Missing page in lease held by Land registry? Any experiences?

crazyoldmaurice

Hello!
Currently in process of selling our SO flat, we are getting close to exchange but have just had this email.

"For your awareness, one of the enquiries may take a little longer to resolve; the copy of your lease held by the Land Registry is missing a page, so your buyer’s solicitor has asked that this be sorted out before we exchange. We have asked the Land Registry to do this, and have asked them to respond as soon as possible so as not to cause a delay, but we have not heard from them yet."

Has anyone had experience of this before? How long does something like this typically take to resolve?

Many thanks!

 

princeofpounds

Yes it can happen. The first question I would have is whether another copy of the lease exists, and so it's merely a case of modifying the registration, or whether it's genuinely missing.

If the former, it's an administrative matter and there is a land registry rep who will often answer queries on the forum - search for the thread. From the way it is expressed, it sounds like it might just be this, but you should clarify.

If the latter, it's a bit more problematic and depends on what exactly could be on the missing page. If it's clearly something minor, an indemnity insurance policy might cover it. If it's more major (and chances are it will be given it's a whole page) then you may be able to get your freeholder to agree to vary the lease to correct it; you would have to pay fees and it would take a couple of months perhaps, but would not be a concern. If the freeholder is unco-operative (not too likely) then you are looking at a Tribunal process perhaps, which is a bigger deal in terms of cost and timescale but not something you should fear losing.

bouicca21

The freeholder should have a copy.  Do you not have a copy yourselves?

crazyoldmaurice

Our property is SO with a housing association so need to find out if its the association or the housing trust that is the freeholder.

We do have a copy ourselves so I'm not sure why the solicitor hasn't checked back with us first just incase.

Tiglet2

crazyoldmaurice said:

Our property is SO with a housing association so need to find out if its the association or the housing trust that is the freeholder.

We do have a copy ourselves so I'm not sure why the solicitor hasn't checked back with us first just incase.

If you have a complete copy of the lease, then do send it to your solicitor.  Do you have the original or is it a certified copy?  

greatcrested

If "the copy of your lease held by the Land Registry is missing a page" it's unlikely the LR can resolve the matter. Either they have the page in question or they don't. And it seems they don't!

But you do!

Solved!

crazyoldmaurice

princeofpounds said:

Yes it can happen. The first question I would have is whether another copy of the lease exists, and so it's merely a case of modifying the registration, or whether it's genuinely missing.

If the former, it's an administrative matter and there is a land registry rep who will often answer queries on the forum - search for the thread. From the way it is expressed, it sounds like it might just be this, but you should clarify.

If the latter, it's a bit more problematic and depends on what exactly could be on the missing page. If it's clearly something minor, an indemnity insurance policy might cover it. If it's more major (and chances are it will be given it's a whole page) then you may be able to get your freeholder to agree to vary the lease to correct it; you would have to pay fees and it would take a couple of months perhaps, but would not be a concern. If the freeholder is unco-operative (not too likely) then you are looking at a Tribunal process perhaps, which is a bigger deal in terms of cost and timescale but not something you should fear losing.

Solicitor has said they LR copy is missing the page only,  and that they have provided the LR with a copy of the missing page and are waiting for them to update their records .

Thank you for your wisdom, I have posted on the land registry thread, hopefully it doesn't take too long for them update and doesn't stall the exchange too long!

KE48

I would be interested to hear how you get on with this one, I might be in the same boat.

crazyoldmaurice

I will update once I hear its been sorted@

princeofpounds

Great. You should get your solicitor to ask for your case to be 'expedited' - the LR have another track they can put you on (at their discretion) that is faster. But that's not to say there won't be Covid-related delays. 

crazyoldmaurice

princeofpounds said:

Great. You should get your solicitor to ask for your case to be 'expedited' - the LR have another track they can put you on (at their discretion) that is faster. But that's not to say there won't be Covid-related delays. 

Thanks for this! I've just emailed them, hopefully they will... I get the feeling lately that I'm a pain in the bum to them despite having virtually no contact from them apart from this past 6 weeks (instructed them in Feb!). 
Imagine they've taken  on a lot of work recently, but still!