Missing Documents

Hi, we are in the process of purchasing a freehold property but an old unregistered lease has shown up on the register. The seller has lost any paperwork relating to this and his solicitor says he is unable to proceed any further without the documents. Our solicitor is advising that he won’t proceed any further as it’s in our interest. How does something like this get resolved, we have spent a lot of time on this and now we are going to lose our buyers if it’s not resolved swiftly. We are cash buyers, no mortgage is involved.

Hi - they need to prove that the lease has come to an end (determined) if that is indeed the case. If they have 'nothing' then invariably they will have to rely on a statement of truth (the facts as they know it) 
Our PG 26 explains how leases can be determined and what's required in any given scenario. The conveyancer should be aware and able to put together a suitable application to then apply to cancel the noted lease. But it will rely on the seller to assist with knowledge of the facts for example

Hi, thanks for your reply, the Lease dates back to the 1960’s when the property was built for 800 years. The mother apparently “bought out” the land lease years ago, the property then went to the daughter who states she has never paid land rent or been pursued for any, the lawyers who dealt with the transfer to the daughter are unable to find anything as the solicitor dealing with the case was struck off for criminal offences, the vendors solicitor apparently doesn’t know what to do!

Hi David - so you have the 'facts' of what happened so refer the solicitor to PG 26 and they can hopefully sort things from there.