Voluntary Registration at HM Land Registry
By Timothy Wilton 12/09/2012

About three quarters of the land in England and Wales is registered at the Land Registry consisting of over 22 million titles. If the property you own is not registered at Land Registry, we strongly recommend that you make a voluntary application to register it…why?

Reasons to Register

 

  • It brings your ownership up to date and enables you to identify your land holdings and consolidates and stores relevant title information in one place.
  • Once registered, if you become the innocent victim of fraudulent transactions involving the registration of your property and suffer financial loss, you may be able to claim compensation.
  • Registration can identify problems with your ownership which can be sorted out now. It is not fair to leave it to your heirs who may not know what you know and, in any case, it is cheaper to deal with such things sooner rather than later in the long run.
  • It provides simpler access to property details and plans in the future. This makes it easier and faster to handle a sale or other dealing with the property.
  • Ownership is guaranteed by Land Registry. The loss of unregistered deeds can make it difficult (sometimes impossible) to prove you own your property.
  • It makes it harder for people to encroach on your property and successfully claim ownership of the land occupied.
  • Buyers and lenders increasingly expect land to be registered before buying or lending.
  • Land Registry is currently giving a 25% fee discount on voluntary registration applications. In addition Land Registry fees are going down on or after 22nd October 2012 by around £10.00 for such applications. For example, if your property is worth between £100,001 and £200,000, the normal fee of £190.00 after 22nd October will be reduced to £140.00 for voluntary registrations.

 

Is my Property Registered?

If we already hold your deeds, we will be able to tell you.

If you have got your deeds you can make an appointment, bring them to see one of our conveyancing team and they will be pleased to let you know.

If you have access to the internet you may wish to use the Land Registry’s online checker at www.landregistry.gov.uk.

How do I Register?

You can do it yourself! You could contact Land Registry and they are there to help.

However, most people find it easier and simpler to let their solicitor (us!?) do it for them. We will be pleased to do so and will estimate our costs for you at the outset.

For most ordinary domestic property our charges currently are £150.00 plus VAT and the applicable Land Registry fee. If problems arise which would raise those costs, we will tell you and seek your approval before proceeding.

Once registered, we will give you the new title information document and the old deeds to keep.

Contact one of our conveyancing team?

 

DON’T DELAY, REGISTER TODAY!