Sale completed but TR1 form not signed by vendor

strawberry*

Hi

We completed on a house purchase last April. The communication and experience with our own conveyancer was poor throughout and we made a formal complaint about the situation after we had completed. We reached a mutual agreement in October. At that point I had queried that we had not received notification of the amendment to the title register from Land Registry. I was advised by our conveyancer that they made the application but a query was raised by Land Registry which the vendor’s solicitor needed to respond to and they were waiting on that (all seemed very normal). Time has gone by and we didn’t hear another word so assumed all was in order. At the beginning of February this year, I realised we still have not received anything. I queried this again with our solicitor who advised they were waiting for LR to process the application. I am aware there have been some delays at LR but this seemed a very long time. I decided to contact them directly.

LR advised me that they had received an application from our solicitor last June. They had written to them in July seeking more information (wouldn’t tell me what). They had no response and after a further warning letter cancelled the application, with no subsequent application having been received since. 

I contacted my solicitor to express concern, copying in the client care partner who had managed the previous complaint. In the next few days I was advised that the vendor’s solicitor had got the vendor (an elderly gentleman) to sign an incorrect copy/version of the TR1 prior to the sale. Our solicitor insists they have made regular contact with the vendor’s solicitor in the year since the sale and no correct TR1 has been provided. The vendor’s solicitor indicated that he has sent the vendor the TR1 by email twice and recently sent a copy in the post. The vendor is not answering the phone or returning the TR1. 

The client care manager at our solicitor’s firm has now written to the senior partner at the vendor’s solicitor firm to try to engage more action. 

We are hugely concerned (not sleeping with worry) as we understand we are not the legal owners of the property until this is registered with LR. I know this usually takes time, but we do not even have the correct form signed. I wonder if anyone knows for sure, the following:

- how bad a situation are we in? We have been paying a mortgage for a year on a property we don’t legally own, and also paid a significant cash deposit for. We have also gained planning permission (around 10k fees) and are just about to start a major refurb/renovation project on a property that we now find, is not yet ours.
- should our solicitor have had sight of/checked the vendor’s signed TR1 prior to completion, or only the vendor’s solicitor?
- what can we do if the vendor decides he simply doesn’t want to sign the form or doesn’t respond?
- what can/should we do about our own solicitor and that of the vendor? This experience feels negligent on both their parts. 

Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated!

canaldumidi

strawberry* said:

- how bad a situation are we in? We have been paying a mortgage for a year on a property we don’t legally own, and also paid a significant cash deposit for. We have also gained planning permission (around 10k fees) and are just about to start a major refurb/renovation project on a property that we now find, is not yet ours.
- should our solicitor have had sight of/checked the vendor’s signed TR1 prior to completion, or only the vendor’s solicitor?
- what can we do if the vendor decides he simply doesn’t want to sign the form or doesn’t respond?
- what can/should we do about our own solicitor and that of the vendor? This experience feels negligent on both their parts. 

- well it's not good, but nor is it the end of the world

- no your solicitor should have checked a draft before Completion, and checked again on receipt of the signed TR1 at Completion

- well clearly a further formal complain and/or escalation the the legal ombudsman. Not sure if you can obtain registration of restricted title - a legal bod here may advise. Or post on the Land Registry thread here

- as above

Tiglet2

strawberry* said:

Hi

We completed on a house purchase last April. The communication and experience with our own conveyancer was poor throughout and we made a formal complaint about the situation after we had completed. We reached a mutual agreement in October. At that point I had queried that we had not received notification of the amendment to the title register from Land Registry. I was advised by our conveyancer that they made the application but a query was raised by Land Registry which the vendor’s solicitor needed to respond to and they were waiting on that (all seemed very normal). Time has gone by and we didn’t hear another word so assumed all was in order. At the beginning of February this year, I realised we still have not received anything. I queried this again with our solicitor who advised they were waiting for LR to process the application. I am aware there have been some delays at LR but this seemed a very long time. I decided to contact them directly.

LR advised me that they had received an application from our solicitor last June. They had written to them in July seeking more information (wouldn’t tell me what). They had no response and after a further warning letter cancelled the application, with no subsequent application having been received since. 

I contacted my solicitor to express concern, copying in the client care partner who had managed the previous complaint. In the next few days I was advised that the vendor’s solicitor had got the vendor (an elderly gentleman) to sign an incorrect copy/version of the TR1 prior to the sale. Our solicitor insists they have made regular contact with the vendor’s solicitor in the year since the sale and no correct TR1 has been provided. The vendor’s solicitor indicated that he has sent the vendor the TR1 by email twice and recently sent a copy in the post. The vendor is not answering the phone or returning the TR1. 

The client care manager at our solicitor’s firm has now written to the senior partner at the vendor’s solicitor firm to try to engage more action. 

We are hugely concerned (not sleeping with worry) as we understand we are not the legal owners of the property until this is registered with LR. I know this usually takes time, but we do not even have the correct form signed. I wonder if anyone knows for sure, the following:

- how bad a situation are we in? We have been paying a mortgage for a year on a property we don’t legally own, and also paid a significant cash deposit for. We have also gained planning permission (around 10k fees) and are just about to start a major refurb/renovation project on a property that we now find, is not yet ours.
- should our solicitor have had sight of/checked the vendor’s signed TR1 prior to completion, or only the vendor’s solicitor?
- what can we do if the vendor decides he simply doesn’t want to sign the form or doesn’t respond?
- what can/should we do about our own solicitor and that of the vendor? This experience feels negligent on both their parts. 

Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated!

Your solicitor will be regularly updating the OS1 search at Land Registry to protect your priority and that of the lender, so your purchase is completed and you are the new owners of the property, except that the title has not yet been updated.

Your solicitor would not receive or had sight of the original 'signed' TR1 from the vendor's solicitor until after completion.  Your solicitor would have seen a 'draft' TR1 at the beginning of the transaction, but I assume that there had been a few amendments before the final version was produced and somehow the vendor signed the wrong one.  

Unfortunately it appears to be an administrative error that should have been spotted by the vendor's solicitor before completion, but has slipped through the net maybe because they were busy and under pressure to complete. 

Your solicitor has contacted the vendor's solicitor and asked them to assist in correcting this, which they are doing, but realistically all they can do is contact the vendor and request that he signs another form.  If the vendor ignores the request, then it is going to take some time to get him to co-operate, maybe with the threat of court action.

Your solicitor is not negligent here, though it could be argued that the vendor's solicitor should take responsibility for their error but you wouldn't be able to sue them as you're not their client.

strawberry*

Thanks both for your input. 

Tiglet2, I’m interested you don’t feel our solicitor has been negligent here. I feel they have not communicated with us openly and honestly. They essentially lied about the situation when I asked them and it has only come to light because I dealt with LR myself. It has been a year and they have continued to just email the other solicitor…… I live in a world where slightly more proactive action is taken in a situation like this. 

With regards to the vendor’s solicitor and their efforts to remediate their own error - two emails and a letter in a year - I have no words. I am disappointed not to be able to complain about them as we are not their client - their error has left us with a problem.

As I understand it - we are unable to sell the property now. I wonder what else we cannot do and how else we are limited by this situation. All of which we paid professionals to manage for us.

Tiglet2

The reason I don't think your solicitor is negligent is because it is only following completion that your solicitor and the vendor's solicitor post each their client's signed TR1s.  Your solicitor wouldn't have seen the vendor's TR1 until after completion and when they applied to the Land Registry to update the title.  By then, you have 'completed'. 

The seller's solicitor had probably given an 'undertaking' to assist in requisitions raised by the Land Registry.   Purchasing Solicitors don't tend to share Land Registry's 'requisitions' with their clients.  The requisition is merely a letter from Land Registry advising that they cannot update the register because a document is missing/incorrect etc.   It is then the solicitor's job to correct the error.  Since this is not an error on your solicitor's part or your part, they referred the requisition back to the seller's solicitor for them to provide the corrected document.  There would be no need to involve you in this, certainly if the vendor had signed the correct document you would have been none the wiser.  

What is questionable is at what point your solicitor should have explained the issue to you.  I would have thought a year without explanation was very poor on their part and perhaps you could seek some recompense here, but this is an error caused by the seller and seller's solicitor and it is them who need to resolve the issue.

GDB2222

An application can be made to the court to correct this. The court can sign the TR1. But, this all costs money, and there will be a delay, so the solicitors have been trying to persuade the vendor. That’s not unreasonable, but after nearly a year you should start getting stroppy.

 I suggest that you set a deadline of the anniversary of the completion date, and say that you want proceedings issued against the vendor immediately after that. You may need to instruct some litigation solicitors to act for you to gee things up.

strawberry*

Thanks again Tiglet2. I appreciate your explanation. I do feel, particularly given this came after a formal complaint regarding their lack of communication with us, and the length of time this situation has been unresolved now, there should have been communication with us about the issue from our solicitor. 

Currently, my priority is getting the correct TR1 form signed by the vendor and into the hands of my solicitor and ultimately, LR. I am very worried about what it means for us if this does not happen soon - it feels like we are currently held hostage without freedom to do what we want or might need to do with our home. I can’t believe we are in this situation. Does anyone know if there is anything we can do without the vendor’s signature on the TR1?

strawberry*

Thank you also GDB222 for your helpful comments. I will bear that in mind. I have asked for a meeting with my solicitor next week - although they have not yet agreed to this. I wonder whether it has to be us to pay for this - not our error……

Slithery

strawberry* said:

I am very worried about what it means for us if this does not happen soon - it feels like we are currently held hostage without freedom to do what we want or might need to do with our home.

As already stated above you do own the property, it's just that the register hasn't been updated yet.
What do you think that you can't do with your home? The only think I can think of is remortgage but I assume that you're still in your fixed term anyway?

strawberry*

Hi Slithery

Well… for a start I understand I can’t sell my home until this is resolved. That’s a huge restriction. As you state - remortgaging my home - currently I don’t need to but that also feels immaterial - I should be able to if I want to, shouldn’t I? Our plan was to redevelop this property at significant cost, starting in the next few months but it just feels like we are tenants rather than owners now. To be honest, I don’t know what else I can’t do - I’m worried about what else there might be on that list! I feel we are in a different situation to someone who is simply waiting for their application to be processed, as we still do not have the signed form - to me, this indicates some issue and that we are not simply in a situation where we are still waiting for the process to be completed.

Sistergold

You say the vendor was elderly? Maybe he is now no more? I think the “getting it done through the courts” will be a good next step?