Expedited land registry application for our house purchase

Hi, we are purchasing a house which has an area of unregistered land which the owner has been using for the last 30 years. The owner has expedited an application to register the land with Land registry. The reference number is : LA781A5 The title number is : DT240399 I would like to enquire as to whether anyone has looked at the application yet as it is holding up a chain and our buyers are ready to exchange. We are just waiting for this. We can’t lose our sale, but have a disabled child so cannot break the chain if it goes on for a long time. Many thanks 🙏 Anna

Hi Anna - that application was rejected as it had been wrongly submitted. We contacted the conveyancer to advise on 25th March and explained what type of application was required. They've submitted a new application on 27th March and it's been expedited - DT492052 Processing will start shortly but I must stress that with such claims there are three key stages to pass. Lawyer consideration re the legal claim; a site visit/survey by Ordnance Survey; wider checks with adjoining landowners to confirm no objections. Each stage takes time and they complete in the order stated. In my experience you should expect a minimum wait of 2-3 months. Do speak to your conveyancer to confirm and to discuss options

Thank you Adam for the swift reply. Gosh - that is a long wait… I’m not really sure what to do now as we will lose our sale if we wait that long. Is there no way of speeding it up? Anna

Anna - IF s survey is needed and IF wider checks are required then we have no way of speeding those parts up. OS work independently and usually visit and report back within 1-2 weeks of our request. Wider checks take 3 weeks to complete and that relies on recipients to respond positively of course. Factor in the lawyer referral re the claim and their viewing the survey report and triggering wider checks you end up with the timescale suggested. If that's too long I would recommend discussing with your conveyancer as to whether other options exist. Those may well depend on whether you are buying with a mortgage as the lender will also have a say