Land Registry questions

Molly_Magic_2

Hi, we are in the process of buying title WK317942. Exchange of contracts has been delayed as the property address at HM Land Registry is different to the address the property is known as, the Royal Mail address and the address on our mortgage offer. Both the house name and postcode are different.

is this a big issue? Our solicitor isn’t concerned but I am worried if we want to sell on, in the future.

 Can the HM Land Registry address be changed when the change of ownership is registered?

forumuser90

Hello,

A few months ago, I sold my property to a developer as part of their redevelopment plan for the entire building.

Yesterday, I received a letter from HM Land Registry stating they've received an application to ‘register a transfer of ownership and a merger of the leasehold’ (presumably from the developer). They are requesting my consent or rejection of this application. The letter also includes a caveat: consenting to the application could affect my legal rights or involve me in a legal dispute.

Therefore, I have the following questions:

• Is the purpose of this simply to update the land registry with the new owner's name?
• Would consenting to this application result in any additional fees, taxes, or legal consequences as mentioned in the caveat?

If anyone has experience with this situation, I would appreciate any insights you can share.

Thank you!

Land_Registry

forumuser90 said:

Hello,

A few months ago, I sold my property to a developer as part of their redevelopment plan for the entire building.

Yesterday, I received a letter from HM Land Registry stating they've received an application to ‘register a transfer of ownership and a merger of the leasehold’ (presumably from the developer). They are requesting my consent or rejection of this application. The letter also includes a caveat: consenting to the application could affect my legal rights or involve me in a legal dispute.

Therefore, I have the following questions:

• Is the purpose of this simply to update the land registry with the new owner's name?
• Would consenting to this application result in any additional fees, taxes, or legal consequences as mentioned in the caveat?

If anyone has experience with this situation, I would appreciate any insights you can share.

Thank you!

The purpose of the Notice is as per the explanation provided therein. Namely we have an application to do X and do you consent/object? 

If there were any of the second bullet point issues to consider I imagine they would have been raised/discussed at the time of the sale. We don’t deal with such issues so couldn’t advise 

Mason

Hello, I posted earlier after failing to sleep worrying about it. The nub of the question is that my solicitor has requested information from the LR about a restricted covenant on my property that has been raised by my buyer’s solicitor. My solicitor says that they expect the LR will have no further information of what is the RC for but have yet to reply. Typically, how long does it take for the LR to respond to such questions from a solicitor. This enquiry is holding up exchange. Many thanks.

Land_Registry

Mason said:

Hello, I posted earlier after failing to sleep worrying about it. The nub of the question is that my solicitor has requested information from the LR about a restricted covenant on my property that has been raised by my buyer’s solicitor. My solicitor says that they expect the LR will have no further information of what is the RC for but have yet to reply. Typically, how long does it take for the LR to respond to such questions from a solicitor. This enquiry is holding up exchange. Many thanks.

The devil will be in the detail so the wording of the entry and what’s filed, or not, for example. Replies are generally issued within 5-10 working days if ‘simple’ 

Mason

Thanks very much. I cross my fingers that it is 5 rather than 10 days.

Land_Registry

Mason said:

Thanks very much. I cross my fingers that it is 5 rather than 10 days.

DM me the specific details and I can take a look at enquiry/current position 

annetheman

Hello there @Land_Registry

The seller of a house I am buying in London has agreed to apply for adverse possession of about 1/3 of the garden land they have had exclusive use of within their fenced physical boundary for >12 years. The land is unregistered in the Land Registry maps.

The house has been tenanted all that time so there are lettings agent photographs of the garden with the physical boundary where it is dated >12 years ago. No one else has access to it; other gardens registered to other Titles back onto the physical boundary line, and the land has no other means of access other than from the house.

The lady I spoke to at the Land Registry today said that the form the seller would need to submit is ADV1, which they couldn't see in their application portal. She said she could see the land I was referring to on the map and confirmed it is unregistered.

Could you estimate roughly, given the circumstances, the timelines in which Possessory Title might be granted, assuming all the application evidence is submitted correctly by the solicitor with the memorandum of sale requesting expedited review? 

My mortgage offer expires 22nd September so I'm pretty sad they're dragging their feet (I know they had to get Land Registry-compliant plans drawn up but they got these on 12th June and it is 2nd July now)

Thank you for your advice!

Land_Registry

annetheman said:

Hello there @Land_Registry

The seller of a house I am buying in London has agreed to apply for adverse possession of about 1/3 of the garden land they have had exclusive use of within their fenced physical boundary for >12 years. The land is unregistered in the Land Registry maps.

The house has been tenanted all that time so there are lettings agent photographs of the garden with the physical boundary where it is dated >12 years ago. No one else has access to it; other gardens registered to other Titles back onto the physical boundary line, and the land has no other means of access other than from the house.

The lady I spoke to at the Land Registry today said that the form the seller would need to submit is ADV1, which they couldn't see in their application portal. She said she could see the land I was referring to on the map and confirmed it is unregistered.

Could you estimate roughly, given the circumstances, the timelines in which Possessory Title might be granted, assuming all the application evidence is submitted correctly by the solicitor with the memorandum of sale requesting expedited review? 

My mortgage offer expires 22nd September so I'm pretty sad they're dragging their feet (I know they had to get Land Registry-compliant plans drawn up but they got these on 12th June and it is 2nd July now)

Thank you for your advice!

Expedition gets it under way so to speak but time is then needed to complete the registration requirements 
Stage 1 is an initial review/consideration of their application plus supporting evidence - do the claimed facts stack up to allow Stage 2 to happen (2-3 weeks) 
Stage 2 - site visit by Ordnance Survey to act as our eyes on the ground (2 weeks) 
Stage 3 - wider checks with adjoining landowners (3 weeks) 
If all is as you suggest and no issues arise then the rough timescales will help. But each stage is reached in strict order and delays can occur if things don’t align for some reason as you might expect. 

The conveyancer can track progress for you and flag when each stage has been reached and passed 

Croccy22

Hi @Land_Registry

After you helped last time we are now in our new house , but we are now trying to get the sale of our flat to go through. Within the last couple of months we got our solicitors to extend the lease and also do a land transfer of a part of the garden. It was then requested that the few titles for the property all got merged into one title. The solicitors requested this to be expedited quite a while ago (apparently) but we still haven't heard anything and our buyers are currently renting and need to move before the end of this month.

Are you able to check where we are with this process and if there is an idea of when it would be completed? I'm guessing there will be a new title at the end of it, but one of the titles involved is DN226121 if that helps locate the file.

Thansk for your help. Matt.