Purchasing a house thats not on the land registry? - How long will it take to obtain the deeds/plans

georgemanor

Hi All, 

Im in the process of purchasing a house, got my mortgage offer but the vendors solicitors still havent gotten the draft contract ready.

They've just reported that theyre in the process of getting title plans for the property as its not registered. From your experiences how long does this process usually take?

propertyrental

Scenario 1: Seller's solicitor asks seller for deeds. Seller goes to filing  cabinet, extracts deeds, walks round tosolicior's office same day. Seller's solicitor posts deeds next day. 2-3 days?

Scenrio 2: Seller's solicitor asks seller for deeds. Seller goes to filing  cabinet, then checks cupboard under stairs, then looks in attic. Can't find deeds. Adter a week ransacking the house, tells solicitor can't find them. Solicitor suggest asking the lender of the paid-off mortgage so seller writes to lender. Lender has been taken over (14 years ago) by another bank. Bank uncooperative/ and/or has mislaid all files from the lender they took over. 9 week pass.

Eventually all agree deeds are lost (another 4 weeks) and seller offers to register property using 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed/practice-guide-2-first-registration-of-title-if-deeds-are-lost-or-destroyed

6-12months?

georgemanor

Oh god.propertyrental said:

Scenario 1: Seller's solicitor asks seller for deeds. Seller goes to filing  cabinet, extracts deeds, walks round tosolicior's office same day. Seller's solicitor posts deeds next day. 2-3 days?

Scenrio 2: Seller's solicitor asks seller for deeds. Seller goes to filing  cabinet, then checks cupboard under stairs, then looks in attic. Can't find deeds. Adter a week ransacking the house, tells solicitor can't find them. Solicitor suggest asking the lender of the paid-off mortgage so seller writes to lender. Lender has been taken over (14 years ago) by another bank. Bank uncooperative/ and/or has mislaid all files from the lender they took over. 9 week pass.

Eventually all agree deeds are lost (another 4 weeks) and seller offers to register property using 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed/practice-guide-2-first-registration-of-title-if-deeds-are-lost-or-destroyed

6-12months?

casperlarue

First registration is taking anywhere from 12 to 15 months at the moment, once the application is received by Land Registry. You can request it be expedited if its holding up a sale. 

Sunsaru

georgemanor said:

Oh god.

He could be worth a call.

propertyrental

Sunsaru said:

georgemanor said:

Oh god.

He could be worth a call.

It's the weekend. I'm unavailable.

Tiglet2

georgemanor said:

Hi All, 

Im in the process of purchasing a house, got my mortgage offer but the vendors solicitors still havent gotten the draft contract ready.

They've just reported that theyre in the process of getting title plans for the property as its not registered. From your experiences how long does this process usually take?

It may not take that long if the seller can locate the paper deeds and forward these to their solicitor.  The solicitor would need to photocopy these deeds and put them in the post (and some of them would require enlarging or reducing as 'old' deeds come in all shapes and sizes!) While it doesn't take 'that' long to do the photocopying, it is considerably longer than just forwarding the deeds by email!

If your solicitor is satisfied that the paper deeds do contain a proper link between each owner conveying the property to the next owner, then they can apply for first registration of the property at Land Registry after completion.  

It's where the paper deeds are missing or are incomplete that will add time to the transaction.