Completing Land Registry Form "Official search without priority" OS3

carl_h

I have been attempting to find out if an application for registration of my lease is currently in the waiting list at the Land Registry. I was told that I should fill in form OS3. I have no idea whatsoever hot to complete a single part of this form or how to pay the associated fee. It seems completely incomprehensible to me in every way. Does anyone have a solid understanding of this particular Land Registry form? I have no experience in conveyancing & the language used here is beyond me. Here is the link to the form https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/official-search-without-priority-os3

silvercar

If anyone knows it will be @Land_Registry !

carl_h

What are you suggesting I should do? I don't understand your comment. Thanks.

silvercar

carl_h said:

What are you suggesting I should do? I don't understand your comment. Thanks.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. By tagging the user @Land_Registry he should receive a notification of this thread. He is a representative of the Land Registry so will know the answer. 

Just wait a bit until he replies.

carl_h

OK. Thanks.

EssexHebridean

The other thing you can do is to ask your solicitor (who is presumably making the application) to just email you the copy of the day list entry confirming that the registration is pending. It doesn’t cost them anything to check the day list and seems ludicrous you should have to pay a fee to effectively do the same thing! 

Land_Registry

Form OS3 is used, mainly by property professionals, to check on the nature and type of application(s) currently pending against a specific registered title.
I'm surprised someone has told you to make such an application if all you want to do is confirm if the application to register 'your lease' has been submitted. If it was us I would hope that perhaps the Q asked of us was slightly different thus triggering the OS3 suggestion, for example it wasn't your lease.
If you want to know whether an application has been submitted and how long it might take then as posted your conveyancer can check online through their secure portal and confirm for you.
If you want to check for yourself then you can use our Contact form Public guidance: dealing with land and property - GOV.UK
If you prefer to go the OS3 route then the side notes should help explain what details are required but happy to explain if there are specific panels you are unsure of

carl_h

Thanks Land_Registry. The difficulty affects a group of us (block of flats) who were in the middle of a freehold transfer. For reasons that are too complicated to go into in a long ramble it is not possible for our conveyancer/lawyer to check this through the secure portal or indeed in any other way. It is NOT going to happen. So, we are entirely on our own here & I have been advised (by the LR) that the form OS3 is a route. However I cannot even begin to understand it. I can't even see how I would pay the charge. We are obliged to make such an enquiry because we cannot be sure if all our applications were sent off to the LR, some required deeds of substitution. Could I simply approach a different conveyancer unconnected with transfer & ask them to complete the form? If so what kind of charge could I expect? Thanks again for your assistance.

Land_Registry

carl_h said:

Thanks Land_Registry. The difficulty affects a group of us (block of flats) who were in the middle of a freehold transfer. For reasons that are too complicated to go into in a long ramble it is not possible for our conveyancer/lawyer to check this through the secure portal or indeed in any other way. It is NOT going to happen. So, we are entirely on our own here & I have been advised (by the LR) that the form OS3 is a route. However I cannot even begin to understand it. I can't even see how I would pay the charge. We are obliged to make such an enquiry because we cannot be sure if all our applications were sent off to the LR, some required deeds of substitution. Could I simply approach a different conveyancer unconnected with transfer & ask them to complete the form? If so what kind of charge could I expect? Thanks again for your assistance.

The fee is now £11 and payable by cheque/postal order. Another solicitor can do it for you and the cost is £7 as they do it through their own secure portal. What they charge for doing that for you would be for them to explain.
You should be able to complete the form OS3 for yourself and the following may help you do so
Panel 1 - your local authority
Panel 2 - the freehold title number as you wish to know what pending applications (one for each leasehold presumably) are pending
Panel 3 - Freeholder's name as taken from the register
Panel 4 - Fee £11
Panel 5 - your name, address, phone number and email - no reference or anything else
Panel 6 - freehold address and then ^A search of whole
Panel 7 - your name
Panel 8 - the first option and the date taken from an Official copy (form OC1 and £11 also) of the register itself 
Panel 9 - your signature and date

carl_h

Thanks for your helpful explanation Land_Registry. I am not clear about Panel 8. What does this mean "the first option and the date taken from an Official copy (form OC1 and £11 also) of the register itself"? Do I need to find this information by first completing form OC1 then once I have the results of OC1 I will be able to fill in Panel 8? Thanks again.

Land_Registry

carl_h said:

Thanks for your helpful explanation Land_Registry. I am not clear about Panel 8. What does this mean "the first option and the date taken from an Official copy (form OC1 and £11 also) of the register itself"? Do I need to find this information by first completing form OC1 then once I have the results of OC1 I will be able to fill in Panel 8? Thanks again.

Yes - you first need to check the current edition of the register. If there are pending applications against the title then the register will be backdated to the day before the first application was submitted/
The search is then for anything after that date so you then have a full picture namely current register plus the details of each of the submitted and pending applications 
Such OCs and OSs are all part of the conveyancing process so that applicants know precisely what they are dealing with