A small proportion of property in England and Wales is unregistered. Over time, this is decreasing as, by law, registration must be dealt with when unregistered property changes hands. We look at the potential risk of buying an unregistered property and explain how we approach conveyancing for unregistered property.

At Lockings Solicitors, we have many years of experience in dealing with complex property transactions, including dealing with the first registration of unregistered land. Our conveyancing team includes specialists who have the expertise to handle complications and ensure the purchase and registration process goes as smoothly as possible.

We hold the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation. This recognises the excellent standard of legal advice and client service that we provide, as well as our strong risk management.

We offer a FREE initial chat so that you can ask us any questions you may have about the risk of buying an unregistered property. Call us on 01482 300 200, email us at welcome@lockings.co.uk or fill in our Free Online Enquiry and we will call you back promptly. We have offices in Beverley, Hull and York and represent clients across the East Yorkshire area.

What is unregistered property?

Around 87% of property in England and Wales is registered on the Land Register. This means that the Land Registry has registered the property, giving it a unique title number. The Land Registry also record the following information on the Land Register:

• The owner’s name
• The address of the property or, if it is land, its description
• An official plan of the property
• Whether the property is freehold or leasehold
• The class of title, with ‘title absolute’ being the best class
• Details of the rights or restrictions that affect the property
• A list of any charges over the property, such as a mortgage

Since 1990, registration has been compulsory when land is sold or mortgaged. If you own unregistered property, you can also register it voluntarily with the Land Registry.

Why is property registered with the Land Registry?

Unregistered property can be a target for fraudsters as it is harder for the Land Registry to make checks if they do not hold details of the property’s owner.

Once a property has been registered, the Land Registry offer services designed to reduce the risk of fraud. You can set up a free email alert, meaning that you will be notified if certain applications are made against the title of your property. While this will not prevent fraudulent activity, it can mean that you are notified that someone intends to deal with your property, and you will be able to take prompt action to protect your interests.

You can also register a restriction against the property requiring the Land Registry to have confirmation from a solicitor that you have genuinely authorised a transaction.

Once a property is registered, selling or mortgaging it will usually be a faster process. With unregistered property, substantially more checks are needed before a transaction goes ahead.

It is simple to prove ownership of registered property by requesting a copy of the title from the Land Registry. Registration also eliminates the problem of title deeds being lost or destroyed, as the Land Registry retain electronic copies of all relevant documents.

What is the risk of buying an unregistered property?

The first thing to take into account if you are thinking of buying an unregistered property is that the transaction may take longer. If you ask us to represent you, we will have to thoroughly check all of the documents that make up the legal title of the property as well as establishing that the seller is the legal owner.

Once the purchase has been completed, we will deal with the first registration. The Land Registry may need to make enquiries or inspect the property. They state that they aim to deal with registration in one year, so this part of the process will be lengthy.

Provided that the title deeds are complete however, buying unregistered property is not unusual and the basic conveyancing process is similar to that for registered property. Once the property is registered, you can have the additional protection of setting up a Land Registry alert or registering a restriction.

How do I buy unregistered property?

If you are buying unregistered property and you would like us to deal with the purchase on your behalf, the first step is to give our details to the estate agent. They will pass these on to the seller.

The seller’s solicitor will then send us the contract package. This will include a copy of all of the title deeds that are required to establish their client’s ownership and give details of any rights or restrictions that relate to the property. This is known as the epitome of title.

We will go through this carefully, ensuring that the title deeds are complete and checking that any restrictions have been complied with.

We will also carry out the usual due diligence work, including going through the property information forms and carrying out searches. We will provide the seller’s solicitor with a list of enquiries we need answered.

Once all of the necessary information is available, we will report to you on the title and other information, including your mortgage offer. You can then sign the contract and mortgage deed in readiness for the next stage.

You will need to let us have your deposit, which is usually 10% of the purchase price. If you are tying in a sale, we can use the deposit from this. We will discuss potential completion dates with you and then exchange contracts, making the completion date legally binding.

Your mortgage advance will be ordered, and we will carry out the final pre-completion checks. On the day of completion, we will let you know once the seller’s solicitor has received the balance of the money, and you will be able to collect the keys from the estate agent.

The seller’s solicitor will send us the title deeds and we will send off our application for first registration to the Land Registry. We will update you if they require a visit to the property, otherwise, you will hear back in due course once the registration is complete, when we will let you have a copy of the official title, showing the new title number, and the official plan of the property.

Contact our East Yorkshire and York area conveyancing solicitors for unregistered property

If you would like to discuss buying unregistered property, call us today.

You can ring us for a FREE initial chat on 01482 300 200, email us at welcome@lockings.co.uk or fill in our Free Online Enquiry and we will call you back promptly. We have offices in Beverley, Hull and York and represent clients across the East Yorkshire and York area.