When Does Land Have To Be Registered

How to register unregistered land

When will land take been registered?

Since 1998, there has been a legal requirement for compulsory registration of land purchased and otherwise transferred – including by way of gift, inheritance, mortgage and so on. This means that anything giving ascent to the transfer of ownership of country or holding must be completed by formal registration at HM Land Registry. This must exist washed inside 3 months.

Is unregistered state a bad thing?

Unregistered country is not necessarily a lesser form of legal title or ownership than registered country. For example, the country may take been inherited or given to the existing owner before 1998 when there was no requirement for compulsory registration (except in the instance of a sale and other limited circumstances).

Nonetheless, in some cases a purchaser of unregistered land may insist on the land being registered at the Country Registry before going ahead. This is done past an application for Showtime Registration. This tin can be done by a lay person but specialist legal advice is appropriate. The purchase and registration of unregistered land volition need to exist carried out by a specialist property solicitor.

Making an application for first registration

To consummate an application, information technology is important to locate all the deeds of the belongings. The deeds are all the documents relating to the property and the owners' ownership of the property which tin exist used to prove an unbroken chain of buying, right upward to the current owner's correct to sell the land. These deeds may include:

Conveyances and transfers;
Plans of the belongings;

Grants of probate;
Death certificates;
Mortgage deeds;
Deeds of easement;

Deeds of restrictive covenants;
Memoranda showing sales of office;
Mortgage notes, loans and confirmation of payment;
Statutory declarations;
A lease, if the belongings is leasehold, and;
Anything else the Land Registry will require to deduce title.

Plans are often critical to prove the extent of the land that is to be registered. Where the land has always remained one plot with no parts having been sold off, the plan with the original conveyance will be specially of import. This plan volition be used by the State Registry to make up one's mind the boundaries of the country being registered.

Plans are too vital to testify whatsoever changes in the borders, for instance, where parts have been sold off previously.

Root of Championship

The ´Root of Title´ is the document that is being relied on to prove legal ownership of the property and is often the original conveyance. Sometimes, it is a subsequent conveyance. A 'adept' Root of Title is 1 that shows both legal and beneficially ownership of the then owner/due south, so an assent or deed of souvenir is not good enough.

All subsequent conveyances and other documents, as listed above, should be produced ('deduced') showing an unbroken concatenation of legal buying of the title – ending with the document that is bear witness of the current legal owner's legal right to sell the property.

If you are buying unregistered land, the contract will show the document that volition be produced to the State Registry as the root of title. Your solicitor volition already take seen a re-create.

Prototype of Title

An Epitome of Title is a document listing all the title deeds and documents showing the holding in chronological order, start with the Root of Title. The Paradigm is important as information technology sets out clearly the chain of ownership for the State Registry and the solicitors involved. If you have recently inherited land, or are seeking to register land which is currently unregistered, yous may detect an existing Epitome of Title which volition make a sale/starting time registration easier for you as you will only need to ensure information technology is upwardly to date and complete.

If you are creating your own Epitome of Championship, y'all need only to country the type of document, the engagement, title and parties – and so enter in the details from those deeds/documents. You will need to show at to the lowest degree 15 years of ownership – and make sure the concatenation is unbroken.

Epitomes can exist simple, or they tin can be complex. A very simple Epitome may, for instance, comprise an original conveyance from 1955 to the late legal possessor, and a Grant of Probate giving the seller the legal right to sell the holding today every bit executor. The 1955 Prototype will exist a good Root of Title, and there is an unbroken chain of buying.

On the other mitt, a lengthy Prototype tin include conveyances, sales of function, a expiry certificate, and other documents over a menstruation of decades.

Outset Registration with the Land Registry

A FR1 course can exist downloaded from the Land Registry website which you need to complete and submit to the Land Registry, along with the Paradigm of Title and the payment required. A list of fees is available on the Land Registry website (or you can contact your local office). Make certain your contact information is correctly recorded on the FR1 Form, as the Land Registry may need to contact you for further data or clarification.

After registration

The Land Registry volition advise yous if they require farther documentation, or if your registration has been successful. When registration is consummate they volition ship you a copy ('Function Copies') of the Registered Title. Information technology is important that you check the details carefully, such equally the spelling of your name, the location of the holding and the correct dates. This data will be important for when you sell the property in the future. It is also important to check that yous accept been granted Accented Championship – which you should have if your deeds proved absolute ownership of the belongings.

If any deeds are lost, or the concatenation of championship is incomplete, Possessory Title will be given – this can exist upgraded to Accented Title after 12 years.

Nicola Laver LLB

A non-practising solicitor, Nicola is too a fully qualified journalist. For the past twenty years, she has worked as a legal announcer, editor and author.