Land Registry New Build

lbart68

Wonder if anyone has got any experience with this... We are buying a new build house. It's on a big old military base split up into different areas with different developers so the main title at the land registry is being spilt into multiple different titles and from that each plot would have its own title (I think).

Our solicitor is saying we can't exchange until the main title for our estate is registered but this could be months or years apparently (its expedited already but has been since 2024) so our chain obviously won't wait. Other plots (eg right nextdoor) are already occupied which is confusing me more...

Solicitor isn't really giving a straight answer at the moment... Is this just our solicitor? Confused how others have been able to move in..

user1977

In short, yes. Some solicitors just seem unable to cope with any mild complication.

lbart68

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81934516#Comment_81934516

So is there a solution?

user1977

Find a more competent solicitor?

PennysIntoPounds

We had to register our new build with land registry and they expedited it within I think a couple of weeks once told a mortgage was dependent on it. I would tell your solicitor to contact land registry immediately and say you need it done for mortgage, and if the solicitor drags their heels or it isn't done within the month max, get a new solicitor

Land_Registry

A few of things to consider here both re delays, expedition and why you may not be able to move forward whilst others appear to have done so.

We do have lengthy wait times re some types of application and developer plot sales have been an issue for some time but wait times are improving in many cases.

However this isn't a plot sale it seems but the actual 'main title for the development' so the application to register the developer's slice of the site. That's already been expedited so processing should be underway and there's a possibility that there's a wider reason for the delay for example we need more to complete the registration

Expedition fast-tracks/hastens the process so that the initial wait time is a lot shorter than it would be. It's not a magic wand though as once processing starts the application still has to be in order. It's worth asking the conveyancer to check and confirm where the delay lies as that could be a barrier to your own completion

And the most likely reason you can't complete but others appear to have been able to, will be the mortgage product you are relying on. Every different lender and their mortgage products have a different 'risk' profile and in some cases this scenario might not be an issue to say Yes to completing whilst for another, even within the same lender products, might be a No. Changing conveyancer now won't change that scenario for you but something else you can clarify if you wish to

whizzywoo

We had a similar but not the same issue with our new build last summer.

The estate whole plot was registered to one company but had been transferred to the builder's holding company. This had not been completed by the solicitors acting for the original company holding the title. Our mortgage company was not willing to proceed as our purchase of the house and plot was with the holding company who were not on the title.

It took some time and investigation on our part as well as our solicitor to find this fact out. Also the original company had a large loan registered against it which should have been transferred to the holding company and had not been. This was the reason the transfer to the holding company had not been transferred.

At one stage we had five sets of solicitors involved which was a communication nightmare.

We were buying the new build with a lifetime mortgage plus the equity from our previous home. The mortgage people had their own solicitors, we had our solicitors, the original building company had solicitors, the holding company builders had their solicitors, and Barclays who made the loan on the whole development had their solicitors.

So it took a while to unravel the tangled mess. Heads rolled at the various solicitors acting for the builders, irate phonecalls from sales directors directed at me (I put him straight in no uncertain terms) excellent service from my mortgage solicitors and financial advisors, and lots of patience from my solicitor, ourselves and @Land_Registry got it sorted eventually. Luckily we had already completed on our sale and moved into temporary accommodation. It did take approximately 4 months to sort out.