Land registry is not in my name and I am trying to sell my home

MINNIEMOMO

Hi all,

We are in the process of selling our flat and we found out today the flat was never changed to our names on the land registry and is still registered to the previous owner. I'm assuming a solicitor mess up here, but my question is how long will this take to be corrected? We are in a chain of 3 people and worried this will mean we lose the house we are buying, and consequently our funds given to solicitors already. Our current solicitor said we may be able to sue our previous solicitor from when we bought this flat 5 years ago for negligence.

Thanks

TripleH

Not sure how long it will take, but focus on correcting issue first, then once it is resolved (either way), then deal with it not being done in first place beyond raising a letter of formal complaint.

Pondskater

This happened to us. We had been in this house which we bought cash, a few years and decided to take out a small mortgage to extend. Fortunately we used the same soliciter, who informed us that it was still in the previous owners name. They apologised and had it corrected. It didn't take very long but your situation is different and who knows how long a piece of string is. Good luck in getting it sorted timeously.

TBagpuss

How long it will take will depend o exactly what went wrong - for instance, if all the paperwork was done but not registered then it's likely to be much faster than if there was something crucial that wasn't signed at the time by the seller.

The Land Registry has a lot of delays at present but you may be able to expedite it once you have identified what's wrong and what needs doing.

in the first instance, you current solicitors are going to need to contact the previous ones - it's possible that they may be able to resolve it, especially if what happened was that they either failed to register the transfer or failed to notice that the land registry had not done so (if they sent everything off) 

GDB2222

Do you have a forwarding address for your vendor?

getmore4less

Start with the solicitor you used to buy the place they should have done it.

MINNIEMOMO

Hi folks, just an update: our old solicitor messed up when we were buying this place and archived the case before they received exemption certificates from the housing association who own the building, so they're rectifying it now. Watch this space but I'm hoping it won't take too long as the solicitor has paid for it to be expedited. Fuming is not the word for it. 

MINNIEMOMO

MINNIEMOMO said:

Hi folks, just an update: our old solicitor messed up when we were buying this place and archived the case before they received exemption certificates from the housing association who own the building, so they're rectifying it now. Watch this space but I'm hoping it won't take too long as the solicitor has paid for it to be expedited. Fuming is not the word for it. 

Another update: still not dealt with 2 weeks later, delays from our housing association

babyblade41

Great to have this updated.. it helps people in future 

Flugelhorn

for anyone else who reads it - worth signing up for the Land Registry Property alerts - we completed on flat in Dec - got an alert within 20 mins when the solicitor submitted stuff to LR and will also get one when further action is taken there

Mahsroh

Flugelhorn said:

for anyone else who reads it - worth signing up for the Land Registry Property alerts - we completed on flat in Dec - got an alert within 20 mins when the solicitor submitted stuff to LR and will also get one when further action is taken there

We did the same. And therefore like you we know it's currently with LR to action. 

Even if you don't sign up to the alerts, it's worth remembering that this will always need to be done after Completing on a sale/purchase. If a few months have passed and you've not received a new title register in the post either follow up with your solicitors or pay £3 to LR to check.