Land Registry

[OhGrrrreat]

Hi I wanted some quick advice please. DH and I bought a property 18 months ago, (mortgage free as we sold previous property that was inherited from DH's DGF). We have just discovered that the solicitor has still not registered our new property with Land Registry. It was simply out of curiosity that DH and I paid the £3 fee and checked, only to find it is still registered with the previous owner.

Surely it's a big mistake on the solicitor's part as legally we do not own the property? We paid all solicitor's fees including the small Land Registry fee 18 months ago before collecting the keys. I intend to contact the solictor first thing but I am so annoyed. Am I over reacting or is this a common mistake?

There could be a backlog at the land registry - it can sometimes take ages to process applications. I once waited several months for one.

You need to confirm the application for registration was submitted before the expiry of your priority period. If so, nothing to worry about. The register will be updated once the application for registration is processed.

If not, I’d be worried. The solicitor needs to submit an OS1 (or OS2) search ASAP and get the application in before that priority period expires.

Although I’d be surprised with an 18 month delay...

There can be delays on the part of the Land Registry but that would normally be weeks rather than months.

Something has obviously gone badly awry and you should absolutely raise it with the solicitor. Personally I would probably keep it cordial in the first instance in case there has been a misunderstanding, but if they've genuinely neglected to amend the register then you should absolutely follow their complaints procedure and follow it up with the Legal Ombudsman.

Contact your solicitor in the morning. Raise it as a complaint. Even IF the Land Registry has made a mistake (unlikely), your solicitor should have diarised to check before closing your file and billing you - I'm not a conveyancer but I am a solicitor but do use land registry. This is a big deal, legally speaking you don't currently own the property and that needs to be corrected.

As for delays it wouldn't take 18 months.

Thanks for all the replies, just got off the phone to them and they were genuinely horrified. Receptionist put me through to the main solicitor as the one we saw initially isn't there today. Main solicitor is now going to investigate what went wrong. Realistically how long should it take to sort out this mess? I strongly suspect it was negligence on their part and not Land Registry.

OMG that's terrible. If you had taken a mortgage I bet they would have complained as well as it would have left them at risk.

They had better sort it out and grovel as that's a huge mistake

I'd be surprised if it is the Land Registry's fault. Even IF it is, your solicitors have been negligent for not picking up on the issue.

Not long to sort the mess. All can be done electronically now so a couple of minutes to fill in the OS search request, which should give you a priority protection period.
Then a few minutes to complete the registration application form.
Land registry can take a few weeks / months but should be quick for a simple, electronic application.

If the application to the Land Registry is a transfer of registered land, it can be in and out within a couple of days (provided the application is in order). If the property is being registered for the first time, this can take a couple of weeks (again if the application is in order). If the property is the transfer of land out of a larger piece of land- these are taking considerably longer. But not 18 months!

We have lived in our house for 29 years. Paid off the mortgage about 10 years ago. When we acted as guarantors for our daughter, a couple of years ago, ( she was renting) we said we owned the house. Renting agents told us we were not registered with land registry, in fact it was still registered as belonging to the original builder, ignoring the people we had purchased from who had lived here for about six years. I panicked and rang land registry. While I was on the phone they checked their records and confirmed all we knew and that we did in fact own our house but that it had not yet been updated! Who knows how long it takes and why ours had not been done? I am sure a quick call to them will sort it all out. Good luck! I do wonder how we were able to buy our house/how the previous owners were able to sell it.