Land registry amended just before exchange of contract

fr2uk

Hi everyone,

I am currently in the process of buying a house, and we are very close. As we were about to exchange contracts, something was flagged by our solicitor: the land registry was amended.

Our solicitor is being cautious and has decided to put the exchange of contract on hold until this gets resolved. We are finding it hard to understand what is happening, and it doesn't help that if we don't exchange contract soon, we will likely be homeless in a week. Obviously the estate agent is trying to push the sale forward, but the solicitor is against it. We have had a fairly bad experience with our solicitor so far unfortunately, and they haven't been the best at giving us context in details, so it makes it hard to trust anyone in the process.

I have decided to buy the "Title register" and "Title plan" again myself as I didn't have a clue as to what was happening, and as far as I can tell, nothing has changed. It seems one entry went missing though, when going on the land registry page where it offer to purchase the documents, it says:

Price Paid/Value Stated Data:
Sorry, there is no price paid/value stated information available for this property.

Is this document important? I've never felt so stressed in my entire life... I can feel there is tension on both side, it all feels so chaotic.

Thank you for reading,
your advise would be more than welcome.

davidmcn

Unless you can tell us what the amendment was, I doubt we can help you further.

fr2uk

Thank you for the quick response, I really appreciate it. I am going to try to figure that out.

Kyresa

Downloading the land registry copy may not tell you anything. There could be a priority search against the title and that's what has potentially flagged up when your solicitor has undertaken their own priority search. The only person who can tell you what has changed, is your solicitor.

G_M

Price Paid/Value Stated Data:
Sorry, there is no price paid/value stated information available for this property

There are many reasons why the price paid is not recorded and it is not an issue (eg sold at auction).


What matters is what exactly changed. If your solicitor has spotted a change, then full marks - he is doing his job! It is important that he establishes what changed, why, and whether it affects you. That is what he is doing.


If you want to understand more, you'll need to ask him what the change was.


As for the impact on the purchase date, oters in the chain, well, what is more important? Buying on the date you hoped, but getting a property that has some negative legal issue, or ensuring that the property will be fully yours, with no adverse legal conditions/isues, but on the date you wanted?

Thrugelmir

fr2uk wrote: »

Our solicitor is being cautious and has decided to put the exchange of contract on hold until this gets resolved.

Are you buying with a mortgage? If so your solicitor represents your lender also. It's the lenders money that's at risk.

fr2uk

You are absolutely right, I think the stress isn't making me think rationally!

Flat_Eric

Your solicitor gets the Land Registry Title with the rest of the contract papers from the seller's solicitors at the beginning. Nearer to exchange, your solicitor will notify the Land Registry by doing a priority search that you are about to buy the property. The Land Registry check and if anything has changed then they will send out an updated Title. This may be what your solicitor has/where it has come from. your solicitor will need to compare the two.

flashg67

I've sold 2 houses last year I had at least 2 notices flagged for each one but couldn't see any changes and the solicitor (for better of worse) didn't seem to bother. The sale went through fine and a month after completion I got another notification.
My guess is that any searches or requests count as 'activity' and are flagged and notified.
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