How does one establish that an application for registration has been received by the LR?

Our lawyer died unexpectedly when we were buying the freehold for our development of 50 flats. It seems to be impossible for us to tell if the applications for registration were successfully completed (some required deeds of substitution) and posted to the LR. Is there a way to tell if applications have been received & are waiting to be registered? This information cannot be obtained from his office as he worked alone. Thanks for any assistance.

Robert - can you share the address(es) please so I can check?

<p>The post code for all the flats in the development is E2 9NL. The development is called Millennium Place and the flats are numbered from 1 to 50. Flat 13 is renamed Flat 12A. Five of the residents opted not to buy their freeholds so applications for their addresses would NOT have been submitted. The applications for some addresses may well have been held up because of problems getting deeds of substitution completed but we cannot be certain. There may be 8 or 9 of these. Assuming all deeds were processed properly then 45 addresses should have been sent either digitally or by post and they would all take the same form -</p> <p>Flat XX Millennium Place, London, E2 9NL</p> <p>The number XX will be in this list 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12A, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49 and 50 - forty-five flats in total.</p> <p>Flats 3 and 32 from this list recently changed hands and both these sales seemed to go through without a hitch so in those 2 cases everything seems to be in order. However those 2 flats have not received copies of upgraded 999 year leases which all 45 have paid for. We understand that waiting times at the LR are lengthy. Perhaps 8 or 9 of these may not have been submitted yet because of delays with deeds of substitution but not more than that. So, it would be reasonable for 36 or 37 from the list of 45 to be currently waiting at the LR. I have asked for advice from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Thanks for your help.</p>

Robert - many thanks.
The freeholds for the flats are registered under different title numbers 
An application to transfer the freehold title AGL624703 was submitted in May and completed in July. You can check and confirm the current registered information online. Search by title number and view, download and save a copy of the register - Search for land and property information - GOV.UK
You will note from the register that it refers to the individually registered leases for some of the flats. And you will also note the last 3 'new' extended leases have been included. The application to register the freehold purchase and the 3 lease extensions were all submitted by the same firm. 
A second freehold title AGL624608 refers to 29 pending applications to register 'new' leases but no transfer of the freehold. These 'new' leases have also been submitted by the same firm.
In the circumstances I would recommend waiting for a response from the SRA as they would normally advise as to which firm has been appointed to take over the work/files/clients of the now 'closed' firm

Thanks Adam. Very helpful. Am I correct in thinking that you are employed by the LR? I have no experience in conveyancing/property and will need to pass your reply to someone who does for translation :-) 

When you refer to "...3 'new' extended leases..." are you at liberty to give me those flat numbers? I understand this may be confidential. Am I correct in thinking that the firm you refer to in your reply is in all cases the same firm, ie. that only 1 firm is named in these applications? All 45 flats were originally contracted to buy the freehold for the development & to have all leases upgraded to 999 years. Does this, loosely speaking, look like what has been attempted by our lawyer?

The firm of our lawyer is marked as "Active" at Companies House and he is shown as "Resigned". The Law Society listing for the firm shows it to have 1 office and 0 solicitors. We have been informed by a secretary at the firm that they are being "wound up". Our referral to the SRA has been delayed because we were required to ask for our lawyer's professional indemnity insurance (PII) details and so far this has not been provided.

Robert - I do work form HMLR
You will need to check the register as posted to see the 'new' details I mentioned 
The same firm/conveyancer submitted the applications. The freehold title I referred to was transferred to the Management Co and I suspect each flat owner is a 'shareholder' in that company so in essence they all own the freehold title. 
When a lease is extend then it has the be registered as a 'new' leasehold title with HMLR. That is what is happening re the pending applications I mentioned and has already happened re the other 3 flats also mentioned.
The key issue here is the winding up of the firm and who then takes over to act for the clients. Once that has been established and a new firm appointed then the issue of the outstanding applications and/or those as yet not submitted can be resolved with the new firm.
If you wish to try and establish the full details of what's been registered and what's still pending then I would recommend doing the following

1. View and download/save a copy of the two freehold titles.
2. Submit a form OS3 against the second title AGL624608 - the search result will confirm each pending application and what it relates to 

You will then have a clearer picture of what's registered and what's still to be updated.
However that is also what the 'new' firm will do to help them manage the files/clients as appropriate so I would still recommend pursuing the matter with the SRA/wound up company to establish who to deal with re both the pending and still to be submitted applications as appropriate
Hope that helps

Thanks for your clarification. We will certainly seek further guidance from the SRA.

