Purchasing a house with lost deeds and unregistered

stickysituation

Hi everyone,

We are currently in the process of purchasing a house everything has been running smoothly when today the vendor told us he has come to a halt as the house (he’s lived there 40yrs and was left the house by his mother) the deeds are lost and even worse the property is unregistered he has informed us that this is a long process of 6 months or thereabouts to resolve !!
However he has already purchased and wasn’t relying on our sale to move and so will still be moving out in a few weeks.
So, he has put it to us he would be happy to rent us the house for “peppercorn rent” whilst this is all being resolved and for us to carry on with renovations obviously something would be drawn up legally
would you run a mile ?stick it out and stay where we are whilst it resolves or take him up on the offer
Our other dilemma is the mortgage offer will expire in April 🤦🏼!♀️
Please advise I’m so deflated

Sibz

If you're employing a solicitor already, has he not checked on the land registry to see who (if anyone) is currently the registered owner? (maybe you can even check this yourself cheaper?). If it comes up with his name you'll know it's lies.

As for the rest of it - legally - those are questions I'd be taking to my solicitor... drawing things up legally incurs its own fees

stickysituation

Sibz wrote: »

If you're employing a solicitor already, has he not checked on the land registry to see who (if anyone) is currently the registered owner? (maybe you can even check this yourself cheaper?). If it comes up with his name you'll know it's lies.

As for the rest of it - legally - those are questions I'd be taking to my solicitor... drawing things up legally incurs its own fees

I’ve had a look and land Registry states no title found I had a similar thing happen whilst selling my Nans house recently only there were deeds just unregistered property simple epitome of title was all that was needed in this case.
It a nightmare this is 😩 knowing what best to do thanks for your help 🙂

davidmcn

What's your solicitor's advice?

Renting in advance of buying is more of a risk for the vendor, but still potentially messy - do you want to start renovations if you don't know whether or when you'll complete the purchase? Do you want to risk renegotiations about the price etc after you've settled in?

stickysituation

davidmcn wrote: »

What's your solicitor's advice?

Renting in advance of buying is more of a risk for the vendor, but still potentially messy - do you want to start renovations if you don't know whether or when you'll complete the purchase? Do you want to risk renegotiations about the price etc after you've settled in?

We haven’t called them yet this email came from the vendor as we have been in contact constantly and happened to message him asking if he’d any news from his side re contracts etc that’s when he said .

PasturesNew

If you want that house and you need that mortgage... I'd rent it for the peppercorn rent ... but not spend any money on it.

Is it really essential to do what's to be done?

He's lived in it ... a simple "up/out with the carpets, splash of white on the walls, toss some curtains up" might get you through until it's all properly done. Say £1k budget at most.

Cakeguts

The problem is that though he says the house was left to him by his mother there is at the present time no proof that this is the case. Sometime houses are left to several siblings with one of them having a lifetime's occupation.



If you move into the house and start renovation you could find yourself being evicted by a part owner who you don't know about now.

stickysituation

Cakeguts wrote: »

The problem is that though he says the house was left to him by his mother there is at the present time no proof that this is the case. Sometime houses are left to several siblings with one of them having a lifetime's occupation.



If you move into the house and start renovation you could find yourself being evicted by a part owner who you don't know about now.

He did actually cover this part he’s taken out an indemnity insurance to ensure nobody comes out of the woodwork (sorry it’s him and his brother it was left to and they have both lived there for the past 40years and there is only them, they are moving together now again relocating completely) he assured me there is nobody else and that it’s his solicitor who has informed him he must take this insurance out

stickysituation

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you want that house and you need that mortgage... I'd rent it for the peppercorn rent ... but not spend any money on it.

Is it really essential to do what's to be done?

He's lived in it ... a simple "up/out with the carpets, splash of white on the walls, toss some curtains up" might get you through until it's all properly done. Say £1k budget at most.

Yes this is what I’ve just suggested to my husband to be fair we need to throw down carpet and paint everywhere white that was the actual plan the other larger things are for our own stamp on the house ie. kitchen and a bath for the current shower room the house is completely liveable as it is just wants a good scrub and spruce it’s a big Victorian terrace
Thanks for your help 🙂

Cakeguts

stickysituation wrote: »

He did actually cover this part he’s taken out an indemnity insurance to ensure nobody comes out of the woodwork (sorry it’s him and his brother it was left to and they have both lived there for the past 40years and there is only them, they are moving together now again relocating completely) he assured me there is nobody else and that it’s his solicitor who has informed him he must take this insurance out

There is so much property fraud going on that I would wonder why he would need indemnity insurance to cover this?


At the moment you have no idea if this house is leasehold or not. All you have to go on is what the vendor has told you.

ReadingTim

Ask you solicitor - this is why you're paying them.

Why on earth do you think [STRIKE]looney tunes[/STRIKE] random strangers on an internet forum will give a more accurate or technically correct answer than a qualified legal professional?