Purchasing house that hasn’t been registered

lunaloo122

I chased my solicitor today and they advised me that because the house has never been registered it’s going to take longer. 

Has anyone had any experience of this? 

Mickey666

It's going to take longer because it is now a requirement that any unregistered property, of which there are many,  (and not just houses) must be registered when it changes ownership.  I think this has been the case since the late 1990s.

To register the property, Land Registry will require proof of ownership, which is usually achieved through the physical title deeds.  If the person selling has a mortgage then the chances are that their lender has a copy of the deeds, so it should be a straightforward process, but it is a process and it will take some time - though I've no idea of current timescales given the disruption caused by covid-19.

If the person selling doesn't have a mortgage then their last conveyancing solicitor might have retained the deeds or they might have been returned to the seller, because solicitors recently began to charge for storing title deeds which is why many owners asked them to be returned.  None of these scenarios are a problem as long as the title deeds are readily to hand.

If, for any reason, the title deeds have been lost then there could be many complications and delays.  I would hope that anyone selling an unregistered property would already have the title deeds to hand!

Davesnave

lunaloo122 said:

Has anyone had any experience of this? 

  I helped someone who was trying to buy fishing rights on a river, but the estate's executor couldn't find any documentation, the rights weren't registered and it took over 2 years for the beneficiary of the will to prove good title at the Land Registry.

Maybe a more extreme example, but each case is dealt with on its merits. Provided paperwork is all present and correct, I believe registration may be speeded-up somewhat when a sale is involved.

greatcrested

lunaloo122 said:

I chased my solicitor today and they advised me that because the house has never been registered it’s going to take longer. 

Has anyone had any experience of this? 

Compulsory registration was introduced in a phased way mostly during the 1970s to 1990s (aprox - see link for dates below).

Before that, nearly ALL properties were 'unregistered' and there was (and still is) a well understood process for selling property. It is slightly more involved as it requires examination of physical deeds and paperwork, as opposed to an authorised electronc record, but provided all the papers are present it is not a problem.

The problem (and potential real delay) arises if paperwork has been lost......

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registrations/practice-guide-1-first-registrations

Mickey666

Also, in cases where title deeds have been lost but there is still sufficient documentation to strongly indicate ownership, LR may register the property but instead of giving a 'title absolute' they give a 'title possessory'. 

As I understand things, a title absolute cannot be challenged by anyone, it is an absolute guarantee of ownership.  So, if perchance LR made a mistake and gave you title absolute because original real owner had been forgotten for some reason, then the property is yours by right - even if the true owner later turns up with a fistful of original title deeds.  The original owner will be able to pursue LR for compensation but they could never recover their property.

For this reason, if there is some doubt over ownership even though the case is very strong (perhaps a vital document has been lost for example) then LR can register the property as 'title possessory', which means the owner is the legal owner for all practical purposes but IF someone comes along with a better provable claim of prior ownership then the title could be returned to the previous owner.  I believe there is a period of 12 years in which a possessory title could be challenged but that after 12 years a possessory title can be automatically converted into a title absolute.

peterhjohnson

I recently sold an unregistered property and it did take a bit longer (several weeks) because the Building Society didn't send the deeds to the solicitor. Somebody in the BS didn't know about this archaic procedure and there was a bit of shouting before it got sorted