House not on land registry

jkrbec

Hi all, was wondering if anyone had any experience in terms of time scales with this situation.

We are in the process of buying a new house, it’s a year old and we are about 8 weeks into the process.

The sellers solicitors hadn’t yet sent the contract to ours and it transpires that Barrett homes didn’t register the property with the land registry when the current owners bought it new, does anyone know how long this might take to get resolved?

user1977

It's the current owners who should have registered their purchase, not Barrett. Do you mean they hadn't submitted it at all, or was it submitted and just still being processed by the Land Registry? In any event, your solicitor should be able to advise. It shouldn't hold up getting on with the contract and the rest of the conveyancing.

jkrbec

The estate agent has told us that’s Barratt forgot to do it, they’ve lived there since July 2020 but as it stands, the house isn’t on the land registry and the estate agent has said the contract can’t be sent until it is, if this is wrong then I will go back to my solicitors for some advice.

user1977

jkrbec said:

The estate agent has told us that’s Barratt forgot to do it, they’ve lived there since July 2020 but as it stands, the house isn’t on the land registry and the estate agent has said the contract can’t be sent until it is, if this is wrong then I will go back to my solicitors for some advice.

Estate agents generally don't understand much about conveyancing - it's much more likely that they've got it wrong. You should be taking legal advice from your solicitors, not (the seller's) estate agents.

TBagpuss

talk to your solicitor.

Normally, the situation would be that Barrett homes would have had title to the land for the full estate, they would then have split this and registered the individual plots / properties, then the buyer's solicitor (not Barrett Homes) would have registered the transfer into their name when they bought. 

Given that the mortgage lender would have required their mortgage charge to be registered it is unlikely that it wasn't registered, and the agents don't generally have the relevant information or expertise.

Your solicitor will be able to get the Office Copy Entries for the property which will show if it is registered and in whose name. 

It's possible, of course, that there is an issue with the title - but your solicitor, not the agents, are the ones to explain that to you. 

It's possible that the current owners' conveyancers didn't complete the registration when they bought, although I'd be surprised if they have a mortgage as the lenders usually chase up for confirmation,. It's also possible that there was a delay and that it was then caught up in the land registry delays so the registration is not yet complete. 

However, talk to your own solicitor and perhaps ask them to hold off on ay searches etc until you know if there is an issue, t oavoid wasting money if it turns out that there is an issue. 

jkrbec

Thanks all.

I’d chased the estate agent because our
solicitor had told us they haven’t received the contract yet from the sellers solicitors and this the reason why that the estate agent has given us.

I’ll go back to our solicitors for some advice 

jkrbec

Our solicitors have said it’s likely to delay things and the sellers solicitors need to lodge the registration and request the land registry to expedite it.

GoogleMeNow

Land Registry do take a little time to update the registers, but on straight forward Transfers of Whole (i.e. an existing title is transferred from seller to buyer), it can be done quickly.

Transfers of Part on the other hand take a long time for Land Registry to deal with and you state that the property is only a year old, so it is very likely that Land Registry are still dealing with a backlog of cases where a new title needs to be created.  

It sounds like your seller bought the property as a new build, which are mostly Transfers of Part.  The developer buys a large plot of land and then needs to split the land into segments for each property, all of which need a brand new title/number.  When the buyer completed on the property, their conveyancing solicitor would have made an application to register the plot and the new owner as the registered proprietor.  But many new build completions from 2020 have still not been registered.

Do you know if your seller is using the same conveyancing solicitor for the sale to you, as they did when they purchased?  

Unfortunately, without a title number or having an official copy of the title register and plan, the seller's solicitor cannot provide a draft contract pack.  The only documents they can realistically send are the protocol forms (Fixtures & Contents/PIF), possibly the official copy of the title of the entire plot, but it would be impossible to have searches carried out on the actual property.

Hopefully, now that there is an active sale going ahead, Land Registry will agree to expedite the application.

jkrbec

i’m not sure if they are using the same conveyancer but the estate agent has said it’s been expedited so hopefully it won’t take too long, properties either side of this property show up on the land registry search so it does seem to fit the narrative that someone didn’t do what they should have when they purchased the house as a new build.

GoogleMeNow

jkrbec said:

i’m not sure if they are using the same conveyancer but the estate agent has said it’s been expedited so hopefully it won’t take too long, properties either side of this property show up on the land registry search so it does seem to fit the narrative that someone didn’t do what they should have when they purchased the house as a new build.

Solicitors often don't make the application to the Land Registry in the first few days after completion, sometimes it takes a couple of weeks before they do this.  It's a positive that the properties either side have been completed though!

GoogleMeNow

Oh and just to reiterate:

For accurate updates and information, speak to the solicitor, not the EA.

While some EAs are knowledgeable, they do not have access to any of the legal work and consequently cannot say with any accuracy what has or what hasn't been done.