Land Registry completion times for new registrations

Notme61

Hi, hopefully some one can help me and answer my questions.

The LR site is quoting over 12 months for completion of over 60% of new registrations, is this from the time the application is submitted or from when processing of the application begins. The reason i am asking this is because,

My mother passed away in Nov 2020, My brother and I put her house on the market in 2021, a potential sale fell through due to not being able to provide the buyers with the original title deeds (our mother purchased the house in 1960), The house was taken off the market and we requested our solicitor start the process for re-building the title deeds, they subsequently submitted a new registration application in Aug 22, they were provided with a copy of the deeds that we were able to find in my mother’s files and other relevant documents for proof of ownership.

The application is lodged on the Land Registry portal as BL162509, this was over 14 months ago now, at the time LR was stating 9-12months for new reg, and according to the latest information on LR this is now 12 -24 months or longer for over 60% of new registrations. Why is it now longer?, especially as LR has more staff and house sales are dropping.

We are still paying the bills on this property and trying to maintain it ready for sale. According to our solicitor there has still be no movement on the application. i.e. the process has not even started yet!. If we put the house up for sale again, can we expedite our registration?

From what I understand all new registration applications are lumped together on the same waiting list which includes new builds, my worry is that our application will be missed if it is in the middle of a batch of new build registrations, are all applications dealt with in sequence when they were filed.

EssexHebridean

The timescale varies depending on what the type of application is. For new leases - and lease extensions - I'm not currently expecting to see even the most straightforward done before 2 years has elapsed. Straight transfers vary wildly - if they have nothing "extra" to them - no charges to discharge or register, and no requisitions are raised (with questions relating to the application) they can go through almost immediately - but even then, not always. I submitted the application for the registration on our own recent purchase at the end of the first week in September - that had one complex element to it - and got our title document through last week, so roughly 7 weeks on that one. 

From what you are saying, your application *may* be a first registration - is that correct? If so, then the standard timescale is likely to be closer to that for new leases etc. Has your solicitor not asked for the application to be expedited on the basis that it is delaying a pending sale?

It's perfectly possible for a first registration to take place at the same time as a transfer, so unfortunately it sounds as though the buyers you lost weren't brilliantly advised.

Certainly in the area I work in (outer edge of north east London) house sales have picked up again of late - but I do tend to agree that there is really very little justification for the timescales on applications that we are seeing currently.

(Also - you may want to remove the title number of the property from your post - probably not the best idea to essentially give the address of a currently empty property on a public forum!)

RelievedSheff

Not going to be what you want to hear but there are new build houses on the estate where we live that are still not registered on the Land Registry some 18-20 months after the sales have completed.

These things can drag on.

Land_Registry

Notme61 said:

Hi, hopefully some one can help me and answer my questions.

The LR site is quoting over 12 months for completion of over 60% of new registrations, is this from the time the application is submitted or from when processing of the application begins. The reason i am asking this is because,

My mother passed away in Nov 2020, My brother and I put her house on the market in 2021, a potential sale fell through due to not being able to provide the buyers with the original title deeds (our mother purchased the house in 1960), The house was taken off the market and we requested our solicitor start the process for re-building the title deeds, they subsequently submitted a new registration application in Aug 22, they were provided with a copy of the deeds that we were able to find in my mother’s files and other relevant documents for proof of ownership.

The application is lodged on the Land Registry portal as BL162509, this was over 14 months ago now, at the time LR was stating 9-12months for new reg, and according to the latest information on LR this is now 12 -24 months or longer for over 60% of new registrations. Why is it now longer?, especially as LR has more staff and house sales are dropping.

We are still paying the bills on this property and trying to maintain it ready for sale. According to our solicitor there has still be no movement on the application. i.e. the process has not even started yet!. If we put the house up for sale again, can we expedite our registration?

From what I understand all new registration applications are lumped together on the same waiting list which includes new builds, my worry is that our application will be missed if it is in the middle of a batch of new build registrations, are all applications dealt with in sequence when they were filed.

Processing times are essentially wait times from submission to being registered. These will be an average based on thousands of applications over a period of time so purely an indication of what you might expect to wait. Averages will change over time so if you look now then next month it may change and so on. 

For the vast majority of buyers how long it takes has minimal impact as they essentially own from completion rather than registration. 

The first sale fell through as you didn’t have the deeds so presumably the buyer wouldn’t complete and then register the property for the first time after they’d bought. 

Your solicitor has therefore applied for first registration now and it’s been waiting a long time 
The expedite policy exists to allow you to fast track it and reduce that wait time IF you have a confirmed buyer. So essentially you can submit it, market the property and then expedite it once a buyer has been confirmed 
There’s no need to wait? Unless you’re waiting to be certain that you have a registered title? But even then the marketing/sale process doesn’t rely on it being registered. It’s the buying part that relies on that. 

So if you’ve got a buyer things don’t have to drag on 

Notme61

EssexHebridean said:

The timescale varies depending on what the type of application is. For new leases - and lease extensions - I'm not currently expecting to see even the most straightforward done before 2 years has elapsed. Straight transfers vary wildly - if they have nothing "extra" to them - no charges to discharge or register, and no requisitions are raised (with questions relating to the application) they can go through almost immediately - but even then, not always. I submitted the application for the registration on our own recent purchase at the end of the first week in September - that had one complex element to it - and got our title document through last week, so roughly 7 weeks on that one. 

From what you are saying, your application *may* be a first registration - is that correct? If so, then the standard timescale is likely to be closer to that for new leases etc. Has your solicitor not asked for the application to be expedited on the basis that it is delaying a pending sale?

It's perfectly possible for a first registration to take place at the same time as a transfer, so unfortunately it sounds as though the buyers you lost weren't brilliantly advised.

Certainly in the area I work in (outer edge of north east London) house sales have picked up again of late - but I do tend to agree that there is really very little justification for the timescales on applications that we are seeing currently.

(Also - you may want to remove the title number of the property from your post - probably not the best idea to essentially give the address of a currently empty property on a public forum!)

Thanks for your reply,
yes it is being treated as a new registration. Our solicitor told us that expediting the process was not an option for new registrations.
I believe the buyers solicitors advised them to pull out due to not being able to have the registered title deeds at the point of purchase.
I have just read a reply from a LR representative, so I think we shall be putting the house back on the market early next year and then expedite if we get a confirmed sale.