallythassos said:

Hi @Land_Registry

We are looking at completing a transfer of equity to put the property into joint names. The property will then be sold.

How long does it take to for Land registry to be updated and can a sale of the proceed to completion if land registry hasn't been updated to reflect the new joint ownership?

Many Thanks

Wait times are lengthy so you need to apply first and request expedition second. 

When you can complete is a Q for the buyer/conveyancer/lender to answer. Completion can happen whilst an update is waiting to be processed but that’s a decision of those identified to make 

beeah13

Hi @Land_Registry

We listed our house for sale 18 months ago for which we have 2 title deeds - one for the house & original garden and another for a piece of land the previous owners bought from a neighbour to extend the garden. We found out during the sale that a ransom strip of land in the middle of our garden is on a third title deed, however it has been incorporated into the garden for almost 20 years as no one had knowledge of it. This was not noticed by our previous conveyancer either. The ransom strip of land is still registered to an address a few doors down, but that house has since been sold twice and the title wasn’t transferred then either. We have had to take our house off the market now as we were told the positioning of the land means we can’t legally sell. However we are desperate to put it back on the market. We are just waiting for the previous owners to sign a statement of truth, and then the application will be sent, but I have a few questions: 

1. Since the address the land is registered to is no longer occupied by the listed owners of the land, is it likely that LR will take this into account or will they still send a letter giving 65 days to respond?  

2. On what grounds can you usually get applications expedited? Would our house currently need to be on the market for that to happen? 

3. If the application is not expedited, on average how long does the process usually take before the letter is sent (assuming there are no errors or issues). 

Thanks! 

Land_Registry

beeah13 said:

Hi @Land_Registry

We listed our house for sale 18 months ago for which we have 2 title deeds - one for the house & original garden and another for a piece of land the previous owners bought from a neighbour to extend the garden. We found out during the sale that a ransom strip of land in the middle of our garden is on a third title deed, however it has been incorporated into the garden for almost 20 years as no one had knowledge of it. This was not noticed by our previous conveyancer either. The ransom strip of land is still registered to an address a few doors down, but that house has since been sold twice and the title wasn’t transferred then either. We have had to take our house off the market now as we were told the positioning of the land means we can’t legally sell. However we are desperate to put it back on the market. We are just waiting for the previous owners to sign a statement of truth, and then the application will be sent, but I have a few questions: 

1. Since the address the land is registered to is no longer occupied by the listed owners of the land, is it likely that LR will take this into account or will they still send a letter giving 65 days to respond?  

2. On what grounds can you usually get applications expedited? Would our house currently need to be on the market for that to happen? 

3. If the application is not expedited, on average how long does the process usually take before the letter is sent (assuming there are no errors or issues). 

Thanks! 

1. Likely notification still sent. It’s not about the address being occupied but more about notifying the legal owner at the supplied contact address 
2. If there’s a linked or dependent transaction then expedition will generally be approved. If there’s only an intention to sell, so no confirmed buyer, it’s more likely to be refused 
3. Several months wait before it’s considered 

NeverTooLate

Hi
I am doing a voluntary first registration for a property and have been emailed a request to send further documentation. The email doesn't say how I should send this - can I reply to the email, or does it need to be posted.

The document needed is a death certificate.
Thanks