Property not registered with land registry

Anxiousannie

Good afternoon

We have bought a house and the property isn't registered with the land registry
Does it need to be registered by the current owners and they foot the bill or is it down to us?
Also do we have to have it registered before we can complete on the house?

Solicitor has finished for the day and now I'm panicking as was hoping to compete in a couple of weeks and now I've just been told by a friend it can take 3 months to register a property!

Any help would be much appreciated

Thank you x

[Deleted User]

This link may help: https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry

It appears from this information that the fact that the property isn't currently registered doesn't preclude you from buying/getting a mortgage for it.

pinkteapot

Re hoping to complete in a couple of weeks - if you've only just had an offer accepted it'll take longer than that! What stage are you actually at?

babyblade41

It depends... if you have a lender they may require the sellers to register first... if not then it will be registered when you buy it if deeds are available and all in order.

If the deeds aren't available then possibly adverse possession with possessory title

babyblade41

also if a sale is dependant on registration then if all paperwork is in order the solicitor can ask to expedite the registration which will mean it will get looked at within 10 days

G_M

It falls within compulsory first registration on purchase. The buyer must register it and this is done post-Completion (just as the change of ownership of a registered property is done post-Completion).

Yes, the seller can choose to voluntarily register the property before the sale, and some sellers wll do this to smooth the sale through.

But back in the day before compulsory registration, all purchases were done based on paper deeds - so no reason this should not happen likewise (provided of course all the paperwork is to hand and in order).


I did not know that some mortgage lenders insist on sellers voluntarily registering the property in advance - is this really the case......?

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

I did not know that some mortgage lenders insist on sellers voluntarily registering the property in advance - is this really the case......?

From other threads here, some solicitors seem to insist on it due to sheer laziness (or risk avoidance). I doubt any lenders have a policy about it.

babyblade41

G_M wrote: »

It falls within compulsory first registration on purchase. The buyer must register it and this is done post-Completion (just as the change of ownership of a registered property is done post-Completion).

Yes, the seller can choose to voluntarily register the property before the sale, and some sellers wll do this to smooth the sale through.

But back in the day before compulsory registration, all purchases were done based on paper deeds - so no reason this should not happen likewise (provided of course all the paperwork is to hand and in order).


I did not know that some mortgage lenders insist on sellers voluntarily registering the property in advance - is this really the case......?

When I was going through this if I'd had a lender I couldn't apply for searches until all the deeds were checked beforehand and in good order
I wasn't borrowing so could go ahead with them first... my solicitor did say that until good title has been established then some lenders may hold off depending .

They may or may not insist on first registration ..so not set in stone but it can be a requirement.

Unfortunately my vendors had to apply for adverse possession which is whole new ball game !!

Anxiousannie

AngelicKaty wrote: »

This link may help: https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry

It appears from this information that the fact that the property isn't currently registered doesn't preclude you from buying/getting a mortgage for it.

All our searches have been back for a while now and all enquiries have been answered... I've read one of the enquiries my solicitor made and it was that there is a break in the chain of ownership and her asking them to provide the details of who owned the property in that particular time. If they cannot then she insists they register the property. The enquiry has been answered and I am just waiting to hear from my solicitor.

We are renting and the seller I think has gone into a home so I'm hoping we won't be too far off completing now??

Anxiousannie

Thank you to everyone who replied! I will look at the link and the rest of the advice x

Anxiousannie

pinkteapot wrote: »

Re hoping to complete in a couple of weeks - if you've only just had an offer accepted it'll take longer than that! What stage are you actually at?

All our searches have been back for a while now and all enquiries have been answered... I've read one of the enquiries my solicitor made and it was that there is a break in the chain of ownership and her asking them to provide the details of who owned the property in that particular time. If they cannot then she insists they register the property. The enquiry has been answered and I am just waiting to hear from my solicitor.

We are renting and the seller I think has gone into a home so I'm hoping we won't be too far off completing now??