Please help - Land Registry issue

jwright

My husband inherited my mother in law's estate including a house she purchased on 1 October 2021 and we have grant of probate, etc.  We completed forms AS1, AP1 and ID1 and sent these off with probate to the Land Registry and were waiting for the transfer to be completed.

We have now received a letter from them which we do not understand at all.  See below for what I think are the main paragraphs.  

• RESTRICTION: No disposition of the registered estate (other than a charge) by the proprietor of the registered estate or by the proprietor of any registered charge, not being a charge registered before the entry of this restriction, is to be registered without a certificate signed by a conveyancer that the provisions in paragraph 4 of the Third Schedule of the Transfer dated 1 October 2021 referred to in the Charges Register have been complied with.

• Please note that if the restriction requires a consent, it must consent to the registration of the disposition and not simply to the disposal. The consent or certificate you lodge must be in respect of all dispositions caught by the restriction.

We tried to call the Land Registry to ask what on earth this means but they're not open until Monday.  We are panicking as we don't know if this is minor / standard or something major and a big issue.  We were told the Land Registry could take 18 months to update the register, and we'd already received paperwork suggesting this was in process and thought we now just needed to wait.  We have a tenant moving in on Friday!  Is this a problem?  Or something and nothing, no worries, just speak to a conveyancer?

Thank you so much to anyone who read all this and also to anyone who can respond!

elsien

You’re not disposing of the property as yet so plenty of time to sort it out. I can’t see how it would affect the tenancy. 

FlorayG

What are 'the provisions in paragraph four'? this will make this easier to interpret

jwright

I've located the title deed and looked under C charges register, it says (names blocked out):

(01.08.2022) A Transfer of the land in this title dated 1 October 2021

made between (1) XXXXXXXX <<name of the builder>> (2) XXXXXXXX Management Company

Ltd and (3) XXXXXXXXX <<name of my mother in law>> contains restrictive covenants.

As an aside, we're not aware of any management company, my mother in law lived in the property from new on 1 Oct 2021 and has never paid anyone for anything in that regard.

Under A it also says:
(22.10.2020) The Transfer dated 2 October 2020 referred to in the

Charges Register contains a provision as to light or air, boundary

structures and a provision relating to the creation and/or passing of

easements.

3 (01.08.2022) The land has the benefit of any legal easements granted by

the Transfer dated 1 October 2021 referred to in the Charges Register

but is subject to any rights that are reserved by the said deed and

affect the registered land.

4 (01.08.2022) The Transfer dated 1 October 2021 referred to above

contains provisions as to light or air and boundary structures.

What is it that is being asked for?  We don't understand.

loubel

You need to get a copy of the 2021 Transfer and look at what it says in paragraph 4 of the 3rd schedule. Mother in law probably had a copy somewhere in her paperwork but if this can't be found then you can order this from the Land Registry.

FlorayG

yes I agree, the relevant clause is in the 2021 transfer document. I know these can be a nightmare to get and then to understand, I had a similar problem a few years ago

propertyrental

You can get a copy of the 2021 transfer by using form OC2 (£7).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-copies-of-documents-registration-oc2

jwright

So I've been through all the paperwork and while I don't have the Transfer form in full, I do have a continuation sheet for Panel 12 which looks to be the thing I needed anyway. 

Paragraph 4 refers to light and air easements and boundary restrictions, so reflects what is on the Title deed that we have.  So it doesn't sound overly ominous.

2 (22.10.2020) The Transfer dated 2 October 2020 referred to in the Charges Register contains a provision as to light or air, boundary structures and a provision relating to the creation and/or passing of easements.

3 (01.08.2022) The land has the benefit of any legal easements granted by the Transfer dated 1 October 2021 referred to in the Charges Register but is subject to any rights that are reserved by the said deed and

affect the registered land.
4 (01.08.2022) The Transfer dated 1 October 2021 referred to above contains provisions as to light or air and boundary structures.

What's next?  Do we need a conveyancing solicitor to complete form RXC?

I do not know why these things have to be overly complicated!

Thank you so much to you all for helping me.

BarelySentientAI

You still haven't found out what the provisions are - so nobody will be able to sign something to say you complied with them, conveyancing solicitor or otherwise.

FlorayG

Looks like you need the October 2020 transfer deed as well - you need to keep going back until you find the actual statement of what the covenant/restriction is. All you've shown so far just refers to a previous document. I know, it's a nightmare, but you just have to plod on

jwright

I also realised that there was a loose page with 'third schedule' on it, so i wasn't even looking at the right thing, I think it was a coincidence that the main paragraph 4 mentioned the same things as the title deeds and I assumed I was looking at the right thing.

The third schedule paragraph 4 says
"At the Transferor's request, to become a member of the company and procure that on a sale of the property (or part thereof) that the buyer becomes a member of the company and that the buyer enters into a Deed of Covenant with the owner(s) of the Roadways and Landscaped Areas as appropriate (being the Transferor or the Company as applicable)"

This is either that when my mother in law moved into the property, there was a landscaping management company who were responsible for the upkeep of the estate until everyone had moved in, upon which they promptly left and it was no longer a thing, therefore this covenant is obsolete.  OR this is because once you come off the main road into the estate (it's actually only 5 houses), the road is not publicly adopted and it is for the residents to split the cost of any repairs between them.

So, I think we need a conveyancer to sort out which of these things it is then to help us take the appropriate action, then fill in form RXC?

I don't know why this is so overly complicated.  The letter from Land Registry we received this morning was incredibly difficult to read.