Question about first registrations with land registry

[jacksmannequin]

How long are they currently taking with the expedition service ? What’s the likelihood of an expedition being approved if it’s putting a sale at risk ?

I had this in the last couple of weeks as had a charging order on my title deeds which should have been removed 10 years when the loan was paid off. It got expedited by the loan company solicitors on the Monday - had to send in the Memo of Sale to prove my house has sold. Spoke to Land Registry on the phone on the Tuesday- who advised up to 10 working days for it to be looked at - I told them my house sale was in jeopardy. Charging order was remove the next day. Sweated alot over this as it has delayed exchange. The case will be going to the Financial Obudsman as I have lost money due to the loan companies incompetence. You do have to keep checking with Land Registry for update - 40 minutes hanging on line for agent and shut on Friday's - good luck!

Wow that was lucky for you wasn’t it !! Glad it was sorted.
In just so so pissed off at the vendors solicitors, really don’t know what to do, whether to stick it out and pray it gets processed quickly or walk away.

Your Vendor really needs to get on the case and chase it. If its a third party who has put something on the Title Register - they have to put in the request for it's removal to be expedited. The third party may not want to speak to the conveyancer. Lesson learned for me - look at your Title Deeds before you sell your house!

It will definitely be expedited if there is a sale at risk. But how long it takes to actually get registered depends on how promptly the solicitors reply to any queries and if there are any complex issues with third parties.

And this is my other worry, going by how bad they’ve been so far I can’t see them going any faster going forwards… they also lied to my solicitor and said they had put the application in last Wednesday, downright lie as i’m in touch with the vendor who told me she only took down some extra documents yesterday that they requested on Friday. I’m so angry !

You know you can request expedition as the buyer? It doesn’t need to be them. You will need to provide evidence of the pending sale and perhaps detail any financial hardship you may face.

Really ? I had no idea about this! Do I just call them up once I’ve been told they’ve sent the application?

Another question - why do we have to wait for the house to be registered first ? Can’t we just buy it and then do it ourselves once it’s completed ?

Info here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-an-expedite

Risky I guess. Mortgage lender perhaps wouldn’t allow it? Conveyancer would no doubt advise against it.

My solicitor told me firstly that there was no way of fast tracking the application, just remembered that ! 😆 why are they all lying to me !!

I’m curious as to why the seller’s solicitor is having it registered. Did yours request it? Dealing with unregistered property is a dying skill.

Because it was never registered with the land registry, so that needs doing so they can sell it to us

It doesn’t need to be as a matter of course. I’m a conveyancing solicitor and I’ve been dealing with unregistered property since 2002. On rare occasions the deeds look problematic, so we might ask for the seller’s solicitor to do the registration. Generally though the first registration happens when the change of ownership is registered.

Oh!! Well they only have an unsigned copy of the deeds. In your experience will this mean we only get a possessory title ?

I see. It’s a potentially problematic title then so it is advisable for the seller to have it registered. Definitely ask for it to be expedited.

Yes I believe the sellers solicitors are going to do this, whether they do that once it’s on the portal I have no idea as they’ve been really slow so far.
Do you know with an unsigned copy of the deeds what title is likely to be granted ?
Thanks

Just seen this thread and whilst it wasn't an expedited first registration, I wanted to share my experience of timescales for a standard first registration.

We had an offer accepted on an unregistered house in May 2024. During June 2024 our conveyancing solicitor informed us that the solicitor of the vendors (executors of a deceased estate) would get the property registered as part of the process. As we weren't relying on a mortgage to buy the house, there was no objection on our part. The sale completed in Sept 2024 and this month we finally received notification that our house was now registered.

So, assuming that's the norm for a non-expedited registration, I can see why it's preferable to go down the expedited route if it's threatening to delay/scupper a sale!

Oh wow that’s long !!! It’s been posted on Wednesday finally ! Now I have to nag for a provisional title number to make sure they do actually apply for it to be expedited, I just have zero faith

I know! I'd been just about to chase it up, when our solicitor emailed.
Fingers crossed for you 🤞

Took ours nearly 2 years to register for first time.

Bought it in Nov 2022 and decided to relocate last summer. When we put the house up for sale we hadn’t had the registration through. Spoke to solicitors who did our conveyancing, they said they could ask for an expedite if it was needed.

Thankfully it came through around Sept last year so it’s now ready in time for sale, when we finally complete. Coming up a year since we went on the market, the market is shockingly shite at the moment in two parts of the country😣

My 1st proper job was for the land registry. We used to hand paint the title pictures to show the extent of the property and sew the registers together with needle and string - sincerely hope things have moved on since the late 90s, but it might explain the snails pace 🐌

hope it gets sorted quickly