Land Registry help with unregistered property

moedeeb

My father died last week and left everything to my mum in his will. The estate is expected and well below the IHT threshold.  The property details are not  on the land Register but a small outbuilding that my parents sold to a neighbour in 2013 is listed (against the neighbours property).

My dad has left info that the deeds are held by a local solicitor so I assume that I need to ask for them to be sent to me and then progress a land registration and then update the ownership to my mum. 

I’m disappointed that the solicitors didn’t sort things out at the time of the sale. I also vaguely recall my parents doing something with the house ownership and an earlier will to give 50% to beneficiaries on death of the first parent. At the time it was a way to mitigate inheritance tax. The wills have been  updated without any references to this trust arrangement. 

So what do I (as executor) need to do in what order? It goes without saying that I don’t want to involve the solicitors in this due  to the likely cost. So far no organisation has indicated that probate will be needed is this property registration likely to change that.

thanks

p00hsticks

I'm sorry for your loss - I'm in a similar position to you as my father died six weeks ago and I'm currently sorting out his estate. 

My layman's understanding is that as long as everything has been left to your mother then there is no need for probate unless individual banks etc request it due to the sums of money involved. 

As far as the house registration is concerned, there is no pressing need to get it transferred to your mothers name - if and when she comes to sell it then a copy of your fathers death certificate and a copy of the will showing that it was left to your mother will suffice to document the change of ownership from him to her - perhaps our helpful Land Registry rep @Land_Registry can confirm that is correct ?  

Personally I'd be making sure that the solicitor does indeed hold the deeds to the house, as with the property not yet being electronically registered they will be needed when the property is sold. I believe that registration can take place at the point of sale as part of the conveyancing (registering the property for the first time in any new owners name) but at that time you / your mother  will need to ensure that you have all the documentation to show that your father (and now her) owns the property, so it's probably as well to check all that now. 

RAS

This is conjecture but it looks like the earlier will was designed to work with a property held as tenants in common. That's often associated with severing the original joint tenancy, giving a life interest to the surviving spouse and creating a trust covering the other portion that is held by beneficiaries other than the spouse,

This has the advantage of protecting a portion ( 50%) for the other beneficiaries in case the survivor needs care or remarries. And downside of tying the survivor to the other beneficiaries when they want to make some decisions.

The fact that the deeds were not registered probably means that the tenancy was never severed. The new will writer may have realised this and suggested they work with the reality. Do you know whether the deeds are in your dad's name, or both names?

Land_Registry

The key clarification is re who actually owned the property. Was it just Dad, as was often the case historically at least, or both of them? You may not know until you’ve seen the deeds of course. 

We don’t need to see the will but if the property was in his sole legal ownership then you will need probate. Severing the joint tenancy, creating wills and relying on inheritance all link to the beneficial, not legal, ownership. So for example Mum may have inherited but if she wasn’t a joint legal owner that would come next. 

You refer to your parents selling part of the land in 2013 and that may suggest they were joint legal owners. But that may be an assumption at this stage 

So in circumstances it’s best to confirm what the deeds show and who the legal owner is/are. Then any advice can focus on the facts 

SVaz

Get physical possession of the deeds before you do anything else.   If for some reason they can’t be found,  reconstructing deeds is expensive and needs lots of evidence. 

Alphatauri

There is no rush but I would consider doing a first registration of the property so the title has been proven and it forms part of the Land Register.  This resolves any concerns about future loss of deeds etc. 

moedeeb

Thanks all for very helpful information. Job 1 will be to get the deeds and review property ownership.