Title deed transfer help!

Morning!&#160;<br> can you please help me.. we are currently in the process of purchasing 54 - 56 high street ecclesfield S35 9XD -&#160;SYK81715&#160;<br> I believe title&#160;SYK57987 and SYK56481 too!<br> we have been told the property was originally two cottages &amp; land which is now one, but we can’t seem to get any further with the progress of them being changed into one deed! We had our mortgage offer retracted due to this issue &amp; all further applications refused. We have since had to offer a cash sale for this to go through &amp; was told that would be a quicker process but still haven’t had any updates from solicitors (they are just blaming each other!) we have given notice on our rental property as we was told almost a month ago it was due to be completed last week &amp; we are still no further..<br> <br> can you please advice me on what’s happening or what we can do next before we have to pull out of the sale and try to find somewhere to live asap&#160;<br> <br> Thank you!!!&#160;

Morning Francesca - there's a single application with us re title&nbsp;SYK56481 and that was submitted on 13th August. The application was to update the property description only. No application to turn the three titles into just the one deed.<br> We contacted the applicant on 15th August to provide proof of the change of description but we have not as yet received a response.<br> I would suggest speaking to the sellers and ask them to check/confirm matters for you<br> If it is genuinely a request to amend the property description then a letter from the local authority street name ( numbering department confirming the postal address is generally sufficient<br> However if there's a need to merge the leasehold title&nbsp;SYK57987 into it's superior title&nbsp;SYK81715 and then to amalgamate that second title with SYK56481 then we will need a very different application from the sellers.<br> I suspect your mortgage lender has asked for the latter but that is not what the applicant has actually applied for and as such there maybe some misunderstanding on their part as to what's actually needed to enable you/your mortgage lender to complete - just a guess on my part but suggest you do discuss and clarify with the sellers conveyancer<br> If they need to confirm them they should get in touch direct (not the forum) re their pending application -&nbsp;SYK56481/L240XYT<br> Submitting a fresh application form and request to merge and amalgamate plus the registration fee would be the next step if the 'more' you describe is required

<p>Hi Adam,</p> <p>thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly!&#160;<br> after much back &amp; forth with the solicitors, our solicitor has now said the change of description Will do in order for the sale to go through..&#160;</p> <p>my concern is, the vendors solicitors seem adamant that this change of description is done after completion &amp; our solicitors don’t agree.</p> <p>the vendor’s solicitors have said they have paid for the letter that the land registry have requested to be sent &amp; that if we wait for them to do this before completion we will be waiting months?!</p> <p>can you please advise me, does this usually take months and months from yourselves if it’s done by the vendor’s solicitors before completion?</p> <p>sorry we are in a panic as we have given notice on our home &amp; need to be out in a few weeks as we was told the cash sale would go through quickly&#160;</p> <p></p> <p>thank you so much for all of your help!!&#160;</p>

Hi Francesca - I have responded to your further post in the absence of my colleague.&#160;<br> <br> If the concern about time taken by us relates to the currently pending application, then I would point out that the application has been approved for expedite by us.&#160; We would be able to proceed with it as soon as the conveyancers who submitted it respond to our queries.&#160; What is happening on those queries and how long it may take them to resolve is something that we would not be aware.&#160;<br> <br> Hope this helps in some way.&#160;

Thank you so much for your reply!!&#160;<br> that’s so helpful.. can I just double check, the vendors solicitors have said they have paid for a document/ letter from the council that you have asked for.. does this sound correct?&#160;<br> They haven’t given much detail on the document you have requested to confirm the correct address on the application they have made&#160;<br> <br> thank you so much!!&#160;

Francesca - that could be correct. Confirmation re property/postal addresses rests with the local authority street name &amp; numbering department.&#160;<br> SYK56481&#160;

<p>Thank you so much for your help, I have heard from the vendor’s solicitors today &amp; they have submitted the documents onto the land registry portal this morning so hopefully you have everything now.</p> <p>do you have an idea of how long this will now take?</p> <p></p> <p>thank you again!&#160;</p>

Francesca - I'll ask the casework team for an update for you<br> SYK56481&#160;

<p>Thank you so much Adam, you have been a great help!&#160;</p>

Francesca - the application has been completed and the register (address) updated now<br> SYK56481&#160;

Morning Adam,<br> <br> thank you so much for you help before!!&#160;<br> we are due to exchange tomorrow (Friday 31st)&#160;<br> but it has come up that our drive way &amp; our side access isn’t registered on land registry.. I’m not sure where to go from here!<br> Around the property is the original stone walling from when the house was built in 1790 which encloses both the drive way &amp; the side access to the front and back of the house, so I’m not sure how it’s ’unregistered‘&#160;<br> as you can imagine we are due to exchange &amp; complete tomorrow &amp; im concerned where we stand legally with this, is there any advice you can offer or anything we can do??<br> <br> I have attached photos to explain better&#160;<br> <br> thank you so much for your time!&#160;

Morning Francesca - discovering such things at the 11th hour is a significant issue and I'm very sorry to say that there's no quick fix available here.<br> When a sale/purchase takes place the buyer is asked by their conveyancer to compare the title plan (red outline) with the reality on the ground. If it matches then fine but if it doesn't then that needs to be raised as an issue with the seller to resolve.<br> Solutions can vary but tend to fall into two possibilities<br> 1. An error made at the time of first registration (1977) when the title was registered based on the application made and supporting deeds/documents submitted at the time. This seems very unlikely as there have been a few sales/purchases since 1977 and seemingly no issues raised.<br> 2. Submit an application to claim the extra land and have that registered - known as adverse possession -&#160;<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-land-and-2-registered-land/practice-guide-5-adverse-possession-of-1-unregistered-and-2-registered-land-where-a-right-to-be-registered-was-acquired-before-13-october-2003">Practice guide 5: adverse possession of (1) unregistered land and (2) registered land where a right to be registered was acquired before 13 October 2003 - GOV.UK</a>&#160;<br> Neither option will provide a quick fix and are likely to take a few weeks at least in the first cases and a few months in the second example<br> Very much a case of speaking to your conveyancer as this is something they need to advise you on and if you are buying with a mortgage then the lender will have a significant say in what happens next&#160;<br> SYK56481&#160;

Thank you for getting back to be so quickly!<br> I know this is a real nightmare as everything else is in place for tomorrow but we don’t know what to do for the best..&#160;<br> It is a cash sale so we have been going off the advice from our solicitors, they have put a&#160;Statutory Declaration in place from the vendors that explains they bought it and have had full use of the drive / side access with no issues along with an insurance policy.&#160;<br> <br> if we went along with the sale with these in place could we then apply for adverse possession? So the at least we can go ahead with the sale and have this sorted out afterwards? Do you know if there are any costs involved in applying for this?<br> <br> thank you so much&#160;<br> <br> &#160;

Francesca - noted and appreciated and that's good re stat dec and that's presumably how the issue has been dealt with over time. That option is to claim a right of way/use (prescriptive easement) rather than claim ownership of the land. A different set of legal and registration requirements -&#160;<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/easements-claimed-by-prescription">Easements claimed by prescription (PG52) - GOV.UK</a>&#160;<br> The stat dec and insurance policy route is an option and your seller can then add to that as well with own stat dec usually<br> You need to be relying on your legal rep here as to what's best but it seems that it's more about the claimed right of access and not ownership that's in play here so nothing to amend/correct&#160;