Missing Memo of Staircasing

[KevanW]

When I purchased my flat about 4 years ago the sellers at the time were completing staircasing at the point of sale, to allow me to buy 100% of the property (80% from them 20% from Freeholder). The Memorandum of Sale and all subsequent documentation relates to me owning 100% of the property and the freeholder is not contesting this.

Now I have come to sell my flat they are asking for the original memorandum of staircasing, which I was never provided, and I have been informed that without this document there is no way to proceed the sale. Despite providing the documentation that shows I purchased 100% and agreements from the Freeholder to support this. The firm handling my case have been very "hands off" with efforts to recover this document or work past this challenge.

The main question really is do I have to have the original memorandum of staircasing to complete the sale of a leasehold property (meaning if i don't I am stuck with the property until the lease expires)? Or, if not, what are the practical ways of resolving this as a quick sale has been dragging on for a considerable amount of time.

[des8]

Hi and welcome
Has anyone explored the possibility of buying an indemnity insurance?
Has anyone approached the conveyancer/solicitor who dealt with the purchase at the time to review their file?

Problem is that staircasing isn't recorded by land registry

[KevanW]

Hi and welcome
Has anyone explored the possibility of buying an indemnity insurance?
Has anyone approached the conveyancer/solicitor who dealt with the purchase at the time to review their file?

Problem is that staircasing isn't recorded by land registry

Hi DES8,

Thank you for your reply, what would the indemnity insurance be for and who would be looking to take this out - the current buyer or me? We have tried to approach the solicitor who handled the sale but with limited response due to the fact they have ceased trading. I am just trying to determine if this is a critical document as nobody is contesting percentage of ownership.

[des8]

Altho' the solicitor has ceased trading, his files should still be available, if not with him then either with another firm or the SRA (that is in a perfect world!)

The seller normally pays for the policy
To save me writing there's a good guide here http://www.astonbond.co.uk/your-guid...ally-need-one/
This is not an endorsement of the company.

[KevanW]

Altho' the solicitor has ceased trading, his files should still be available, if not with him then either with another firm or the SRA (that is in a perfect world!)

The seller normally pays for the policy
To save me writing there's a good guide here http://www.astonbond.co.uk/your-guid...ally-need-one/
This is not an endorsement of the company.

Hi DES8,

Thank you for your reply, I have raised it up with my solicitor who has informed me that this is not appropriate in this instance (not sure as to why but that is the direction I have received).

Hopefully they will find a way to resolve this soon....

[des8]

odd.. wonder why not appropriate

[Abeat]

I am just wondering if you managed to resolve this, and if so what did you do? I am in a similar situation. The previous owner of my flat staircased. No one requested a copy of the memorandum when I purchased. Now I am selling and they are saying the sale can't proceed without this. We have located the solicitor who dealt with it, but this was 11 years ago, so I don't know if they would still have it. I don't want my sale to fall through or to be stuck in this place forever.

[Glojo]

I am just wondering if you managed to resolve this, and if so what did you do? I am in a similar situation. The previous owner of my flat staircased. No one requested a copy of the memorandum when I purchased. Now I am selling and they are saying the sale can't proceed without this. We have located the solicitor who dealt with it, but this was 11 years ago, so I don't know if they would still have it. I don't want my sale to fall through or to be stuck in this place forever.

Hi,
Would you mind sharing how your situation played out?
My son is in the same position. After 6 months of unresponsive solicitors, his buyers are now refusing to proceed without a memorandum of staircasing. The solicitor he used when he bought the property said they don’t keep paperwork beyond 7 years, so no joy there.
The owners of the house he is buying are also frustrated & understanbly threatening to put their house back on the market.
We have no idea how to proceed!

[tsears]

Hi,
Would you mind sharing how your situation played out?
My son is in the same position. After 6 months of unresponsive solicitors, his buyers are now refusing to proceed without a memorandum of staircasing. The solicitor he used when he bought the property said they don’t keep paperwork beyond 7 years, so no joy there.
The owners of the house he is buying are also frustrated & understanbly threatening to put their house back on the market.
We have no idea how to proceed!

Hi there,

Did you ever get a resolution to this? I am currently in the middle of buying an ex-shared ownership property which is missing the memorandum or staircasing as well as the staircase not being registered with the land registry. I'm a bit hesitant if this is going to cause me issues when I come to sell the property, so how did you get past this?

Many thanks
Tom

[tsears]

I am just wondering if you managed to resolve this, and if so what did you do? I am in a similar situation. The previous owner of my flat staircased. No one requested a copy of the memorandum when I purchased. Now I am selling and they are saying the sale can't proceed without this. We have located the solicitor who dealt with it, but this was 11 years ago, so I don't know if they would still have it. I don't want my sale to fall through or to be stuck in this place forever.

Did you ever manage to sort this?