General Chat

I understand that some older properties have not been registered, if they have not had a change of ownership.... When the property is sold, who registers with the Land Registry, ...the seller's solicitor..or the buyer's one.?..... will copy this to TIPS too.

When the house I'm in now was bought it wasn't registered and from memory I had to pay £50 to get it registered from the Land Registry. That was in 2000.

Thank you for that information. So the onus is on the buyers. I was previously given inaccurate information, it seems. Gwyn

Hi Gwyn, from what i remember the onus is on the buyers in this instance, the matter would be picked up on by the purchasers solicitor.

does this registration happen when the house is first purchased...ie at the beginning of the mortgage? or when the mortgage is completed, and deeds are handed over? Bob

We were also given a stack of papers, from things when the house was built around 120 years ago to the different buyers who had purchased it in the last 75 years or so. I was called by the solicitors secretary and asked what I wanted done with them! I had them sent to me. The house is sold at the moment subject to contract, so I will pass them on to the buyer. Not sure if this was because the house was registered or not.

Buyers responsibility I'm afraid. All seller has to do is prove Title. Sheila

Is it essential to Land-register the deeds? ours are in store...... Bob

Once the property is registered with the Land Registry the actual deeds are no longer needed. I would be tempted to keep them myself! Anne

we bought our house from new in 1967and don't have any deeds. The land registry had us listed as the owners with the Building Soc having a claim on it. When we paid off the mortgage the Soc sent us a big pack which we had to sign one form and send the whole thing to the Land Registry for them to remove the Building Soc interest in the Property. I expected to receive back the Title Deeds but didn't get them as such . I contacted the land registry and was told that there are no longer Deeds , we are listed as owners of the freehold land and therefore the owners of any building on it. Shirley

Bob I think the property will be registered by the purchaser, if you sell. My initial question was regarding a property owned by my parents from new, built in 1936 and sold last year. As there had never been a change of ownership, it had never been registered with the Land Registry and the deeds had been deposited with a solicitor. Now that the house has been registered, I would like the deeds, or at least a copy and have said so from the time of first putting the property on the market. The solicitors seem to have lost track of them... Gwyn

Gwyneth, we moved into ours as a new '' council'' type home in 1975, we decided to buy in 1984 and the mortgage ended a couple of years ago....... I checked with our Land registry office this morning, and it seems that it IS registered to us, because we bought at that particular time...we also have the deeds, in store... thanks for the topic.... else I may not have bothered.....LOL Bob

The onus is always on the purchaser to ensure title is valid, and in the case of unregistered land, as I said earlier, to arrange for registration at the Land Registry, who then issue a Land Certificate. The issue of a Land Certificate constitutes proof of ownership, and confirms whether there are any charges (mortgages) over the property, in which case it is known as a Charge Certificate. Whilst the loan is outstanding, the Charge Certificate will be held by the mortgagee (Building society etc.). Once repaid, the Land Registry will issue a new Land Certificate which will then go back to the owner. After first registration, the old bundle of deeds becomes surplus to requirements. Sometimes they are held as a bundle with the Land Certificate, but very often, they are sadly lost forever. If the property was part of a housing estate, the chances are that the 'Deeds' are just exctracts from earlier document - they can still be of interest, but it all depends on who owned the land and when it previously changed hands. To prove title to ownership before registration, you need to go back for at least 15 years, but if the property hasn't changed hands in that time, it would be back at least as far as the previous time it changed hands Quite often earlier deeds are missing, but sometimes you find an 'Epitome of Title' which quotes from earlier documents and can detail information of interest.

Although our house was built in the 1930s the deeds go back to the title of the land the houses were built on. It seems to have been inherited by a family of (posh sounding!) siblings in the 1880s. I have found them on censuses and can do a little tree for them! Anne

nudge

If you can get hold of the deeds to your property they are usually very interesting to read. Mine state that I must not boil on the premises any animal carcases for gluemaking or something, I seem to recall.

Goodness Liz, ..I wonder why that clause was included? Was that a local occupation? Gwyn

If you can find deeds going back to the 1800's, restrictions preventing you doing obnoxious things on the premises were quite common. Then there is other one about not having an erection in the back garden which comes up regularly. There is an area of Allerton in Liverpool where the keeping of cats is banned. Apparently the owner of the land who sold it for development in the 1920's had an aversion to them. I just wonder who many today comply?