Selling Your Property – What Land Registry Documents Do I Need
These days most properties are registered at Land Registry. In fact any property that has been sold or mortgaged since 1999 will have to be (unless a solicitor has made a mistake somewhere along the line). If you are selling a property that is registered at Land Registry then you don’t need to produce the title deeds, in fact these will not be sufficient. Instead you will need to produce Official Copies of various documents held by the Land Registry in respect of your property.
So what documents do you need to produce? The main documents are the Register of Title and the Filed Plan, or Title Plan, but there are a number of other documents you might require also. If you have a solicitor representing you in the sale then he should take care of obtaining the documentation but if you are doing the conveyancing yourself it is important that you know what you need so as to minimise delays. Lets have a look documents that the Land Registry might hold:-
Register of Title and Filed Plan
The register of title and plan go hand in hand and are the most important documents. The register gives the address of the property/description of the land and also defines the extent of the land by reference to the filed plan on which the property is outlined in red. It is important to note that the plan only purports to indicate the general position of the boundary – it is not definitive.
The register also proves who owns the property by naming the owner(s) at section B. The register can be updated at any time. The date it is produced is given on the first page and it should be no more than 6 months old on the date which it is supplied to the purchaser. If you have a register that is more than 6 months old therefore an up to date version should be obtained.
Any mortgage or other debt secured on the property will be revealed in section C of the register of title. If the owner is bankrupt this will be revealed in section B.
Conveyance/Transfer/Indenture
Most properties benefit from and are subject to certain third party interests known as easements and covenants.
An easement is a property right, such as a right of way or a right to use services crossing the land and a covenant is a rule put in place by a previous owner of the land imposing either an obligation, such as to contribute to a maintenance fund or to keep a fence in good repair, or a restriction such as not to use the property for trade or business.
These rights and covenants will sometimes but listed in the register of title itself but often the register will refer to another document, a Transfer or Conveyance or Indenture, as containing rights and/or covenants which affect the property. If so the then a copy of the document will need to be supplied to the buyer. You may have the original; if you do then you can take a copy and supply this with a promise to supply the original on completion. If you don’t have the original you will need to obtain an Official Copy from the Land Registry.
Lease
If your property is leasehold (you will be able to tell this from the register of title in section A) then you will need to supply a copy of the Lease to which it is subject. As with conveyances, transfers and indentures, if you have the original you can supply a copy of this but otherwise you will need to obtain an Official Copy.
The lease is a very important document. It defines the extent of the property, the term of the lease and the start date, the annual ground rent and the rules governing the relationship between landlord and tenant such as who is responsible for insurance, what the tenant can and cannot do in the property and where it is a flat, what parts of the building the landlord is responsible for and what parts the tenant is responsible for.
Freehold Register of Title and Filed Plan
If the property you are selling is leasehold then as well as the lease, the buyer will need to see the freehold title.
This is the register of title and filed plan for the freehold land owned by the landlord and it will show who the landlord is and the extent of the freehold land, so that the buyer can check that the whole of the property you are selling is actually within the landlord’s freehold title and any access ways used to access your property which are private estate roads are owned by the landlord.
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