Understanding unregistered land titles

Unregistered title, although not as common as it used to be, is common in many parts of the UK and makes up approximately 15% of land in England and Wales. Compulsory registration was gradually phased in by virtue of the Land Registration Act 1925 and became compulsory for any transfer of land or property by 1990.

This means for those who purchased their property before compulsory registration, their title deeds may still be unregistered. The safe keeping of title deeds is always one of concern as if they become lost or mislaid it can be incredibly difficult, time consuming and costly to try to reconstitute the title.

The purpose of registration follows three basic principles:

1. The insurance principle refers to the guarantee secured by the State that any loss incurred by a registered land resulting from reliance on the conclusiveness of the Land Registry by a land purchaser will be compensated through a statutory indemnity system.
2. The curtain principle, on the other hand, is the concept that land registration may allow certain equitable interests attached to the land hidden from a purchaser’s view. This ‘curtain,’ however, does not affect the validity of any transaction on the registered land so long as the details of the registration reflects the validity of the title.
3. The mirror principle. The mirror principle refers to the idea that the due registration of a land title must reflect all the important and significant details that a purchaser must know before buying the land. These details refer to the identity of the owner, the nature of his ownership, any limitations on his ownership and any rights enjoyed by other persons over the land that are adverse to the owner.

The electronic register keeps a record of owners of property and land together with the interest of any mortgage lenders and which can be downloaded at the ‘touch of a button’. This means subject to completing satisfactory identity checks, a seller can instruct any solicitor who can readily download their title documents from His Majesty’s Land Registry (HMLR) in preparation for a sale/transfer.

Once a property is registered you can sign up to Land Registry alerts so that you are notified if there is significant activity on your property. The alerts can help prevent property fraud.

Unregistered deeds used to be kept in safe storage by the mortgage lender as security for their loan during its lifetime. Once the mortgage was repaid in full, the lender would ordinarily release the deeds to their client.

Keeping unregistered title deeds carries the risk of loss or destruction. Once unregistered deeds are gone, they cannot simply be replaced. Reconstruction results in extensive work being carried out. The identity of the true owner and the history of how the deeds came to be lost needs to be established and evidenced to HMLR in order for them to consider an application to reconstitute the title and which may or may not be successful.

The decision whether to voluntarily register your title deeds is something to be carefully considered. HMLR offer a reduced fee to process a voluntary registration in an effort to encourage people to do so.

If you have unregistered deeds and are contemplating registering them, we would strongly recommend that you do so and would be very happy if you would like to give us a call so that we can assist you.

Speak to Sarah Corsby from our Residential Property team today on 01494 781357 or email sarah.corsby@blasermills.co.uk.