Missing lease from 1962

Hello,

We are purchasing a maisonette leasehold flat with a share of freehold.

We need a copy of the underlying 1962 lease, which presumably contains the repairing covenants, but neither the seller nor the co–freeholder has a copy.

The 1962 lease is not available on the Land Registry portal.

The title register does not state whether the 1962 lease was registered or whether a copy was ever filed.

The title register refers to a 1988 deed of variation, which is available on the portal. The register states: “The above term was created by a Deed of Variation which operated to surrender an earlier lease dated 13 August 1962.”

I am trying to understand how likely it is that an OC2 request would result in a copy of the 1962 lease being found, as the Land Registry may simply have noted the reference in the 1988 deed rather than having a copy themselves.

Can anybody help?

The title number for the leasehold is EGL231127 and for the freehold is MX302082.

Thank you.

Hello Tomas - not everything is available automatically through the portal. If the register does not state that a copy of the required copy lease is not help by us then we may have a copy in the paper files still held.
The note re no copy held is generally added to the register after someone has made an OC2 request and a copy cannot be found in the paper files.
You can't second guess in your scenario and if the register is silent on the file aspect then the conveyancer can request a copy using the 'Non referred document' option in the portal.
If we don't hold a copy we will refund the fee and add a note to the register as mentioned
Responsibility for holding the original/copy of the lease/counterpart rests with the landlord/tenant although once registered many will rely on HMLR for such details

Thank you.