Land Registry delays - please let us know your experiences

MSE_Laura_F

There are mentions on this board about long delays in Land Registry processing new ownerships.

We've heard of an instance where the homeowner has been waiting a year so far. Have you heard or read of anyone else experiencing delays of this length?

Thank you.

EssexHebridean

There aren't currently significant delays that I am aware of on a straight registration of transfer TR1 for the most part - as long as the application is completed correctly and so no requisitions need to be raised - I lodged one on 23/2 which was shown as completed yesterday so 8 working days - not the quickest we've ever seen but not by any means what I would have described as slow. Others may be experiencing things differently of course.

Where there are problematic delays is on things like new leases and lease extensions - a quick glance confirms that I have a lease application which was lodged in October 2021 and is still not through - no requisitions either, just "in progress". And that is just one from a number - it's incredibly difficult to explain to a client why they STILL don't have their updated title paperwork as their assumption is that we are delaying things! (I don't think that is anywhere near the worst that people are seeing, either - I know we've had to ask for expedition on a few older ones as they were delaying clients selling). I can't begin to imagine what the delay on FR1's must be right now - pre Covid those came with a long wait so I imagine it's even worse now - thankfully we don't see too many of those these days.

diystarter7

Hi
Friends of the family bought a old, nice big house in  Kent  still waiting for their name to be added to the title - purchase was completed start of Nov 2022.   

They also bought a BTL for cash same county but not town towards mid Nov 2022, and name on deeds went live about a month ago

Thanks

propertyrental

Buying a property that had an erroneous restriction registered. This needed removing before Exchange.

Seller sent an application to remove the restriction to the Land Registry who took 3 days .....

Can't fault them (the LR that is!)

Loza2016

We bought a property that was unregistered in December 2020 took the LR until February 2022 to complete the registration. 

daveyjp

Transaction completed March 2022, request for further info received Feb 2023.

It will be well over a year before the registration is finalised.

babyblade41

Pretty long for us in comparison to previous years

silvercar

We nearly lost a purchase because of delays. Our seller had previously purchased a parking space (block of flats with underground car park) after their original purchase. The change to the deeds to add the parking place sat in a queue, between the date it was put in the queue and the time it reached the front of the queue (6-12 months is an estimate) the freeholder, had sold and so the LR's own rules required them to give 6 weeks notice to the new freeholder to allow for an objection. If they had taken those 6 weeks our mortgage offer would have expired and the new mortgages were at a higher and unaffordable rate. Luckily the seller managed to find the UK agent of the overseas freeholder and pleaded with them to approve it.

I accept that is fairly niche, but there is another problem that will effect more people.

The LR will expedite a case ie deal with it quickly, if a sale or re-mortgage depends on it. This is a godsend in the circumstances. But, unknown to many, if you apply to register something and put in a case for expediting at the same time, the LR don't see your request. You need to make the application and then expedite separately. I'm not sure that this is made clear anywhere.

As a data point, our purchase in August was registered in February. 

KittenChops

The sold price for the house that we sold in early Dec 2022 is showing on this website :https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd/

But the house that we bought on the same day is not.

Does this mean that the new ownership has been processed for the old house, but not the new one?  (They are in different counties.)

ETA - our old house was bought with a mortgage, whereas we have bought this house outright - wondering if that might be the difference in time scales?

Hebblethwaite

I completed early December 2021, but the Land Registry hasn't yet updated for my property. A house a few doors up sold around a year later and the Land Registry for that property has already been updated. My solicitor was terrible, and I'm starting to wonder if they may have made a mistake rather than it being a Land Registry delay. 

It was a slightly less straightforward situation. I may have got it mixed up now, but I think it was that the Leasehold was registered but the Freehold wasn't (although I was buying both). Still seems an extraordinarily long time though.

Stato71

We bought a new build in December 2020 and our names are still not listed on the public facing system. The whole development is still listed as the whole thing rather than individual plots. Some houses were bought in early 2019 so they've been waiting 4 years for the  Land Registry to finalise the processing.   I contacted them about it in April last year and was told to try again in April this year. That sounds like they are woefully under staffed.