Transfering Deeds

RADDERS

Dylath wrote: »

"Have they said why? Unless they have reservations about the documention it is hard to see why they are reluctant unless they want the extra fees!"

They just say it is "Law Society Rules".

I would just ring another solicitor and check that this is correct.
It won’t be the first time that a solicitor has been economical with the truth.

Dylath

eddyinfreehold wrote: »

Firstly, as the property is unregistered, the executors have a legal obligation to register it on the death of the owner of the freehold and its transfer to a/several beneficiaries whilst the estate is in administration. That is the law.

Your solicitor might be being a bit pedantic but I see his point. On the assumption that all four of you are joint and equal beneficiaries, does any distribution of the estate involve the son/future house owner paying into the estate to buy the property or is the estate large enough after any tax liability to distribute the house to one brother and cash to the others? I think the solicitor is thinking ahead and showing a clear legal paper trail for the future. Whilst in administration all four beneficiaries are shown as joint owners. After Grant of Probate a simple transaction in the distribution process transfers ownership to one person. It is neat and transparent.

Registering a property for the first time with the Land Registry is not a straightforward process and you don't want to make mistakes. I have seen much higher bills than £1000 for this. I would go with the solicitor's advice myself.

The brother who is buying the house has applied for a mortgage with Nat West, whosaid that if the deeds are signed over they can treat it as a re-mortgage. To this end they made the checks they required and Nat West have granted the funds to buy out the rest of us. This was several months ago. The solicitors said they can't do that and have been insisting that it must be a new mortgage and cannot be done a re-mortgage. This has caused a stalemate between Nat West and the solicitors for the past few months. But now they have decided this an option but advocate their suggestion of a new mortgage. In addition they have just released monies from the state that they had previously gathered but retained over £4000, which they say is standard procedure, to cover any future costs.

getmore4less

From solicitors/registration there is no difference between a mortgage remortgage.

A new mortgage is called a remortgage if you already own a place.


If you transfer to the beneficiaries to then do the buyout that can complicate the mortgage.

Far easier to buy off the estate.

If you do the transfer you can then get the probate solicitor off the case and get competent conveyancer or do the buy out yourselves.

£1k is on the high side to do a registration.

Yorkshireman99

getmore4less wrote: »

From solicitors/registration there is no difference between a mortgage remortgage.

A new mortgage is called a remortgage if you already own a place.


If you transfer to the beneficiaries to then do the buyout that can complicate the mortgage.

Far easier to buy off the estate.

If you do the transfer you can then get the probate solicitor off the case and get competent conveyancer or do the buy out yourselves.

£1k is on the high side to do a registration.

Without knowing how much work the registration involves because of the state of the documents nobody on here can give a credible opinion of what it would cost.

eddyinfreehold

Absolutely right YM99. How many deeds, conveyances etc exist in the first place and how much work is involved in chasing them or any other paperwork down to prove ownership? This is the reason the Land Registry took over the role. In about another 30-40 years all property should be on the Land Registry and this discussion will be history....it's only taken since 1988 so far I think....

Dylath

The plot of land was bought by my father and he had the house built. He was the sole and only owner of the property. All the paperwork is in the possession of the solicitor.

Yorkshireman99

Noted and thanks. In which case the solicitor should have a good idea of the work involved in producing the epitome of title the Land Registry need. I would stick with him. Ghanging solicitor at this stage would simply delay matters.

Margot123

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Noted and thanks. In which case the solicitor should have a good idea of the work involved in producing the epitome of title the Land Registry need. I would stick with him. Ghanging solicitor at this stage would simply delay matters.

Also, a change of solicitor at this stage may increase costs as well as time frame. Many would see it as an excuse to charge more to 'tidy' up' the administration that the previous solicitor hadn't completed. They would check and double-check everything, as they make more money out of time than knowledge.

Mojisola

Dylath wrote: »

The plot of land was bought by my father and he had the house built. He was the sole and only owner of the property. All the paperwork is in the possession of the solicitor.

We did a voluntary first registration recently and it was ancient stuff to do with the plot of land that dated back long before the house was built that caused delays.