Check on a Pending Land Registration

Check on a Pending Land Registration

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Overview

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic it has left many companies with a backlog of work. The Land Registry is no exception. The Land Registry staff are doing their best to catch up but have the same difficulties as all of us. This article will show you how to speed up your registration.

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Urgent Applications

When you inform the Land Registry that your application is urgent, e.g. because a mortgage cannot be granted until a pending registration is completed, or where there is a pending sale, they will usually complete the application within 10 days.

To initiate this request you need to formally apply for an expedite. The Land Registry require an expedite to be dealt with by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer using their Land Registry portal. A Land Registry portal is a software gateway between the solicitor and the Land Registry, which is installed on the solicitor’s computers. It is a simple application to complete and produces rapid results.

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Not Heard from the Land Registry

Completed Land Registry documents are not sent out automatically. They have to be applied for. The Land Registry will usually write to you when an application is completed but you may fail to see the letter. Before applying for an expedite you should check to see if the registration has already been completed.

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Excessively Long Delays

Where more than 6 months have elapsed since an application for registration was despatched to the Land Registry, and your registration remains uncompleted, you should be questioning why it is taking so long. Where the Land Registry have received an application and they are not satisfied that they have been provided all the information they require, they will usually send a list of questions to the person submitting it (usually the purchaser’s solicitor). These questions are sometimes not acted upon, or at least not promptly, and sometimes left indefinitely.

There are 2 options to pursue here:

1. Apply for a Property Registration Progress report.

This will state:

• When the application was received by the Land Registry
• The nature of the application
• Who submitted it
• Whether requisitions (questions) have been raised and when
• Any other matter that may be holding up the registration

2. Apply for a Provisional Title Register Search

This search is made with the forethought that the registration may not yet have been concluded. This will entitle you to search again, once, for free, within a 6 month period.

• Title Register
• Provisional Title Register
• Property Registration Progress Report

For an Expedite please refer to your solicitor.