Voluntary Land Registration of Unregistered land
What is land registration?
Unregistered land relies upon title deeds to show the history of ownership of property rights but after a successful application to the Land Registry the land is registered, the ownership of the Property and any rights and reservations are recorded in an up-to-date public record held at the Land Registry.
Whenever a change in the ownership of land occurs (e.g. on sale, or charge or lease for over 7 years) it is compulsory to apply to the Land Registry for 1st registration. But voluntary land registration is also available – which does not need to wait for any change of ownership.
Around 15% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered. The Land Registry has indicated their intention to reduce this figure.But that means there’s still a lot of 1st registration work left to do. To give you an idea, here at Bonallack & Bishop, our conveyancing solicitors lodged 44 appications for 1st registration between December 2022 and November 2023.
For free initial phone advice about registering your land, just call us now on FREEPHONE 0800 1404544 or Salisbury 01722 422300.
Why should I voluntarily register my land?
- It provides proof that you own your property – with an official plan
- It gives you a much better protection against squatters and can assist in avoiding arguments over potential rights of way, easements, boundary disputes and other land title disputes
- It makes future sales of your land simpler, quicker and less expensive. All the information about your property becomes available in most cases at the click of a mouse from the Land Registry’s website
- You never have to worry about missing deeds
Click here to find out what happens if you lose the deeds to your property?
- It helps stop fraud which can result from copying title deeds
- It gives an opportunity to sort out any problems with the title deeds.
Why register now?
The Land Registry is currently offering at least a 25% reduction on the fee for voluntary registration. And any applications for first registration based on adverse possession or lost deeds count as voluntary applications with a minimum 25% fee reduction. Click here to read more about adverse possession
Fees for first registration are calculated according to the value of the land being registered (e.g.registering property valued under £80,000 is reduced to £30 upon voluntary application)
Voluntary Land Registration – How do I start?
To discover if your land or property is registered simply contact our property team.
If your property is unregistered our Conveyancing Solicitors can help you with the process of voluntary land registration and with any problems which may result. Our experienced property team regularly handle land registration issues both for clients locally in Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset and throughout England and Wales – from our offices in Salisbury, Fordingbridge, Andover and Amesbury.
We provide a fixed fee for making the application to the Land Registry for First Registration.
We can provide you with any necessary legal advice and check for defects in your unregistered title and offer solutions.
Voluntary Registration of my land – how long does the Land Registry take ?
Once we have taken your instructions and prepared the application, the Land Registry will, on average, normally take up to 12 weeks to deal with the request to register – depending on their workload at the time.
However, at the date this page was last updated, December 12, 2023, the Land Registry still had hugely long backlogs. And sometimes that causes real problems – for example if you’re looking to sell or remortgage and Land Registry hasn’t yet dealt with registering your transaction. But it is possible to ask the Land Registry to treat your case as urgent – a process known as “requesting an expedite”.
Click here to find out how to request an expedite from the Land Registry