You quoted 2 different freehold title numbers associated with our freehold, AGL624703 and AGL624608. If I log on to the Land Registry and go to "Search for land and property information" I can search by entering title numbers. If I enter AGL624703 I get an output which is a summary of the title for our freehold (the land, buildings and flats). If I enter AGL624608 I get the following error message -

"Sorry, there is a problem with this service
Try again later.

If you were making a payment
You should get a confirmation email if your payment was successful.

You now have 90 days to access your documents."

This is a longstanding error, it does not change. It's clear to me what our connection to title AGL624703 is but I cannot see any connection to AGL624608. Can you tell me what this title actually is? Thanks for your help.

Robert - AGL624608 is a pending new title so the application to register same has as yet not been completed. Until it is the registered information won't be available online
It looks like I quoted the wrong title and the freehold for 1-50 Millenium Place (the one I quoted was for one of the actual leases) is EGL293869
Apologies for the misdirection 

Thanks for the clarification.
Your advice was as follows -
"...If you wish to try and establish the full details of what's been registered and what's still pending then I would recommend doing the following

1. View and download/save a copy of the two freehold titles.
2. Submit a form OS3 against the second title AGL624608 - the search result will confirm each pending application and what it relates to..."

Should I now follow the same 2 steps but replace AGL624608 with EGL293869 ?
Thanks again.

 

Robert - that's still the correct advice and yes re the correct title number also

Panel 8 (first option) of form OS3 asks for a specific date. I don't know how to obtain this date? I must enter a date  "falling within the definition of ‘search from date’ in rule 131 of the Land Registration Rules 2003. If the date entered is not such a date the application may be rejected." How do I obtain this date. Thanks for your assistance.

Robert - you need to apply for and obtain an official copy of the register (form OC1). That will be backdated due to the pending applications. It's that date you would then search from as it will then fill in the 'pending' blanks for you
It may appear convoluted and 'extra' but the information/forms etc are for conveyancing really and less for the type of general investigation you are undertaking 

No problem. In Form OC1 Panel 2 requests "Title number if known". From your earlier post I'm assuming this is EGL293869. In Panel 3 it requests "Flat/unit number" and "Postal number or description". This is confusing for me since ultimately I am seeking information about a large number of flats (less than 50 of course) which may be pending registration in order that I can find out which flats have not even reached the Land Registry yet. Should I just enter the details of my own flat or should I leave "Flat/unit number" blank and describe the property as land & buildings associated with the freehold that we purchased. Thanks.

Robert - correct and then use the property description to match such as 'Millenium Place' or similar
One thing to note is that there are No pending applications against AGL624703 so what you have downloaded online re the register confirms the various leases already registered out of that specific freehold title.
I suspect the one you are really interested in re 'what's not been done yet' is the other freehold title EGL293869 whioch has the pending applications to register new leases 

In an earlier post, 18 days ago you said -
"A second freehold title AGL624608 refers to 29 pending applications to register 'new' leases but no transfer of the freehold." I'm assuming I should ignore this since it relates to the title for another flat in the development.

Robert - correct as that was where I erred in quoting the new leasehold title which is pending against the freehold title EGL293869 along with the others I mentioned as pending         

I applied for & obtained an "Official copy of register of title" for title number EGL293869. There are many dates on the copy & I'm not sure which one I transfer to an OS3. It says "Edition date 30.05.2024" and under that -
"This official copy shows the entries in the register of title on 19 June 2024 at 11:08:44.
This date must be quoted as the "search from date" in any official search application based on this copy." So, I am assuming that it's this date "19 June 2024" that goes in the OS3 form. Is that correct? Thanks for your help.

Robert - your assumption is correct. The OS3R(esult) will then confirm what applications are pending from that date onwards. The OC + OS3R then give you a complete registration picture re that title