Buying a Freehold House with a unregistered leasehold against it.

APH_BHX

Hi!

Myself and my husband are currently in the process of buying a house. We currently have a problem with the house we're buying. It was discovered around 9 weeks ago that the house was freehold with an unregistered leasehold against it, indemnity policy's have been put forward but our solicitors have declined as they believe that it is too risky. The sellers solicitors have been in the process of gathering evidence and searching for the unregistered lease and have been unable to locate it.

This has now been put forward to land registry to request a merger of the titles. Would someone be able to help as to how long this will take and even if its possible? our solicitor refuses to give an indicative time frame. we have a buyer for our current property who is ready to go and is starting to put pressure on us to move, its just this issue we are waiting on before we can proceed. I've seen some threads with @Land_Registry and they seem very helpful and knowledgeable
 

Land_Registry

APH_BHX said:

Hi!

Myself and my husband are currently in the process of buying a house. We currently have a problem with the house we're buying. It was discovered around 9 weeks ago that the house was freehold with an unregistered leasehold against it, indemnity policy's have been put forward but our solicitors have declined as they believe that it is too risky. The sellers solicitors have been in the process of gathering evidence and searching for the unregistered lease and have been unable to locate it.

This has now been put forward to land registry to request a merger of the titles. Would someone be able to help as to how long this will take and even if its possible? our solicitor refuses to give an indicative time frame. we have a buyer for our current property who is ready to go and is starting to put pressure on us to move, its just this issue we are waiting on before we can proceed. I've seen some threads with @Land_Registry and they seem very helpful and knowledgeable
 

It’s not going to be a merger as such but an application to cancel a noted lease. It’s only a merger if the freehold owner acquired the lease and from what you’ve said that doesn’t seem likely. 

So the conveyancer has hopefully made the right application and then requested expedition to have it processed asap. Generally that means within 2 weeks and everything then hinges on what they’ve supplied being sufficient to prove beyond doubt that the leasehold interest no longer exists 

35har1old

APH_BHX said:

Hi!

Myself and my husband are currently in the process of buying a house. We currently have a problem with the house we're buying. It was discovered around 9 weeks ago that the house was freehold with an unregistered leasehold against it, indemnity policy's have been put forward but our solicitors have declined as they believe that it is too risky. The sellers solicitors have been in the process of gathering evidence and searching for the unregistered lease and have been unable to locate it.

This has now been put forward to land registry to request a merger of the titles. Would someone be able to help as to how long this will take and even if its possible? our solicitor refuses to give an indicative time frame. we have a buyer for our current property who is ready to go and is starting to put pressure on us to move, its just this issue we are waiting on before we can proceed. I've seen some threads with @Land_Registry and they seem very helpful and knowledgeable
 

Could the lease have been held by the developer or builder and the company has been dissolved without transfer of lease if that was the case the lease is now with the crown

Gal-axy

Hi, any update on this please? 
We are in a very similar situation & trying to find out if an application to remove the noted unregistered lease would be successful?
Our solicitors don't have any positive experience to refer to. We bought our house as a freehold 8 years ago and had no issues with this lease(can't remember if it was even mentioned to us!) and the people before also bought the house as a freehold. We have all the paperwork confirming the freehold and have also found the original leasehold documents all the way back to 1926! The lease was for 99 yrs so it will expire next year anyway. It refers only to the shared side passage between us and 1 neighbour which is currently only used for bins and has no access to either property or any other land. So it's pretty small. We have offered indemnity insurance however our buyers solicitor is making a huge issue out of it and has essentially scared our buyer into believing he MUST NOT/ CANNOT purchase the house with this lease noted. They want the lease removed. The buyer is relying on a mortgage offer which expires soon and the whole chain is waiting only on this for completion! Please please advise! Much appreciated 

ThisIsWeird

Gal-axy said:

Hi, any update on this please? 
We are in a very similar situation & trying to find out if an application to remove the noted unregistered lease would be successful?
Our solicitors don't have any positive experience to refer to. We bought our house as a freehold 8 years ago and had no issues with this lease(can't remember if it was even mentioned to us!) and the people before also bought the house as a freehold. We have all the paperwork confirming the freehold and have also found the original leasehold documents all the way back to 1926! The lease was for 99 yrs so it will expire next year anyway. It refers only to the shared side passage between us and 1 neighbour which is currently only used for bins and has no access to either property or any other land. So it's pretty small. We have offered indemnity insurance however our buyers solicitor is making a huge issue out of it and has essentially scared our buyer into believing he MUST NOT/ CANNOT purchase the house with this lease noted. They want the lease removed. The buyer is relying on a mortgage offer which expires soon and the whole chain is waiting only on this for completion! Please please advise! Much appreciated 

I have only a basic understanding of Leases, but understood that, on expiration, the Leasehold property (or part thereof) reverts to the Freeholder, which in this case will be in a year's time? So who or what is the 'Freeholder' of this passageway? Is anyone referred to in the Lease docs - either of the neighbouring properties, for example?
If not, could that mean that the Lease reverts to the Crown, as 35' suggests? If so, how big a problem could this be?

Gal-axy

Hi, we have passed allthe paperwork to our solicitors but I believe we would be the freeholders as we purchased as freehold property? The lease is in the original individuals name whom we presume must be deceased by now. 
Hoping @Land_Registry can help!

RHemmings

Gal-axy said:

Hi, we have passed allthe paperwork to our solicitors but I believe we would be the freeholders as we purchased as freehold property? The lease is in the original individuals name whom we presume must be deceased by now. 
Hoping @Land_Registry can help!

Just out of interest, does the title plan for your property include the shared side passage in question. If not, is it on your neighbour's title plan? 

Gal-axy

Hi, sorry but in our excitement/panic at discovering the old deeds we passed ALL documents to the solicitors so I have nothing to hand at the moment!
I remember the side entrance being shaded a different colour (blue?) on the plans

RHemmings

Gal-axy said:

Hi, sorry but in our excitement/panic at discovering the old deeds we passed ALL documents to the solicitors so I have nothing to hand at the moment!
I remember the side entrance being shaded a different colour (blue?) on the plans

You can get a digital copy of the title plan online for £3. 

Gal-axy

I understand, I am sure it is there presuming the solicitors have checked hence they are willing to make the application to the land registry however it is going to cost an extra £400 and we would really like to know the chances of success i.e in cases such as the op of this thread. 
Otherwise we fear it will be another 3 weeks wasted, contemplating wether it would be better to look for a cash buyer or one whose solicitor would accept insurance indemnity?

Gal-axy

Any indication/experience please? @Land_Registry