Once you are in receipt of the contract papers from the seller's solicitors you will need to begin to check the title. Title check is a catch all term which really describes checking not just the title deeds (ownership, rights etc) but also the search results, protocol forms, contract and any other documents you happen to be provided with relevant to the property. The way this guide works is that it will ask you questions and depending on the answer you give you will be directed to the relevant section of the page. If you are a paid subscriber, you can also use the title checking tool, which you can select from the menu on the left. This will allow you to upload certain documents which our system can read and extract data from, it will suggest enquiries, and it will allow you to save your progress.
To start with, you should check the seller's title. First, is it registered or unregistered? If it is registered, you will have received an Official Copy of Register of Title. Click the link to view an example. Otherwise, you should have an Epitome of Title (though this isn't always supplied) and copies of old Conveyances, Indentures, Leases etc. Select registered or unregistered to jump to the right section.
Registered
Next, you should establish whether the title is leasehold or freehold. As a general rule of thumb, flats and maisonettes are leasehold and houses are freehold but that will not always be the case. Look at the official copy of register of title in section A: Proprietorship Register. The first paragraph will begin with a date in brackets and will be followed by the words "The Freehold land ..." or "The Leasehold land ...". Whilst all land in England and Wales notionally belongs to the Crown, the owner of a freehold title has the exclusive right to the land in perpetuity as an absolute owner. The owner of a leasehold title on the other hand owns an exclusive right to use and occupy the land for the term of the lease but does not own the land.
To move to the relevant section, click on the appropriate link:
Registered Freehold Title
Header Section
Now that you have established that you are dealing with a registered freehold title, you should begin by checking the register. The first page should be a covering page which starts with "The electronic official copy of the register follows this message". This cover page is important as, if there are applications pending against the title which have not been completed (i.e. applications to change the register for example applications to register a charge or a change of ownership) then it will contain the following alert "Applications are pending in HM Land Registry, which have not been completed against this title.". If the cover page is not supplied you should insist on receiving it and if it is supplied and reveals pending applications you will need to ask for evidence of what they relate to so that you can consider how the changes, if successfully registered, will affect the title.
The next thing you'll see is the Title number. This is a unique identifier that HM Land Registry gives to every title it creates. Then comes the Edition Date. This is the last date that the register was updated, for example as a result of the addition or removal of a charge or restriction or a change of ownership. After that is the date and time that this copy of the register was issued. This is important because any electronic copy of the register is only accurate at the moment it is produced. The older the copy you have is, the more likely it is to have been changed since. There is no hard and fast rule but it is generally accepted that the register supplied by the seller's solicitors should be no more than 6 months' old when the contract papers are issued. There follows some notes that appears on every register: advice that the aforementioned date should be used as the search from date on an official search (more on that later), a note to say that the dates at the beginning of each entry are the dates the entries were made, confirmation that the electronic copy is admissible in evidence to the same extent as the original register (so that it can be relied upon) and finally, which office deals with the title. This used to be useful when applications to HM Land Registry were submitted by post but is is less so now that the vast majority are submitted electronically.
Other than the heading section, an Official Copy is split up into 3 registers, the Property Register (A), the Proprietorship Register (B) and the Charges Register (C). In the A: Property Register, the first entry will give you the County and District that the property is in, for example if it were in Leeds, it would say West Yorkshire : Leeds. Our example happens to be in a London borough, so you only see the borough. The county and district will need be completed on certain applications to H M Land Registry.
