Can I Sell my House if it is Unregistered?

Can I sell my house if it is unregistered?

An unregistered property, be it a house, flat, or any land, is one that is not registered with the Land Registry. Statistics show that in the UK, around 13% of properties are not currently registered.

How it affects you?

Unregistered properties can be slightly more complicated when it comes to selling your property as there are a series of extra steps that need to be taken as part of the sale process. There is also the risk to the buyer that since there is no centralised proof of ownership for an unregistered property, fraudulent ownership can arise.

As LDN Properties are specialist home buyers, we have seen the matter of unregistered property titles come to light many times when purchasing houses and flats throughout the UK. Our specialist team have knowledge and experience to work through the necessary steps of registration in a seamless fashion and often without significant delay.

Is it compulsory to register?

There are some circumstances where it becomes compulsory to register the house or flat. These are;

• When the property is transferred from one person to another e.g. property sale, inheritance, gifted, etc.
• If the property is mortgaged
• When the property is leased for seven years or more

The property’s title historically relied on paper deeds being handed down from previous owners. Every time a house changed ownership, the title deeds would be updated accordingly. This commonly resulted in several deeds being available, some of which didn’t correlate with the existing house ownership.

Can you sell your unregistered house?

Yes, you can sell your unregistered house or flat. To do so, you will need to produce physical title deeds. After this, the buyer’s solicitor takes those deeds and submits the registry application to the Land Registry.

The process of selling an unregistered house can be a little more complex than the sale of a registered property, however it is a well trodden path that conveyancing solicitors are well accustomed to dealing with and indeed a process that the LDN Properties team have seen on numerous occasions. Indeed, you may consider it best to register the property yourself before deciding to sell your property. This is certainly an option available to you, however it can take a little more time.

If you are planning to sell your house, a competent solicitor by your side will help you tackle the complexities that may present themselves along the way. Do note that every transaction is unique and there are some guidelines a conveyancer must follow when selling an unregistered house.

Guidelines

Some of the relevant guidelines are as follows;

• The conveyancer performs a search with the Land Registry called an Index Map Search of the land. This is also known as a SIM search as discussed on the Government website.
• Copies of all deeds, provided to the seller’s solicitor need to be checked
• Relevant documents for the past 15 years need to be checked to make sure the title chain is clear
• As well as the title deeds, the conveyancer also checks documents and further information such as marriages, bankruptcy, payment of stamp duty, and any defects in the title

We appreciate that selling your house or flat can be a stressful time particularly when legal complexities such as property registration arise. Should you wish to discuss the sale of unregistered property or the property registration process further with us, our team can assist on 020 7183 3022.