What is unregistered land?

In simple terms, unregistered land is land which has not yet been registered at the Land Registry. The Land Registry is the central government register which maintains the official record of ownership of land and property in the UK.

Approximately 10% to 15% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered with the Land Registry, representing millions of acres.

Your land may be unregistered if you still hold the original deeds in relation to the property however, this is not always the case. Your property may have been registered and the deeds returned to you (in particular, the banks now often return deeds once mortgages have been repaid). Currently, when a property is registered the original deeds may be  destroyed by the Land Registry (albeit you can request these are returned to you).

Following registration, the Land Registry will provide you with an Official Copy of the Register. This Official Copy is the proof of ownership to the land.

 

When does unregistered land occur?

Typically, unregistered land is farmland in rural areas. It usually occurs when land has been owned by the same person since 1st December 1990.

Since this date, it has been compulsory to register land with the Land Registry upon a property dealing. A property dealing includes a sale, transfer due to a will, a gift or a subsequent mortgage created on the property.

 

What can you do about unregistered land?

Owning land which is unregistered is not necessarily a problem but there are many benefits to voluntarily registering the land before it becomes compulsory. For example;

  • You do not need to worry about keeping the original deeds safe. Upon registration, your title ownership is kept electronically at the Land Registry.
  • The Land Registry takes longer to deal with applications to register unregistered land than registered land, so it is beneficial to register your land before you are seeking to deal with it to avoid subsequent delays with registration which may be off putting for a buyer. Selling or transferring unregistered land can take longer because we have to prove ownership through the title deeds and show a chain of ownership. This means we first have to gather the deeds and produce documents to enable the registration of the land by the buyer.
  • Land Registry fees for voluntary registration are reduced from the standard fee which would be payable on a dealing (albeit if that dealing was a sale, the fees would in any event be payable by the buyer).

 

How we can help:

We can help you register your property whether that be during a sale or voluntarily.

We can also help in other capacities which relate to unregistered land, for example, registering cautions, dealing with adverse possession and prescriptive easement registration.

 

Find out if Ramsdens can help you by speaking to our experienced team about your needs today. 

Call our team on 01484 821 500, email us at [email protected] 

 

The above article is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It is recommended that specific professional advice is sought before acting on any part of the information given.

Furthermore, the information contained is accurate and up to date as of the date of publication. Readers should be aware that legislative frameworks may have been amended since the original date of publication.