Dusty Deeds and the Value of Land Registry Title and First Registrations
Compulsory registration of land at the Land Registry came into being for the whole country in 1990, and in other areas since 1925, on a sale, and following the introduction of the Land Registration Act 2002 a mortgage of your property will also trigger compulsory registration
If you or your family bought your property many, many years ago and have not re-mortgage in more recent years, then your property is likely to be unregistered land.
We can carry out a free check to see if your property is registered at the Land Registry – all we need to know is, generally, your address.
We recommend that anyone with unregistered land gets it registered as soon as possible. The Land Registry apply a reduce fee when registering property for the first time on a voluntary basis.
The benefit to a voluntary registration is that:
When you want to sell or get a mortgage over your property, it will be easier and quicker to complete those transactions if your property is registered.
If your property is registered, if you are the innocent victim of a property fraud, then the Land Registry may compensate you for your financial loss.
With your property registered, you need not worry about where to find your title deeds, or if your deeds are in a safe place. The Land Registry will hold all of the important information about your property electronically.
With your property registered, if your deeds contain rights over neighbouring land, then those rights will be shown in your title and the burden of those rights shown on your neighbour’s title
With your property registered, the Land Registry will produce a title plan to identify the general extent of your land. With a title plan, you and your neighbours will know the generally boundaries of your land. A title plan may contain other references to land either within your title or over your neighbour’s land affected by rights or restrictions.
Because you or your family members will know your property, it will be easier to answer any questions or queries that the Land Registry may raise about your land and the extent of it, rather than the potential difficulties of the person with that knowledge having died and the family members have to deal with the problem.
We can help if you want to apply for first registration of your property or want to update your contact details with the Land Registry. Get in touch with Philip on 01530 266 000, or to send him an email click here.
Should you want any advice and assistance regarding preparing a Will or estate planning, please get in touch with Vanessa on 01530 266 000 or to send her an email click here.
