Buying an unregistered property in Scotland - are there any risks?

user1977

breadandbutter5 said:

user1977 said:

Why do you “fear” they don’t have the deeds? Even if they don’t, copies are readily available online from the registers. None of this is a problem.

What is the “legal document” you’re talking about?

Because I asked to see it to check that what I’m buying is what I’ve been told I’m buying (with regards to the garden boundaries, common repairs, who owns the loft etc). It’s an upper villa so there are some shared areas.

I asked my solicitor to send me the deeds and what they sent instead is a document called ‘Legal Report - Unregistered Property’. The document says nothing about the property itself but rather that it’s ‘not registered’ and the 2nd half of it is a ‘property enquiry certificate’. My solicitor is now on holiday but I will ask them when they’re back.

Possibly some miscommunication going on, but the "Legal Report" is a search of the property registers and is just a list of the relevant deeds registered against the "logbook" for the property. And you aren't expected to look at the deeds yourself and try to make sense of them, that's what you're employing your solicitor to do. They will/should send you a report on title, which is a summary of what the extent of the property is, the title conditions which apply, etc. But it's possible they haven't yet received (and had time to look at) the deeds.

If it's a flat then there's a good chance the other flat(s) have already been registered in the Land Register, so that should simplify registration as your title should just mirror the others.