Land Registry timescale - is seller telling truth?

Jenwalker86

Hi all, 
I could really do with your help/advice. We sold our house at the beginning of December and had an off accepted on another at the same time. All has been progressing. There are 5 in the chain (we’re the middle). FTB, our buyers, us, our sellers and top of the chain who have another property their moving into. 

We and everyone behind us have signed all contracts and ready to go and have been for a month. Because of stamp duty, everyone in the chain wanted to be moved before 31st March. Our buyers are EXTREMELY keen and have been pushing all the way through the process. 

The problem lies with our sellers purchase. For weeks we were told they had outstanding enquiries. Then suddenly it was something to do with land registry. Everyone is being very cagey. Now it’s seems the house their buying hasn’t been sold for a long time and there’s and issue with the title deeds and the utilities. We can’t seem to get an answer from them if they’ve submitted an application into the land registry or not and have just been told it could be tomorrow or take 5mths for them to hear back?!! 

Apparently indemnity insurance is a no (no explanation as to why) they are not prepared to break the chain and move out. So it seems we are stuck. I have no idea what to do. We’re so worried our buyer will pull out because of the delay and the whole chain will collapse. We can’t seem to get answers from anyone about what’s happening all the time it will take. 

Any advice??? 

AdrianC

They don't want to break the chain.
But you don't want to break the chain, either...

The 31st March SDLT deadline is now 30th June, so you've got less of a panic there.

fishfingerbutties

We are currently selling old house through probate that was bought 60 years ago and had loads of issues with titles (similarly couldn't just have an indemnity). The Land Registry is very slow at the moment- we were advised it could be 6 months for our particular issue as it was effectively a new registrartion. However, if it's the subject of an ongoing house sale a request can be made for it to be expedited (although it's not guaranteed). It took our conveyancers over 2 weeks just to get someone at the LR to answer the phone! 

greatcrested

So the property is unregistered and there is an unspecified issue with the paper title deeds. No one is going to tell you what - it's not your business.

Sounds like your sellers have sensibly insisted that the property they are buying be registered before Exchange (as opposed to them doing 1st registration on Completion) so that whatever the issue is gets resolved before they buy.

Not unusual.

LR timescales can vary, but the solicitors in question can ask the LR to expedite the 1st Registration as a linked sale is involved. That just means the LR move it up the queue - it does not mean the actual registration is done faster. That depends what the problem with the Title is.

As for your question:  "is seller telling truth?" Who knows?!

frogglet

When we sold an unregistered house the new owners registered it , we weren't required to register  it  first  just prove it was ours to sell. We did have the deeds though.

AdrianC

frogglet said:

When we sold an unregistered house the new owners registered it , we weren't required to register  it  first  just prove it was ours to sell. We did have the deeds though.

And therein usually lies the problem with a property that's still unregistered now... They're the properties that haven't changed hands for many decades, which usually carries certain implications about the age of the vendor. They're often being sold as probate, perhaps with paperwork that has fallen into disorder over the decades. Perhaps the ball has been dropped over a charge being released or not, with no supporting paperwork available.

Thrugelmir

Jenwalker86 said:

We and everyone behind us have signed all contracts and ready to go and have been for a month. 

Draft contract is signed early in the process. Not an indication that everything is in place for exchange. Those above you in the chain will naturally be behind you. Discount Xmas break and not that much time has actually passed since your offer was agreed. . 

Jenwalker86

Thanks for all your replies. What do u think we should do then? Just wait it out? Trouble is my sol has asked numerous times if an application has been made, and if so can they expedite but she gets no answer. I don’t know the address or I would try and call land registry myself and see if there’s an application in. 

We’re going to need to inform our buyer that there’s an issue but I would prefer to be able to tell them the application is in and expedited. I just can’t understand why they don’t seem willing to tell us these details. The stamp duty deadline has obviously been moved now but our buyer have already enrolled their kids into the local school (super keen) so I know their not going to want to have to commute them everyday for god knows how long. 

Jenwalker86

When I said we’re all ready to go I mean everything ha been signed and we’re at the stage of discussing completion dates. Our sellers have also signed for our side 

greatcrested

As already said "everything has been signed" means little. Signing is often done very early in the process and with many issues still outstanding.

Your buyer's problems (schools etc) are their problems, not yours. They will either wait, or give up and start looking at other properties - which will put them back months.

It is strange that your seller's seller won't say whether an application for 1st Registration has been made, but there's Chinese whispers involved. Like your buyer, you can eitjer wait patiently, or strart looking at properties again.

The reality is that house buying almost always takes long than people want, or expect, and issues frequently arise somewhere in the chain.

Tea and cake is my go-to advice in neighbour dispute matters; in this case it's a bottle of wine, feet up, and...... chill!

pinkteapot

Is your vendor using a decent estate agent or a Purple Bricks type? If you've got a proper agent, phone them and make some noise about being concerned the chain will collapse. They will ring your vendor's solicitor (your solicitor probably emailed) and ask the questions. EAs are good in this sort of situation at ringing round all parties in the chain, finding out what's happening, updating people, etc. They're generally a lot more efficient at it - especially if they're a decent agent with dedicated sales progressors...

I would also want a clear explanation of exactly what the issue is, what's been done about it, and what the expected timescale is, before I talk to my buyer.