How to find a copy of aunt's lease

youth_leader

Hello, @eddddy kindly helped me to help my 88 year old aunt extend the lease on her flat last year.

When I went to see her May 2025 she said her solicitor told her the extension had been granted and she paid the £10K to her freeholder.

I have asked her recently if she has received a copy of her new lease but she said she hasn't. She said she had to send a death certificate to Land Registry for her late husband, and she hasn't had that or her extended lease back.

Could it take eight months for a lease to be registered at Land Registry? Does anyone know if she will get the Death Certificate back please?

Land_Registry

Wait times can be that long but if she's had an acknowledgement of receipt of her application then it's still waiting and she just needs to wait for confirmation to be issued once processed - nothing to worry about

Applications involving a death usually include a certified copy of the death certificate. We ask people not to send originals but if they do then they are usually scanned and returned. If she sent an original then use our contact form to submit the specific details re title number, property address and her name - the support team can then check and confirm as appropriate

Public guidance: dealing with land and property - GOV.UK

youth_leader

Thank you very much, I will fill out the form. She said she'd never had her lease so I did obtain a copy for her in 2024 but I'm getting old too, I can't remember how I did it.

youth_leader

Thank you - she did send her only original and says she hasn't had any acknowledgement. She will be 89 in May and I'm 350 miles away, so can only help long distance. She is getting increasingly confused.

I've filled out the form for her with her details and email address and made a note of the submission number.

theartfullodger

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862968#Comment_81862968

Presumably she did take copy first before sending the only original off???

Jude57

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81863597#Comment_81863597

At 89 years of age and becoming confused, I doubt it would have even crossed her mind. Would she have access to a scanner or copier or know how to find somewhere that makes copies? Yes, of course one should always take copies, ideally, but I'm not sure finger wagging after the event is helpful.

And a replacement death certificate isn't difficult to obtain from the General Registrar for a small fee (a slightly higher fee and longer wait if you don't have the GRO index reference number and staff there have to search for the certificate:

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

theartfullodger

Sorry, absolutely no intention of finger wagging, apologies if that was how it sounded, not the intention, just trying to establish reality.

Best wishes and good luck.

Please anyone out there feel free to wag fingers at me, declining and decrepit 78yr old

youth_leader

I phoned for my weekly chat tonight and she did send her only original. She also just gave the letter to her postman, so whether it got there is anyone’s guess!

She wanted to extend her lease to sell and move into assisted living. After I had jumped through many hoops to help her, with @eddddy’s help, she announced she’d ‘be taken out of the flat in a box’. An awful experience, anyone with elderly relatives with a lease keep an eye on them. She’d not been truthful with me for years hoping it would go away.