Title deed reconstruction waiting times

Newhousebuyer97

I and my partner are currently buying a home, it's a probate. We are a few months in and we've been notified by the sellers solicitors that the title deed was lost and needs to be reconstructed. They will not commit to a timescale yet and have been giving us the cold shoulder for a week now. I read online that this can be expedited but the solicitors will not even commit to that. 
Any advice on how long this process actually takes? The HMLR website says it could take up to 20 months. I have already committed so much to this process so this is a huge blow if it is 20 months and I don't want to have to walk away. 
Has anyone had experience with expediting this process?. 

propertyrental

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

It is also possible that in purchasing you will only get Limited Title Guarantee:

https://deanwilson.co.uk/dw-content/uploads/2016/07/Full-or-Limited-Factsheet.pdf

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Newhousebuyer97

propertyrental said:

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Thanks for your reply. It is the latter case, the paper deed was lost and the house was never registered. Only one family has ever lived in house and it has never been sold. This is over 50 years. I don't know how that affects  the timescale. I thought it'd be a positive effect not a negative one

Land_Registry

Newhousebuyer97 said:

propertyrental said:

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Thanks for your reply. It is the latter case, the paper deed was lost and the house was never registered. Only one family has ever lived in house and it has never been sold. This is over 50 years. I don't know how that affects  the timescale. I thought it'd be a positive effect not a negative one

They need to submit their application. And then request expedition to shorten the wait time before processing starts. 

If they’ve lost the deeds then it’s likely they’ll get a possessory title so do discuss how that may impact your purchase/any mortgage 
Its unlikely there’s a risk it can’t or won’t be registered but I suspect they are either waiting on probate and/or widening their efforts to find the deeds to confirm ownership of the deceased 

Newhousebuyer97

Newhousebuyer97 said:

propertyrental said:

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Thanks for your reply. It is the latter case, the paper deed was lost and the house was never registered. Only one family has ever lived in house and it has never been sold. This is over 50 years. I don't know how that affects  the timescale. I thought it'd be a positive effect not a negative one

I am commenting on my own situation to give an update in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation. 
The seller applied for a title deed which was possessory. the application was expedited based on the fact I am buying the property. it took one month to complete. I negotiated a price reduction based on the title quality. The LR customer service was also very helpful, and will respond to queries via blog or email. 

Also before you buy a house you can check the registry status on the land registry UK website! I wish past me had this info!

pjs493

Newhousebuyer97 said:

Newhousebuyer97 said:

propertyrental said:

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Thanks for your reply. It is the latter case, the paper deed was lost and the house was never registered. Only one family has ever lived in house and it has never been sold. This is over 50 years. I don't know how that affects  the timescale. I thought it'd be a positive effect not a negative one

I am commenting on my own situation to give an update in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation. 
The seller applied for a title deed which was possessory. the application was expedited based on the fact I am buying the property. it took one month to complete. I negotiated a price reduction based on the title quality. The LR customer service was also very helpful, and will respond to queries via blog or email. 

Also before you buy a house you can check the registry status on the land registry UK website! I wish past me had this info!

Thank you for updating. I’m in a situation where the title deeds aren’t available on the website because the seller bought the property decades ago when titles were logged regionally. Fortunately, the seller has the paper deeds that have been passed on to solicitors (their mortgage having been paid off a long time ago). I’m hoping this won’t delay my purchase in anyway, although I suspect I may have to pay a fee to register digitally for the first time. 

Clearyr2

Newhousebuyer97 said:

Newhousebuyer97 said:

propertyrental said:

Do you mean the Land Registry deeds have been lost (highly unlikely), or the property is unregistered and the paper deeds have been lost (far more likely)?

If the latter, the LR can only expedite a first registration of the (paper) deeds once they are submitted, so the timescale is likely to be dependant on how (and how long) the seller/their solicitor is 'reconstructing' the paper deeds.

Once that is done, a 1st registration application can be submitted to (and expedited by) the LR - but of course the LR must be satisfied by the 'reconstruction' and may ask for further information or, indeed, reject the application.

The alternative is for the seller to sell without first registering the property with the LR,  leaving you to do so once you have purchased. The risk there is that the paper 'reconstruction' you are given may be rejected by the LR leaving you having paid £X00,000 for a property you cannot register.....

Thanks for your reply. It is the latter case, the paper deed was lost and the house was never registered. Only one family has ever lived in house and it has never been sold. This is over 50 years. I don't know how that affects  the timescale. I thought it'd be a positive effect not a negative one

I am commenting on my own situation to give an update in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation. 
The seller applied for a title deed which was possessory. the application was expedited based on the fact I am buying the property. it took one month to complete. I negotiated a price reduction based on the title quality. The LR customer service was also very helpful, and will respond to queries via blog or email. 

Also before you buy a house you can check the registry status on the land registry UK website! I wish past me had this info!

We are in the same situation you were, just waiting for the title to be awarded (we assume it’ll be possessory). If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you manage to renegotiate the price down to? We are thinking of asking for a price reduction of between 5 and 10%

thank you in advance!