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

Thank you Adam, Can you clarify something for me… so will I know within the 10 days whether a survey is needed? Is it possible that we will just hear back that everything is ok and the application has been approved? If so, will that be fairly quickly? Many thanks Anna

Anna - processing has already started so the 10 day timeframe has been met. Correspondence has already been issued to the applicant with regards the need for a survey and how they can arrange same. Whilst it is possible that everything can be approved without the need for a site visit/survey or wider checks that it extremely rare. DT492052

Thank you Adam, So the correspondence has gone to the conveyancer to confirm that they need to arrange a survey? This is a definite? If so I will let my conveyancer know and the estate agent so they can do this asap. Thanks Anna

Anna - the applicant themselves are contacted to arrange the survey. The conveyancer will be aware also. DT492052

Thanks for explaining Adam, Much appreciated Anna

Hi Adam, I wondered if the survey had now been arranged for this? Many thanks Anna

Hi Anna - I have responded to your further post in the absence of my colleague. We have instructed for the survey to be arranged and notified the applicant. It is then up to the applicant to contact Ordnance Survey and arrange for the survey. We would not be aware if that has happened.

Thank you for explaining, very kind. Anna

Good morning, I have had confirmation that the survey took place yesterday. Could you tell me what the next steps are? Do you now write to neighbours or does this depend on what the outcome of the survey is? Will the seller’s conveyancer be contacted with next steps? If they write to neighbours, how long do they have to respond? I have seen different timescales mentioned. Apologies for all the questions but I find it helpful to be aware of the process as it unfolds. Many thanks again, Anna

Good Morning Anna - next steps are for OS to send their report to us. That's then reviewed alongside the application/claimed facts and next steps decided. That invariably means wider checks as mentioned. The conveyancer will be informed if there's an issue of any sort but if only wider checks are needed then they go ahead and if owners of registered land they get 65 days whilst anyone else would get 15 days It's all explained in PGs 4 and 5 depending on which one applies to the application as made - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/land-registration-practice-guides#guides-1-to-10

Thank you Adam for explaining. So if the land is unregistered then it is 15 days? Am I understanding that correctly? Will we know when the 15 days starts? Not sure if we are informed of this. I don’t want to keep bothering you as I know (can see!) how busy you are. Many thanks Anna

Anna - the conveyancer can check online to see what 'progress' has been made and when any wider checks have started. You would not be informed by us directly of each and every stage reached/passed as it's the conveyancer's application. By all means make a note to ask for an update here once a week and we will do our best to provide a timescale but there's a limit as to the specifics we can provide each time. You are no bother but these things do take time to complete DT492052

Thank you Adam, understood. I will check back in a week if I haven’t heard (not our conveyancer, it’s the seller’s, so limited communication). Many thanks again, Anna

Hi Adam I wonder if you could check and see if anything has changed on this at all since we last spoke? I don’t know if the o/s report will have been reviewed yet. Many thanks Anna

Hi Anna - no change as yet. The OS report is not with the application as yet so until it is nothing progresses. DT492052

Thank you