New Build Development not registered

Hello,

My partner and I are buying our first house in a new development in Kent. We have almost exchanged but our solicitor has stopped the process saying they won't progress due to the fact the developers title is not registered, and so this therefore means we won't be able to register our title.

The development is alleged to have made their registration application in December 2021 but still nothing. Other houses on the development have already been sold and people moved in to so we are confused how this has happened for them if its the whole development that has not been registered.

Our solicitor has said that some people take these risks and will buy the property without the developers registration being complete but she is saying the risk with this is that the new owner of the house won't be able to have their property registered until the whole development is and that with such delays it could mean there is years without the individual property being registered. Is this right?

Is there anyone I can seek advice from about this/talk to to see what is going on? Apparently the development has expedited their registration but being a month delayed from exchange we are still yet to hear anything.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated 

Hello Raeven - the information your conveyancer has provided is correct and you must rely on their legal advice/expertise here. If you are buying with a mortgage the lender may also be resistant to completing before the actual developer's title has ben created/registered 
Happy to take a look at what's happening re the developer's title if you can share the plot number/address/title number?

Hi Adam,

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly and for the help - do you know why some houses would have been able to complete and people move in if the case is that the whole development hasn't been registered?

If you could have a look that would be amazing. So our title number is TT134200, Plot 104, and it is on the Bellway Development at Alkerden Heights in Ebbsfleet if that helps? They have told our solicitor they put in their application in December 2021 and expedited it recently but still nothing.

Thank you again.

Hi Raeven - I have responded to your further post in my colleague's absence. 

The application to register the developer's title has been expedited and is being processed but there are queries on it that need to be resolved before we can complete the registration.  The conveyancers who submitted the application have asked for more time to resolve the queries so there's not much we can do for the moment. 

Hope this is of some help. 

Hi Nimisha,

Thank you for your reply it is certainly helpful.

I am just wondering if you knew if there would be any sort of timescale? Essentially we really want the property but we are worried that with such delays the developers title won't be registered for another year or 2 and then it means we would not be able to register it under our name until then. We are just worried that come 3 years time when we need to re-mortgage we wont be able to as the title still won't be registered in our name as we have been advised that lenders won't be able to give you a mortgage without the this.

So just two follow up points really:
1) I know it has been expedited and you are waiting on the developers conveyancers but is there any sort of time frame? Like would it be more likely to be months or a year plus?

2) Once the developers title is registered what is the estimated time frame for us to then register our title? I have tried to look at the timescales suggested by yourselves  and am just confused which processing time scale we should look at? Would it come under a more routine ownership registration timeline, something more complex or would it come under the timescale which is for registering purchases of plots on a new development? Simply because I know for the later example this can take 21 months or more - so we are just trying to assess realistically how long it could be till we get titles registered in our name.

Thanks again. 

Hello again,

Sorry for the double message but would you be able to tell me when the conveyancer's extension to resolve the queries was until? Have they given an estimated date of resolving the queries? They are threatening to pull out of the sale with us unless we exchange next Friday but our solicitor will not exchange until the title deeds are sorted.

Again sorry for the second message we are just being chased from all angles and struggling to figure out what to do. Thank you again.
 

Raeven - The deadline to respond is 9 May 2024.

Hi Nimish,

Thank you for your reply. Would we expect the registration to happen or or shortly after the 9th May then? If not do you have an idea of how long it could be expected to take? 

I also wondered if you could clarify on another point. 

Once the developers title is registered what is the estimated time frame for us to then register our title? I have tried to look at the timescales suggested by yourselves  and am just confused which processing time scale we should look at? Would it come under a more routine ownership registration timeline, something more complex or would it come under the timescale which is for registering purchases of plots on a new development? Simply because I know for the later example this can take 21 months or more - so we are just trying to assess realistically how long it could be till we get titles registered in our name.
 

Hi Raeven - There are a number of prior pending applications awaiting registration once the developer's title is registered so at this stage it would not be possible to give any timescale.   

There is no time frame for you to have your title registered.  The current processing times that you need to consider are those for registering new leases - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-land-registry-processing-times#more-complex-changes-and-new-entries

Hi Nimish,

Thank you again for your quick response.

Apologies I think I didn’t phrase my first question well. When I was talking about registration I was talking about the development as a whole. So when the developer’s conveyancers respond (and if this is before or on the 9th May) do we know how long it would be after this for the developers title to be registered? Would they still be an expedited request and would we be looking at weeks (pending them getting back to you will all the information you need) or would it be more like months/a year until the developers title is registered?

Again, thank you so much for the help

Raeven - We would be looking to complete the developer's registration as soon as possible once the queries are resolved satisfactorily.  Usually this would be within few days, but occasionally the response to our queries could lead to us having to carry out some further checks. 

Hi Nimish,

Okay great, thank you so so much with all your help with this.

We will keep our fingers crossed they reply soon and everything can be sorted then

Hi Nimish/Adam, thank you again for all your help so far,

I was hoping you may be able to be answer a couple of follow-up questions for me:
1) Are the queries being resolved serious, or are they minor points that should be able to be answered/finished soon? If possible are you able to tell us what they are?
2) Is there anything in these queries or the land application generally that looks as though there will be an ongoing issue with the registrations of this land? Is there any possibility it may never be able to be registered?
3) Relatedly, do you know what the reason is for the registration taking so long? We're aware the developer bought the land in December 2021, has there been a series of serious issues that have caused the delay in its registration or is it down to general delays and the land being large/complicated etc.?

Thank you again for all the help, it has been very much appreciated and is helping us enormously.

All the best,
Raeven 

Hi Raeven - impossible to offer a view on 'serious' or not as such requests are a registration requirement so how big/small or 'serious' isn't something we can express. Very much one for your conveyancer in correspondence with the seller's conveyancer and that goes for what the requests are for
I would recommend speaking to your conveyancer to confirm what the issues are and how they impact on your own Plot purchase 
 

Hi Adam,

Thank you again for the reply we will speak to our conveyancer. I guess our biggest worry at the moment is if there is any chance of the land never being able to be registered - do you know if that is even a thing? Or will there always be a way to get a form of registration completed?

Thanks again,
Raeven

Hi Raeven - it's very rare for an application to register to fail and then not be resubmitted. After all we register after completion so are to all intents confirming the change of ownership on the land register. 
Conveyancing can be very complex and it's important that everything is in place, protected and completed correctly otherwise the risk is too great. I'm sure your conveyancer will be able to reassure you and to explain why matters have stalled and what next steps/risks remain

Hi Raeven, I am in a similar situation to you with the new build development not yet registered. I was wondering what the outcome was of your issue? Is the development registered now? :)

Hi Bethany,

So we spoke to several different solicitors to try and understand the risk with it and essentially they said to check if the developer had the transfer deed for the land and had the rights to build, then to make sure that an application has been submitted (which it had and we were given a breakdown of when it was submitted/picked up to get a better idea of timings) and then to make sure your mortgage provider would be willing to do a product transfer should the situation come round that if you are still awaiting registration when your mortgage runs out they will offer you a new product! 
 

So each of those points were confirmed for us and we were informed that once the developers title is registered if needed we could always expedite our own application and HM Land Registry should help with that.

The land is still not registered but as you may have seen above we are expecting enquiries to be answered on the 9th May and we confirmed they had the transfer deeds so an application was all going through. We just made sure we safeguarded ourselves as best we could and hopefully it will all be registered - but we considered all risks and still decided to go ahead with the exchange. 
 

Hope that somewhat helps! :) 

Thanks so much for responding, that is so helpful I will definitely do the same. Thanks again :)