Property Register
Property description
Entry 1 starts with a date in brackets. This is the date that the title was first created. This might be when the land was first registered, or if there has been a transfer of part so that this title was created out a larger one, the date the application to register that was received by HMLR (note that the dates in brackets throughout represent the dates applications were received by HMLR, not the date of the transaction not the date the application was completed. After that, you'll see the following phrase "The Freehold land shown edged with red on the plan of the above Title filed at the Registry and being" which will be followed by the property address. (If it starts "The Leasehold ..." then you are in the wrong section and need to jump to the leasehold section. Note the land will always be edged red on the plan. HMLR uses specific colours on filed plans for specific purposes. You will obviously need to be satisfied that the address listed here is the address you are purchasing. If you are purchasing a plot of land with no building on it, there may a description rather than an address. Even if there is a building with an address on the land it might be that the building was not yet constructed/converted at the time of registration, in which case you might see "land at the back of ...." or land adjoining ...". You can ask HMLR to update the description following registration of whatever disposition you are dealing with. they will need evidence of the address, such as a council tax bill.
You might see a note following the property description along the lines of "As to the land tinted blue on the title plan only the [ground/first etc] floor is included in the title. there are 3 possibilities here:
- if the blue tinted area is the whole footprint of the building on the land then it may indicate a freehold flat;
- if it is part of the footprint it suggests a flying or creeping freehold;
- the title may be the freehold reversion of Tyneside lease
For more on this you can visit the "what does blue tinting on the filed plan mean?" section of the Complex Title Issues page.
Following the property description, you may see an entry such as "(DATE) The land edged and numbered in green on the title plan has been removed from this title and registered under the title number or numbers shown in green on the said plan" or some variation. That means that, since the title was created, part of it (the part edged green) has been removed from the title via a transfer of part and is no longer included. You should make sure you make your client aware when checking the plan that the green land is not part of the property they will be purchasing.
Rights / Easements
Next will come any easements that benefit or burden the property, if any. These will either be set out directly in the register or else there will be reference to other documents, such as transfers, conveyances or deeds that contain them. In the latter case there will be a note like this "NOTE: Copy filed" or sometimes "NOTE: Original filed" the title number it is filed under may be included in the entry like so {under XXXXXXXX}. Sometimes Land Registry will be aware of a document which contains rights or reservations because it is referenced in another document but will not have a copy, in which there will be an entry along the lines of "No copy {of the conveyance/transfer/deed} was produced on first registration" or some variation thereof.
Easements will typically include rights of way, or to use services (such as discharging foul and surface water through sewers and drains or receiving gas, electricity etc through cables and pipes) or of support from adjoining land. You will need to check whether the property needs a right of way over other land for access, that is not a public highway or public footpath and whether any of the services cross other land before joining the road. Think about whether the property fronts onto a public highway or a private road and whether there is any other access, for example a side or rear access. For more detailed information about easements visit our dedicated page. You should also check whether anyone is entitled to exercise rights over the property as this may need to be reported to your client.
If the property is a former local authority property purchased under the Right to Buy scheme you may see an entry such as this "The Conveyance dated XXXXXXX referred to in the Charges Register was made pursuant to Part V of the Housing Act, 1985 and the land has the benefit of and is subject to such easements as are granted and reserved in the said Deed and the easements and rights specified in paragraph 2 of Schedule 6 of the said Act". For more about Right to Buy matters see our dedicated Right to Buy page.
Finally, where the Property Register refers to a filed document you might see an entry like "(XX.XX.XXXX) The Transfer dated XX XX XXXX referred to in the Charges Register contains provisions as to light or air and boundary structures.". This generally means that rights of light and air have been excluded (i.e. the property does not have a right to receive unobstructed light or air over the title out of which it was transferred) and that the deed deals with responsibility for the boundaries.
Boundaries
The filed plan shows the boundaries of the property but these are general boundaries only. In other words the plan is relevant to the question of where the exact boundary lines are but it is not definitive proof and other factors, such as physical features and any plans/measurements in the transfer or conveyance which created the title need to be considered.
As to responsibility for/ownership of the boundaries, this is often not recorded. If it is, it will be in the transfer or conveyance that creates the title, i.e. the one that transfers it out of a larger parcel of land. According to convention, inward facing T marks on the plan indicate that the property is responsible for that boundary, outward facing T marks show the neighbour is responsible and a double T suggests joint responsibility. The document should however refer to the T marks, their presence on the plan alone is not proof (though it is stronlgy indicative of the parties' intentions). If the deeds are silent as to boundary responsibility then the assumption is that responsibility is shared. It is often suggested that a property is responsible the left hand boundary (so that the neighbour owns the right) but there is no legal basis for this.
