Land registry-advise urgently requiered

Hi there,
In the proccess of buying a house, all in order, as we had everything arranged from a property whose salel felt throught just before xmas. Anyway, there is a small (or not so small), issue. When the vendor bought the house from the builders, they never got the map with the exact measurements of the land (been told that's called scheme map or something similar) so they were never able to register the property, which is causing problems with the sell. We've been told a previous sale felt throught but we're not sure if that's the reason. Any advice will be greatly appreciated..

this is where your solicitor will earn their money if they are any good , the word is folio not schema by the way.

the builders solicitor never passed this to the vendors solicitor and the vendors solicitor obviously never hassled them and the vendor never hassled their solicitor and won't once they get their money .

throw it back to the vendor to take it up with their solicitor who will attempt to give your solicitor UNDERTAKINGS in writing , these things can drag on for years as it happens, a house I sold once was stuck on the market for 6 months becuase a folio map was missing . as long as the vendors solicitors UNDERTAKING is that they accept 100% personal responsibility for supplying the map then maybe take a punt if you intend living there 5 years while its sorted out ( it could take that long in the Land Registry) , any bull**** undertakings, walk away .

Talk to your solicitor. Take their advices. Is this a situation that can be resolved or not? The fact that you say that they were never able to register their interest makes me suspicious. Did they do some deal with the builder so that they can't now do anything about it? And how on earth can they hope to sell the house until this problem is resolved?

Have contracts issued? What is the vendors proposed solution ?

If you're getting a mortgage, this problem will be a major stumbling block.A lender will not want this mess unless they are assured by your solicitor that it is fixable.

mf

How about simply regsitering the folio with the Land registry?

They can't. Because:

When the vendor bought the house from the builders, they never got the map with the exact measurements of the land (been told that's called scheme map or something similar) so they were never able to register the property, which is causing problems with the sell.

mf

Fair enough, mf, just wondering if this could be done retrospectively?

The most straighforward solution would be for the Vendors' solicitor to go back to the Developers' solicitor for a map. I would presume that the builders' solicitor gave an undertaking to funish a scheme map in due course.

It's between those two to sort it out.

What is really worrying is that they have sent contracts to our solicitor with a closing date, in 2 weeks time, and saying they are trying to sort this out, but we don't know exactly what they are doing. It looks quite doggy to me. Our solicitor has advised to wait. But it's so unfair that they can put a house on sell with it being legally registered. This could be the second sale that we are involved in that doesn't go according to plan, and it can be quite a stressful situation. In my home country, if you pay a deposit, and the vendors pull out of the sale, they have to reimburse you with double the money you pay them as deposit, to avoid scams....It's not fair that you pay a deposit, if on a 100% mortgage, you pay interest for this money, and someone is keeping this money for as long as it takes to close the deal...and there is no penalty for them if it doesn't close.

well if they advertised it freehold (and did not have a proper title) you have a case for your costs if it falls through, talk to your solicitor about that.

"well if they advertised it freehold (and did not have a proper title) you have a case for your costs if it falls through, talk to your solicitor about that."

This is not true. Do you have any basis for saying it?

mf

no map = no proper title, all they have is an 'undertaking' from a solicitor to supply a map Muhhhhuuu HUUUUUUUU Haaaa Haa HHHWaaaaaahhhhh <cough sorry> which is worth something ...maybe...if you want to sue the soliciting profession.

How long ago did the builders solicitors undertake to supply the map to the vendors solicitors , 5 years, 10 years ?????

It looks like there is actually a bigger problem now. Because the owners of the house didn't registered the property when they bought, but tried to do at a later state, there is now a boundary dispute in the state, as the map provided is a newer edition, and the land registry is asking the other owners to provide the same type of map. After much thinking, and recommended by both family, friends and solicitor, we are pulling out, as we don't know how long before this can be solve, and if we were to go ahead, we are not sure if the bank will give us green light either. This is the second property we loose, and it's really though, as we don't seem to get anything for our budget any more. (sorry for the ranting, I needed to get it out of my chest)

So sorry to hear this purchase has also fallen through for you but we've been on the other side of the fence 8 times for the sale of 2 houses and it's frustrating regardless! You're best not to get involved if there's a boundary problem and if you're going to have to deal with the land registry - most inefficient bunch! This is most probably why the other party pulled out. If you're on 100% mortgage you cannot afford to get tied up in this mess.

Best of luck with the new search!
Perhaps there's something better out there.....?

Thanks Lorz, everybody seems to say the same, that we will be able to find something better, and all that cheering up stuff, but we can't get to see the bright side of it, there is nothing on the market that may appeal to us within our price range anymore...so not sure what are we going to do. (Spain is not an option, salaries are lower, and property over there is more expensive than in here, at least in Madrid)