Trying to buy a house that’s deeds have been destroyed..

lauramcclean86

I was wondering if anyone could give input if they had a similar experience..we are trying to purchase an end semi detached house in a residential area, we are buying off people we know.  The deeds of the house were destroyed in the Bradford and bingley fire in 1998 and the house isn’t registered with land registry.

The family have a copy of the deeds, a statutory declaration and an indemnity policy in place. Our bank are happy to lend if we get an indemnity policy and their solicitor is proposing we buy out the ground rent and apply to land registry for a first registration once the sale completes.  However our solicitor is adamant we can’t proceed as there is no guarantee of the class of title that we will be granted from land registry once the sale is completed.  The vendors did try to apply for a first registration but it was rejected and she thinks we are better placed to do it on completion.  Our solicitor wants them to try again.

We are at a loss as the two solicitors don’t agree on a way forward and living with parents with a toddler and a baby on the way!!! Any one experienced similar with lost or destroyed deeds and how did you move forward? 

YBR

Your solicitor is protecting your interests, and I feel you should listen to them.
Do you know why the vendors' application for first registration was rejected?

Mutton_Geoff

lauramcclean86 said:The vendors did try to apply for a first registration but it was rejected and she thinks we are better placed to do it on completion.

I bet they would say that. Take your solicitors advice, it's what you are paying for.

user1977

lauramcclean86 said:

The vendors did try to apply for a first registration but it was rejected 

For what reason?

lauramcclean86

The vendors solicitor came back and said that Land Registry were taking the view that both the Root of Title and the Deed of Acquisition cannot be copies. She thinks that upon completion we will have an original Deed of Acquisition and then we meet the criteria required by the registry for a good leasehold title to be granted.  But I suppose the way our solicitor sees it is there is no guarantees of this.

She asked Land Registry to reconsider the application due to the fact that they have a signed statutory declaration from B&B.  We are at a loss as no one seems to know a way round it despite the fact that 80 thousand deeds were burnt in the fire in 98 so surely there is way round it to protect everyone’s interest?! I did read that as most deeds are electronic so getting round issues like this is a dying craft for solicitors as they so infrequently come across it! 

TBG01

As above you need to find out why.

The Land Registry can be quite pedantic at times, but will also point you (within reason) in the right direction to how to resolve things. 

Leaving it at rejected would have me quite worried.

steampowered

If the vendor's land registry application got rejected, there is a good chance that your application might get rejected too.

You could then be left with an unsellable and potentially unmortgageable property until the issue can be resolved. Potentially at great expense to yourself as you may need to pay a specialist solicitor to sort it out for you.

Personally I would insist that the property is registered before I would be willing to proceed with the transaction. 

Surely the vendors are better placed than you to sort this out, given that they have already started the registration process? Time to start looking for another property.