registering property with land registry - DIY?

northern_star

Has anyone dealt with the Land Registry direct when registering their property? I know its usually done by a conveyancer/solicitor on purchase but is this expense necessary? DH and I need to re-register our house as tennants in common (its currently in my sole name). We've got the froms from the Land Registry but they seem very complicated. We've just paid 235 pounds for our wills at the solicitor and would like to avoid further legal costs on this one.

clutton_2

have you had a look on LR site for information sheets to help you self-register ? why not have another careful slow read, - there are rarely as many things you dont understand on a second readind !!!! and then call LR and ask for some help on the specific terms you dont undersand - i have always found them very helpful indeed.

moneylessbella

not always helpful we wanted to voluntary register a piece of land which was given to our property as part of an enclosure act. we had already checked with land registry and confirmed the land was unregistered on their system but they refused to register it saying we would have to wait 10 years and prove adverse possession. we are now concerned because a builder 3 months after we applied has put posts in the ground with red paint on them. We have informed them that the land belongs to us but we have not received any acknowledgement of title from them.

Richard_Webster

Most of the time you would need a solicitor in carrying out registrations at the Land Registry, because it would be too difficult or if a mortgage lender is involved they might require a solicitor.

In this case - conversion of joint tenancy to tenancy in common - it isn't that difficult at all and a lender won't care whether you are joint tenants or tenants in common.

One of you writes a letter to the other saying that you desire to sever the joint tenancy in [the property] registered at HM Land Registry under title number.[insert number]. The other then writes something on the bottom of the letter to the effect that he/she has received the letter and signs that and then you send the letter to the Land Registry asking them to register a restriction that prevents a sole proprietor selling (which is a sign of a tenancy in common). I can never remember whether there is a charge for this or not - if there is it will be £40 but your local Land Registry enquiries line will tell you. They are generally very helpful.

Registration as tenants in common does not specify what proportions each of you owns and that would have to be in a separate agreement. Also while you are both alive then both signatures are still necessary to deal with the property in any way but if one of you dies the survivor can simply appoint a friend as a second "trustee" to sell the property, because all the restriction literally says is that one person cannot sell. So a single person can simply appoint someone else to act with him and then there are two - as simple as that....

So simply registering as tenants in common is OK if you want to leave your shares to different people and there is not likely to be any argument, but if you want protect the position after one of you has died, then you need to do more and need to see a solicitor because you would have to apply for a different form of restriction on dispositions to be registered. If the survivor was unscrupulous and the family of the other person were slow to check what was happening, then the survivor could sell the property using a friend as a second person and disappear with the money, leaving the family of the deceased person to chase him through the courts with the risk that the money would be have been spent...