Land Registey: turn around time

[Nice But Dim]

We are waiting on the deeds of a house to be transferred into to the sole name of a vendor so we can purchase his house. The deeds did contain his (now dead mother) and his ex-wife who was divorec around 10 years ago.

Does anyone know how long this transfer takes as we cannot exchnage contracts until the deed is registered in his sole name ?

Thanks for your counsel

[anonymous-user]

Is it as simple as that?

Does the would be vendor have the probate & divorce paperwork in order?

[Nice But Dim]

Yes - divorce papers all in order and probate granted

JPJPJP said:

Is it as simple as that?

Does the would be vendor have the probate & divorce paperwork in order?

[blueg33]

N

Nice But Dim said:

We are waiting on the deeds of a house to be transferred into to the sole name of a vendor so we can purchase his house. The deeds did contain his (now dead mother) and his ex-wife who was divorec around 10 years ago.

Does anyone know how long this transfer takes as we cannot exchnage contracts until the deed is registered in his sole name ?

Thanks for your counsel

Can't you exchange conditional on correct registration?

Land registry take a few weeks as a rule

[Jobbo]

Any dealings with part of a title or unregistered land can take up to 8 months currently. There's a backlog which is getting worse. Dealings of whole are dealt with in a day or two to keep their averages up.

[Nice But Dim]

That does not sound great.

I would hope that its a simple case of removing the dead mother''s name and the ex-wife's name from the land title deeds.

Surely that is not going to take months ?

Jobbo said:

Any dealings with part of a title or unregistered land can take up to 8 months currently. There's a backlog which is getting worse. Dealings of whole are dealt with in a day or two to keep their averages up.

[Jobbo]

Without any more detail it's impossible to say - if it was previously unregistered then it could be in the backlog. You can only find out by asking your own solicitor, who can ask the solicitor for the vendor. Probate jobs have often taken inordinate amounts of time even before the Land Registry became efficient with straightforward jobs.

[Nice But Dim]

jobbo - can you explain what you mean by potentially being unregistered ?

I had thought that the land deed was registered in the names of the three people back in 2007 - and now it need to be registered in the sole name of the current owner

Jobbo said:

Without any more detail it's impossible to say - if it was previously unregistered then it could be in the backlog. You can only find out by asking your own solicitor, who can ask the solicitor for the vendor. Probate jobs have often taken inordinate amounts of time even before the Land Registry became efficient with straightforward jobs.

[Jobbo]

Unregistered land is any that hasn't already been registered at the Land Registry. That will be required now on any transfer other than very few exceptions - your solicitor will be able to tell you if it's registered or not. If it was transferred in 2007 it should be registered. Your reference to 'deeds' implied unregistered though; proof of ownership for registered land is the Land Registry title, not a pile of dusty papers

[KevinCamaroSS]

Surely the divorce would have included the removal of the wife from the registry. If not, why not? Is she still entitled to 50%?

[Jobbo]

As a buyer that's irrelevant, except to the extent it might be causing the delay. So it may be nothing to do with the Land Registry.

Only one person can help the OP in his specific circumstances: his own solicitor.

[Nice But Dim]

Thanks for your replies so far.

In an attempt to clarify:

1. the property consists of 2 titles registered with the Land Registry
2. the title associated with the house was transferred into sole ownership upon divorce in 2007
3. the second title for the adjacent land to the house was not transferred into the sole name upon divorce for reasons not known
4. the second title was until 3 weeks ago in the vendor's name, his ex-wife from 2007 and his (now dead) mother
5. forms were submitted to Land Registry 3 weeks ago to get this title transferred into the vendor's sole name (with appropriate signatory of the ex-wife and probate papers etc)

[blueg33]

Recently sold a property after my FiL's death, that included an un-registered piece of land. I think we were lucky, registration was quick. Solicitor gave undertakings to the buyer that we were empowered to sell etc.

[Jobbo]

What does your solicitor say about how long it will take?

[Nice But Dim]

Jobbo said:

What does your solicitor say about how long it will take?

They have no idea ! And neither does the vendor's solicitor.....

[Rude-boy]

Jobbo said:

Any dealings with part of a title or unregistered land can take up to 8 months currently. There's a backlog which is getting worse. Dealings of whole are dealt with in a day or two to keep their averages up.

Yep registered apps are almost by return for a dealing of whole.

Dealing of part about 3-4 months

Dealing of whole or part unregistered title 4-8 months.

I just had a requisition on a registration i sent in in April. only issue is that the person who could have best answered the question has since died...

VFR is about 6-8 months.

They will expedite applications on request but it is on a case by case basis and at their discretion. I had an unregistered farm turned round in less than a week a few months back.

[Nice But Dim]

Update : the amended Tiltle was registered and issued today !

Thanks for your help - today has been a school day