Sellers name not on title deed

AliceCrowley

We are in the process of buying a property, and have been informed that when the draft contract arrived, the seller was not the named owner on the title deed. The estate agent made enquiries and suggested the named proprietor was the person the vendor purchased the house from, and somehow it was never transfered into his name. To confirm, we bought a copy of the title from the land registry website for £6 and indeed, the 'Title Absolute' is a completely different person to the vendor, as if the property had never changed hands.

The estate agent said the sellers solicitor would ask Land Registry to resolve the issue, taking a couple of weeks, but the conveyancer has suggested it could take far longer, into months instead of weeks, and seemed a bit confused about the matter. Due to personal circumstances we have made it quite clear that we need to complete as soon as possible, and trying to get any type of timescale estimate on this issue is proving difficult. If it did take months, we would have no choice but to walk away and find somewhere else.

I have been able to find very little online about this. Is the seller even legally entitled to sell the property if he is not named on the deed? Apparently, he had been renting the house out before putting it up for sale, and thus I find it strange that this error has not come up before now.

Realistically, how much of a delay is this likely to cause to the purchase? The house is otherwise empty and no chain, and everything else seems to be in order (as far as one can tell).

TBagpuss

It depends on why it wasn't updated in the first place.
If the seller (or their solicitor) still has the appropriate signed TR1 documentation and the transfer simply wasn't registered for some reason, then it may be fairly quick for them to to register using the expedited process at the land registry.

If it is a more complex issue and they have to either try to track down the former owner / current legal proprietor, or provide proof of their ownership, then it may take considerably longer. 

There is a specific thread for Land Registry questions where someone from the KR checks and responds regularly - if you put your question there they will be able to see it and may be able to give you more idea of timescales. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5685941/land-registry-questions/p330

FaceHead

If the purchase stalls, given that the property is empty, perhaps you could look into getting a license to occupy in place? I suppose the lack of them being the owner on paper could call into question whether they can issue a license to occupy, but given that they have been letting it previously, I'd be up for moving in and sorting the paperwork out later. 

This would allow you to move in whilst the solicitors are still sorting out the paperwork. The seller would get a nice fee, and would no longer have to pay the bills (e.g. council tax), and you'd get to move into your new home as required by whatever thing is driving your time pressure. 

AliceCrowley

Thanks. I didn't know about a "license to occupy" so might ask our solicitor about that, depending on how things go. Currently still waiting for a reply to previous email to them for an update! We have also been looking online at alternative options etc just in case of the worst case scenario and it takes too long or he is not entitled to sell etc. Thanks for the reply.

user1977

FaceHead said:

If the purchase stalls, given that the property is empty, perhaps you could look into getting a license to occupy in place? I suppose the lack of them being the owner on paper could call into question whether they can issue a license to occupy, but given that they have been letting it previously, I'd be up for moving in and sorting the paperwork out later. 

This would allow you to move in whilst the solicitors are still sorting out the paperwork. The seller would get a nice fee, and would no longer have to pay the bills (e.g. council tax), and you'd get to move into your new home as required by whatever thing is driving your time pressure. 

The seller may also get stuck with somebody occupying their property who isn't paying a nice, or any fee, and/or who no longer seems to be buying the property (or at least not at the previously-discussed price). Kicking them out would take months. The seller's solicitors would advise against this (as would we, if they came here asking for advice!). Also a bit messy from the OP's point of view (what if the seller can never sort out the title problem?).

tomnookfan

Hello! This happened with the house we're in the process of buying. Like above it depends on what the reason is: our issue was that there were still charges on the house from the previous owner that the current owner (or whoever) needed to settle.

It did delay the process a lot (we thought we'd be able to complete in June and now we're completing this week). Couldn't say how long it will delay you but I do wish you the best of luck!

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

way to avoid stamp duty perhaps?

user1977

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob said:

way to avoid stamp duty perhaps?

Not really. I mean, it's possible it was a misguided attempt to do so, but more likely just to end up with a massive penalty for doing it late