Adding my Lease to Freeholders Title

Hi

I am wondering if anyone can help me with the query below.

I am in the process of selling my House which is Leasehold. My Title Documents clearly state that my house is Leasehold so all good there.

When I search for the property, using HM Land Registry, both Leasehold and Freehold options appear, which is all good.

The background is this.

The Buyers Solicitor has stated that for some reason my Lease does not show on the Freeholder Title Documents, in Section C, under Charges. I have a copy of the Freehold Title Documents, and it does list my property in Section A: Property Register, but does not show it in Section C: Charges Register, Schedule of Leases. In fact, Section C only shows a fraction of the properties listed in Section A: Property Register. The Freeholder Title Plan does show all of the properties listed and the land associated with them.

The Buyers Solicitor has stated that my property needs to be added to this Section for the Sale to proceed. My Solicitor has stated she has requested this to be done, (although at this moment in time, my confidence in my Solicitors is minimal).

So, firstly, why would all the Leases for the properties owned by the Freeholder not be listed in Section C? For example, there are 19 properties on my road, but only 2 are listed in Section C. Secondly, is this something I can request to be added or should it be through the Solicitor?

Due to the deadline for the sale, I have requested that my Solicitor requests the application to be expedited to fast-track it, and I am chasing confirmation that she has done this.

Your thoughts and help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

Hi Mike - there can be a few reasons as to why that may have happened so I won;t speculate.
What's the leasehold title number and I can perhaps shed a more direct light on why and how to remedy matters for you?

Good Morning Adam

Many thanks for the quick reply.

So, my Leasehold Number is SYK80710. This is my Title with my details on.

The Freeholders number is SYK516354. This is the one for the Freeholder which 'appears' to have my property missing from Section C, although my property is shown in Section A. As can be seen from this one, many of the properties shown in Section A are not shown in Section C.

Kind regards

Mike

GM Mike - many thanks. So the reason the details appear to be 'lacking' is that your leasehold title is a Good Leasehold as applied for and first registered in 1978. The freehold register you refer to was not registered until 2006.
The nuance involved is that when your lease was first registered title to the freehold/the landlord's ability to grant the 2nd April 1900 lease was perhaps not proven so only good leasehold could be given by us
There's no application or indeed enquiry from anyone re either the leasehold or freehold title pending so I'd suggest speaking to your solicitor to clarify what they intend to do next.
They could perhaps be considering making an application to upgrade the Good Leasehold title as explained in our Practice Guide 42 section 3.2.3

Once again Adam, thank you for the quick reply.

Seem to be shedding more light on this than my Solicitor.

I have read the document referred to and below is an extract;
 

You can apply to upgrade a good leasehold title to absolute leasehold if you can provide HM Land Registry with:

• the lessor’s title and, where they are not the freeholder, title to any other reversionary titles up to and including the freeholder
• the reversionary titles are registered with absolute title

Where good leasehold title was awarded before 19 June 2006 because the consent of the lessor’s mortgagee or the consent of the lessor’s own lessor to the granting of the lease had not been produced, you can apply to upgrade to absolute leasehold if you can produce the missing consent. Alternatively, and where the consent is still outstanding, you can apply to upgrade to absolute title if you enclose a covering letter with your application requesting the upgrade on the basis of current HM Land Registry practice. The following entry/entries will be made in the register where the consent(s) are not lodged:

A couple of queries;
 

1. Is the 'Lessor' the Freeholder in this situation. ie. Fee Simple Estates?
2. Is the Lessors Title, the one I referred to, ie SYK516354?
3. So, if I can provide the Freeholders Title, which is what I have, is that enough to upgrade?

Just trying to understand the Terminology :)

So, the way I read this, is if I can provide the Lessors (Freeholders) Title, which shows that they own my Land, as shown in the Section A, The lease could be upgraded to an Absolute Leasehold. Would this then mean my details would appear in that Section C?

Also, apologies for being a pain, but could I ask to expand on this sentence;

The nuance involved is that when your lease was first registered title to the freehold/the landlord's ability to grant the 2nd April 1900 lease was perhaps not proven so only good leasehold could be given by us

Does First Registered Title refer to the 1978 registration of the Title?

Kind regards

Mike
 

Mike - the lessor is the freeholder/superior title holder so if there is just your lease and the freehold title then as you state the current freeholder is your lessor
Yes re the freeholder's title
Any application to upgrade the title would require a completed form UT1 and a copy of your lease
We would need to investigate our paper records as well to ascertain why good leasehold was given at the time and also check the freehold records to see what information is available or required as well as appropriate.
That's largely why I can only reply in quite general terms on the forum as we simply don;t have the level of detail required to cover specifics for you.
First registered is the date on which the application to register for the first time was received by us. That date is in brackets at the start of your leasehold register and is the date when the original solicitor applied to register with Good Leasehold title. 
The lease had been sold thus triggering the need to register for the first time even though it had been granted in 1900 as per the lease details

Please do bear in mind that your solicitor will already be considering the above and more with regards what to do next and how to apply to upgrade your title and the freehold title as appropriate. Please do defer to them for guidance as they will be privy to any wider and specific requirements needed when making such an application.
As you are also selling it is important to ensure that once submitted the solicitor then requests expedition separately to ensure any wait time is kept to a minimum, normally less than 2 weeks 

Hi Adam

Apologies for my late reply.

Firstly, and most importantly, thank you so much for your help.

I have, as you said, spoken with my Solicitor, and also had brilliant very helpful conversations with both Elizabeth and Rebecca at HM Land Registry.

As a result, I have completed the UT1 application and sent this today by Special Delivery, to arrive in the morning. I will then request Expedition as soon as it is on the system.

Kind regards

Mike

Mike - understood. There should be no need to use multiple channels with us at HMLR so I would suggest sticking to the direct contact route if you are able to
It reads as if you have what you need now to proceed