Sale of Part - Possibly!

[salawinder]

Hi all, first post, and all I know about conveyancing I've gleaned through the issues I've been dealing with!

I'll keep the details as brief as I can, so as not to confuse things, but feel free to ask for more info & I'll provide what I can...

Here goes:

in 1971 my family bought a plot of land. They got a package of deeds going back to 1924 and including the conveyance from 1971.

In 2012 they sold part of this land to a developer.

My question is: What documents should each party receive?

I know, it sounds a bit vague, but this may be the first of several questions depending on the answer!

Thanks,
S~

[atticus]

Is title to the retained land registered at Land Registry, or is that the problem?

[salawinder]

The title to the sold portion of the land IS on the Land Registry, but the portion remaining ours is not.

Not sure if the remaining portion should have been registered or not, really just wanting to know what documentation should have been returned to each party (and I suppose whether both parts should have been registered or not).

S~

[atticus]

paging dslippy

[salawinder]

A follow-on question, hopefully this will be easier to answer...

Is it possible / acceptable to sell a property with only a certified copy of the conveyance?

Thanks,
S~

[dslippy]

It is possible to sell land when it has not yet been registered, but it is subject to compulsory registration on that first dealing, and it makes excellent sense to have the seller do so beforehand.

[salawinder]

We had planned on completing the first registration ourselves before selling, but as the current timescale for registration is at least a year we're hoping to not have that delay. we could certainly also do without the cost involved. We have also been told that the buyer would have to complete the registration anyway.

Additionally, the situation is complicated because we own an adjoining building to the remainder of the land (also not on the land registry) and will be selling both properties together (the buyer may then choose to merge the properties into one registration).


We believe that when we sold part of the land in 2012 the solicitors incorrectly processed the sale as the whole plot rather than a part. The buyer correctly only registered the part they believed they had bought, and the remainder remains unregistered. The part that was sold has changed hands twice, we have been using the remaining land ourselves continually.

The solicitors claim that they loaned the 1971 conveyance to the buyers solicitor so they could complete the registration, and then 'forgot' to get them back (even when they returned the documents to us in 2018).


We had a sale in place last year which fell through due to the missing documents, and it has taken the last year for us to get originals of the historical conveyances and a certified copy of the 1971 conveyance which is undated and has a memorandum stating that part of the land was sold stapled to the front.

Really I just wanted to find out what we should have got in 2012 as I think this is where all the problems started. We are not looking to make any trouble for the solicitors (although we do believe they have truly messed up!), frankly we just want to sell the properties but don't want to enter into another sale if we are not going to be able to complete it.

S~

[dslippy]

On a sale, the deeds are retained by te seller to the extent to which he still has an interest in them. The buyer keeps all deeds where he is acquiring an excluiive interest.

[salawinder]

So not having new deeds created in 2012 (for us) is normal - in that case my earlier question is more pertent: Is it possible/acceptable to sell a property with only a certified copy of the dees?

S~

[dslippy]

So not having new deeds created in 2012 (for us) is normal - in that case my earlier question is more pertent: Is it possible/acceptable to sell a property with only a certified copy of the dees?

S~

It is standard not to cratea a new set of deeds.

[salawinder]

Please don't think I'm bieng rude, but it feels like I'm getting answers to everything but the question I am asking:

Is it possible/acceptable to sell a property with only a certified copy of the dees?

[dslippy]

One deed does have to be an original - the one transferring the title, but, as has been said, the others can be (and often are) mere certified copies.