Proprietorship Register
Class of Title
The first entry in the Proprietorship Register is the class of title. For freehold land there are 3 classes - absolute, qualified or possessory.
- Absolute - this is the best clsss of title and means that, with the exception of any overriding interests, the register contains the totality of the third party interests affecting the property and you do not need to be concerned with anything not on the register;
- Qualified - qualified titles are extremely rare. They occur where, when the title is presented for first registration, there is sufficient evidence to prove the the seller's ownership (typically a chain ownership going back at least 15 years) but there is some inherent defect which might lead to either a challenge to the ownership itself or else to the validity of one or more easements which benefit the property. Some examples include where there is evidence that a sale, or other conveyance, has been made in breach of the terrms of a trust (so that the beneficiaries might have a better claim on the title), or if there is a claim by a third party to the whole or part of the land, perhaps an adverse possession claim, where there is not sufficient evidence to prove that claim but it might be possible that there will be in future. It may be that a prescriptive easement is claimed but not proven or that an easement the land benefits from is at risk of being set aside. The register will set out the specifics of the qualificaion and its seriousness will depend on the possible consequences should the risk to which it relates materialise into reality. It is only possible to upgrade qualified title if you can demonstrate that the issue has been resolved since registration. Lenders may be reluctant to lend on qualified titles, depending on the nature of the qualification;
- Possessory - possessory title occurs typically where, on first registration, the proprietor's claim was based on adverse possession or on lost title deeds, so that the have been unable to show a 15 year unbroken chain of ownership to H M Land Registry. It is important to note that being registered with possessory title does not mean that a person with a better claim can take the title away - that would only happen if the title was based on an adverse possession claim and it could be shown that any statement of truth or statutory declaration supporting the claim was false. What possessory title does mean is that the property may be subject to covenants or easements that are not evident from the register. It is is possible (and usual) to obtain indemnity insurance against these risks, for a modest premium;
Proprietor
Next comes the details of the owner. The date in brackets at the start of the entry is the date on which the registration application was received by HMLR (not necessarily the date on which the application was completed). Then, following the word PROPRIETOR: you will see the owner(s) name(s) an then their address(es) for service. Up to 3 addresses can be added here, including email addresses (but at least one must be a postal address). These are important because it is where HMLR will send any notices about activity affecting the title.
Price Paid / Value Stated Entry
For transfers registered on or after 1st May 2013 the register will contain a price paid entry (if valuable consideration was paid) or else a value stated entry if if the transfer was for no or nominal consideration. The date in brackets will be the date the application was received by HMLR and the entry will confirm the completion date and price/value.
Restrictions
If there are any restrictions affecting the title, these come next. Restrictions prevent the registration of dispositions, or certain categories of dispositions, unless specific reequirements are met. They are a method of protecting third party interests. For example, a restriction might require a consent from someone wih a beneficial interest or a certificat by a conveyancer that a covenant has been complied with.
Since the commencement of the Land Registration Act 2002, only restrictions that are in one of the Land Registry's approved forms can be registered. Prior to that, any number of forms were permissable and some of these earlier forms will still be present on titles.
When dealing with restrictions it is important to consider them carefully and to understand exactly the requirements for compliance and to make sure that either a) you have what is necessary to comply before exchange of contracts or b) complince is within your control or c) you have the benefit of a solicitors undertsking to procvide what is required.
For a detailed look at all of the different approved forms of restrictions under LRA 2002 and how to comply with them, visit our dedicated restrictions page. Alternatively, paid subscribers can enter a restriction into our title check tool to see how to deal with it.
Personal Covenants
Bankruptcy Notices
Registered Leasehold Title
Coming soon, keeping checking back!
Unregistered
Coming soon, keeping checking back!
