Buying a house, Deed Of Rectification, Land Registry

jimjones235

Hi,

I'm hoping for some advice.

We're in the process of buying a house, it's been ongoing for quite some time. The house was built 6 years ago, and during the conveyancing process my solicitor noticed some text missing from the original TP1 document, the missing text means the house does not have any rights granted on it (such as right of access over shared land, right to support etc), obviously quite a serious defect. It took a few months for the sellers solicitor to acknowledge the problem. My solicitor felt the best way forward was to seek a deed of rectification, but the timescales involved seemed a bit prohibitive, so we then went down the route of looking for an indemnity to try and workaround the issue. Unfortunately, because the house was relatively new, the best indemnity the sellers solicitor could find, won't cover all the missing rights, and my solicitor said that it wouldn't be enough to satisfy my lender. So we all had to concede that a deed of rectification was the way forward. A month later (we're now 6 months in) our solicitors have agreed the wording of the deed, and the deed has gone to the original developers (who also agree) for a signature..

The problem is the sellers have been given a strict schedule for their onward purchase, and it looks like we might miss that. The sellers solicitor is saying as soon as the deed is signed we can exchange contracts, my solicitor is saying we need to wait for it to be filed at the land registry. Throughout the process our two solicitors have taken very different stances on a fair few issues, and there has been a lot of delays whilst they fight it out, the seller is exasperated (it's not their fault), and we're getting that way too. I have a feeling that the sellers solicitor know's we cannot proceed, but doesn't want upset their client so is saying "the buyers and their solicitor are being awkward" - which is the stance he's taken on a few things (providing a copies of the building regs compliance certificates/section 38 agreements for example), things are compounded because there is no estate agent involved, so we're in direct contact.

So I have a few questions:

Does anyone know who's correct, do we need to waiting for the deed to be registered before we continue?

Does anyone know how long it will take to register the deed of rectification at the land registry?

I presume the concern about waiting on the registration is that the land registry could reject it for some reason, is that likely or possible (on the basis that the parties who signed the original TP1 will now be signing the deed of rectification)?

Finally, the seller is telling me that they are going to exchange contracts regardless and rent their onward purchase, which confuses me somewhat, as I don't see how they can exchange contracts without a completion date, and as they'll need a mortgage they will need to exchange on our sale at the same time.. To some extent it's none of my business, but my concern is that the sellers solicitor is giving them false hope for fear of upsetting the seller, then when the whole thing comes to a halt again blame comes in our direction and the seller just pulls the plug out of frustration.

AdrianC

Remember, your solicitor is the ONLY person in this who is acting for you and your interests.

If the deed allegedly gets signed, but mysteriously fails to arrive at LR and actually get lodged, then what? You're nowhere.

What the vendor does with their next step up the chain is not your problem, unless and until it stops you from exchanging and completing when you're ready to. Until you're ready to, there's no exchange happening on this property.

steampowered

I'm no expert on this, but personally I would want the land registry to be updated.

Remember that your lender will have to happy too. If your lender requires it to be registered before they will lend - end of discussion.

Ask your solicitors is how long the registration will take and whether it is possible to expedite the application.