This will very much depend on whether the title to your property is registered or unregistered. If your land is Registered Land the details of your ownership will be held by the Land Registry under a Title Number.
It is possible to carry out a search at the Land Registry, locate your property and obtain up to date copies of the Registered Entries for a small fee. If the property is Leasehold then the Land Registry will also normally hold a File Copy of the Registered Lease and again, a copy can be obtained for a small fee.
If your land is unregistered then you have more of a problem and it will be necessary to prepare a “reconstruction of title”. This will be based upon any documentary evidence which can be found/traced along with Sworn Statements (Statutory Declarations) by the person/s claiming ownership.
Under such circumstances it is likely that the Land Registry will initially only grant either “possessory title” or “qualified title” rather than the usual “title Absolute” and a further application to the Land Registry will need to be made after the expiry of certain time limits.
If you are intending to sell or mortgage a property where unregistered title deeds have been lost and a re-construction of title is required, then the buyer or mortgage lender will also usually require indemnity insurance to be put in place to protect their interest should a valid claim be made against the title before it is upgraded to “title absolute” in order to proceed.
You may also be interested in reading our FAQ’s on Unregistered Land.
If we can assist you with any aspect of dealing with registered or unregistered land then please get in touch for an informal chat to see how we can assist.
This article is intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.
Comments: 10
I assume that you and your wife inherited the property on your father’s death and still live there? Do you know if Probate was obtained following your father’s death and whether the property was officially transferred into the beneficiaries names? If not Probate would now need to be obtained and the property transferred into the names of the beneficiaries. The original Will would need to be located and any IHT dealt with. If there is no Will then it would be necessary for an application by the nearest next of kin to be made for Letters of Administration, which would then enable the next of kin to deal with the estate as would an Executor appointed under Will. The difference being though that without a Will property of the deceased will pass according to the rules of Intestacy.
If you can give me the full address of the property and the full names of the persons in which it would/should be registered, I can do a search at the Land Registry to see if they have any listings under that address. If the property cannot be located by address we would need a plan of the property which can be sent in with a search request called a “Search of the Index Map” this will show whether the land is registered and if not whether there are any “Cautions” pending against first registration. If the land is found to be unregistered it would be necessary to prepare a re-construction of title to prove your ownership.
I look forward to hearing from you further.
Hi there, iam buying a property and they have no deeds, the parents passed away and the son just carried on living at the address, now he wishes to sell to myself and has no deeds, he thinks they may of been in a solicitors in runcorn cheshire but it has since closed down, can you point us in the right direction please as to were they might of gone too.
regards Barry
Dear Barry
Sorry for the delay in responding, but for some reason the comment did not get emailed to me at the time you submitted it (unfortunately I think our spam filters on the website are quite strong).
If the property is registered, then the “deeds” will be what is registered at the Land Registry and a search can be done by address to check whether the property is in fact registered. If it is then copies can be downloaded. If the parents have died then the son will also need to obtain probate in order to sell the property.
If the title was unregistered then you (or I should say the son) has more of a problem. If the deeds were with a firm that no long exists then the files and any deeds and documents that they were storing should have been sent to a successor firm and the Law Society/Solicitors Regulations Authority should have details of any such successor firm. If that draws a blank then the son will need to do a recontruction of title with Statutory Declarations confirming the ownership and an application to the land registry.
Regards
Angie Newnham
I bought a house from the second owner and the house is on the first owners name. Now i want to transfer it to my name but they need first owner signature and id but she is nowhere to be found, please help me what should i do because its been 7yrs looking for her.
Hi
Many thanks for your enquiry. Difficult! I have to ask who acted for you in the purchase and why did they not ensure that both owners signed the sale documents and also ensured that your title was registered at the Land registry?
Angie Newnham
Hi,
I was wondering do you know of any banks or building societies that would give a mortgage on a building site with a qualified title and with title indemnity insurance? All of the lenders I have approached have refused and accept an absolute title only.
Many thanks
Dear Paula
Unfortunately I do not – you would need to speak with a financial institution that lends on commercial property/transactions. However I think realistically you will probably need to find a business partner who can fund the project by way of private finance until such time as you can obtain absolute title. Trouble is if you build on a building site that does not have absolute title, a party with a better claim to the land than you may come forward and you potentially lose the land and any development that you have constructed on the land. You are also likely to have problems selling on any property that you develop on the land for the same reasons.
The comment above is the writers personal view and does not constitute legal advice without a valid retainer in place
Hi, my 84 year old nan lost her partner of 19 years a few days ago, they didn’t marry but brought a house together, as far as we knew the house was a joint name deeds, my nan at the moment is very confused and showing signs of Alzheimer’s/Dementia, her partners daughters are very sneaky and she thinks they are going to take the house from her. Without causing discomfort of searching the house for documents is there a way we can check the deeds to make sure she is on the deeds as a joint owner?
Dear Donna
For a small fee we could carry out a check at the land registry to find out whether your Nan was a named co-owner on the property title. If she is named we can also check whether she and her late partner owned it is beneficial joint tenants which would mean that your Nan would inherit the whole of the property automatically due to survivorship upon the death of the co-owner or whether they had owned it as tenants in common which would mean that they owned respective shares in the property which would then pass according to their individual wills or under the intestacy rules if there was no will. Whether the late partners daughters are entitled to any say in the matter will very much depend upon how your Nan and her late partner had owned the property. If you would like to instruct us to investigate this further, please contact us either by the Contact Form which can be found on the website or by using the contact phone number and asking for Angie Newnham.
Hi. My aunt is 98 years old and has recently been admitted to a care home due to suffering from dementia. Anyway, the title deeds to her house were stored along with other valuables which were stolen during a burglary around five years ago. I have only recently discovered that the house isn’t registered with the land registry. I am now trying to do a reconstruction because we might have to sell her house to pay for care home fees. I am filling out the forms on her behalf. The hurdle I have is the evidence of identity. This is fine for me, but I’m stuck with regards to my aunt. She is in a care home, so can’t travel., She also doesn’t have any photo ID like a passport or driving licence. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.