Land registry delays- is a lease extension a complex change?

tryingmybest99

Hi all, 

I completed on the 1st of February and my leasehold flat purchase is not yet on the land registry. I looked to see the wait times and they are up to 4 months (5 in some cases) unless it is "complex applications, such as first registrations, creating a new lease or transferring part of a property". (From the Land Registry's website- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/measures-to-support-customers#processing-times).

Now, if my is a normal sale, i think i should be looking to chase my conveyancer. However a lease extension was completed as part of the sale. Does this make it a complex application and therefore in the second category (in other words, should I just leave my conveyancer alone?).

user1977

I expect anything which isn't a straightforward transfer/mortgage of an already-registered property is "complex".

Do you have a particular reason for wanting the registration completed quickly? Chasing your conveyancer doesn't make the Land Registry work any faster.

tryingmybest99

user1977 said:

I expect anything which isn't a straightforward transfer/mortgage of an already-registered property is "complex".

Do you have a particular reason for wanting the registration completed quickly? Chasing your conveyancer doesn't make the Land Registry work any faster.

Thanks. I kind of have a reason or two, but not priorities really. Firstly, the ground rent changed with the extension and I just want to make sure that's all sorted properly for my own peace of mind.

Secondly the conveyancer was not very good and we had a lot of issues (including unfortunately dishonesty) that led to me almost losing the purchase. If he has made another mistake I would like to know as soon as possible and get it rectified. It does say on his online portal it was submitted to the registry. 

TBG01

A lease extension is a complex case. I wouldn't expect to see the updated title until later this year. 

Which is on the Land Registry. Not your conveyancer.

tryingmybest99

TBG01 said:

A lease extension is a complex case. I wouldn't expect to see the updated title until later this year. 

Which is on the Land Registry. Not your conveyancer.

Thanks- I know it is down to the land registry but it is up to the conveyancer to actually submit something to the land registry to let them know the sale has happened.

eddddy

tryingmybest99 said:

Firstly, the ground rent changed with the extension...

Presumably you have a copy of the deed signed by the seller and the freeholder that shows the new ground rent.

If the management company (or whoever bills for ground rent) make a mistake and bill the wrong amount, I suspect that if you send them a copy of that, the mistake will be easily rectified.

tryingmybest99

eddddy said:

tryingmybest99 said:

Firstly, the ground rent changed with the extension...

Presumably you have a copy of the deed signed by the seller and the freeholder that shows the new ground rent.

If the management company (or whoever bills for ground rent) make a mistake and bill the wrong amount, I suspect that if you send them a copy of that, the mistake will be easily rectified.

Thanks- I do, yes.

Land_Registry

tryingmybest99 said:

TBG01 said:

A lease extension is a complex case. I wouldn't expect to see the updated title until later this year. 

Which is on the Land Registry. Not your conveyancer.

Thanks- I know it is down to the land registry but it is up to the conveyancer to actually submit something to the land registry to let them know the sale has happened.

Correct and if they’ve submitted it then they should be able to quote you the title number, our case reference and an estimated completion date. If they can confirm those then it’s a Q of waiting for them to tell you it’s done. 

A lease extension creates a new lease so as posted that’s in the ‘complex’ category. The timescale is generally all wait time due to a backlog of that type of work