A very common reason for 'delay' both with regards a sale/purchase but also registration is an application that involves a claim as to ownership of land. The technical term used for that claim is
Adverse Possession. Essentially someone is seeking to claim ownership of land where they do not have documentary (deeds) of title
Such claims and applications can arise at any time but one of the most common scenarios, and often the one involving the most stress, is where a property owner is selling, they have found a buyer and are hoping to complete quickly. Unfortunately when the buyer has checked the registered extent against what's being sold they have found something is awry and things grind to a halt.
The 'missing land' could be down to a registration error or the owners might own the land under a different title or they may have deeds to prove ownership. But a common scenario is where they have nothing to prove ownership other than the fact that they have used and occupied the land for many years - one of the very basic essentials of adverse possession/claiming ownership
Wait times from receipt of such applications can be lengthy and even with
expedition completing the registration requirements is still likely to take at least 2-3 months in a very best case scenario but for most it will be much longer
For that reason
IF you are selling or buying, have set a completion date and more, but then find that there's land to be claimed first
YOU SHOULD reset your expectations and review when you can realistically plan to move for example
Please don't expect us to waive all the legal and registration requirements. We can't do that.
Adverse Possession of unregistered land - a claim as to ownership and can often be linked to a house sale/purchase where it's discovered not all of the property is registered.
The three key stages are often
- Consideration of claim
- Site visit/Survey and
- Wider checks with neighbouring/affected landowners.
Unregistered land is the most common scenario here but it can also happen with registered land. For example the owner has enclosed some of their neighbour's land and treated it as their own.
The two
Practice Guides, 4 and 5, contain guidance on what steps we must often take when considering/processing such applications. Both will give you a rough idea of expected timescales, particularly with regards Stage 3 and the wider checks mentioned above. Those checks can be over a 15 day period but in some cases extend to 65 days.
Likewise Stage 2 and a site visit/survey by Ordnance Survey can take 2 weeks to be completed and reported back on.
We can't expedite or hasten the OS report or the wider checks
Reassessing your own timescales for moving out or in and/or exchange/completion
should be adjusted accordingly as there is no 'magic wand' here to ensure that your original timescale can be adhered to
