Unregistered Land
So, you’ve gone to the land registry and they can’t help you, the land is not registered, where do you go next? The good news is that you are extremely close to the help you need to locate the owners of the land quickly and cost effectively. We find the owners of registered and unregistered land with our Land Search Service. There many people who don’t really know what to do when the Land Registry can’t help and also what exactly is unregistered land.
All the term unregistered land means is – the land is not registered with land registry. It doesn’t mean that it is ownerless land. Over 95% of unregistered land is owned by someone, the other 5% will technically owned by someone they just might not know. Since 1985 any land that is sold has to go through the process of first registration this means that if it has sold since then it will be registered with Land Registry, finding out information may still prove to be problematic due to the procedures Land Registry has in place and also the fact that they are understaffed and also because land is only every added to the Land Registry database through a description, for example land to the north of High Street – What if there is more than one piece of land? – It becomes complicated and that’s when it is registered land!
There is no easy way to find the owner of an unregistered piece of land, we conduct enquiries on your behalf and over the last three years have built up a set of procedures that really help us get to the bottom of these cases, we have the experience to look at a piece of land and soon work out what type of person will own the unregistered land and how we would be best to contact them. We also have contacts at various organisations to help us and we know how to obtain old documents and archives that again really help.
We can help locate the owners of things like
- Fields
- Woodland
- Old buildings
- Waste Land
- Car parks
- Private Roads
- Strips of land at the side of your boundary line
- And more
So if you know of a piece of land and you want some advice give us a call on 0113 2825900 and we will look into the matter for you.
Unregistered land – More information
Unregistered land is land that is not registered with HM Land registry, it does not mean that it does not have an owner and if you wish to purchase the land or discuss something with the owner what can you do?
It is not easy to find owners of unregistered land as there is no database to check to see who the owner is, the only way is to search for the owner. The owner should have several documents to prove ownership of the land; these will be in the form of old title deeds and maybe with the owner, the mortgage lender or the owner’s solicitor. To search for the owner of unregistered land is a difficult task and one that should not be taken lightly, it can involve hours of painstaking research and often including searching through old documents and maps to find snippets of information that can move the investigation forward. Here at FinderMonkey we specialise in finding the owners of unregistered pieces of land in the UK, we have over a period of time built up a set of procedures and contacts to enable us to move enquiries on quickly and cost effectively. With experience comes success and we can now look at a piece of unregistered land and immediately start to put the procedures in place and work out the best strategy for locating the owner. Each case is different and we have only recently located
- The owner of a private road
- The owner of a field
- The owners of a small car park
- The owners of an unregistered building
We can also offer advice on issues such as first registration and adverse possession and frequently do.
Finding the owners of unregistered land is a long and difficult task; once you have found the owners of unregistered land the next stage is to make them an offer on that land. You must also make sure you are happy that they are the owners by seeing the title deeds. There will be no title register or title plan for the land, this is why it is unregistered so the only way to confirm the owners of unregistered land is through the title deeds. The next step is registering the land so you can prove ownership through the Land Registry, if you are the registered owner people can perform a simple search for a title plan or search for a title register and you will be shown as the owner.
Knowing how and when to register unregistered land is difficult as at times it is recommended to leave the land unregistered but in other instances it must be registered.
When unregistered land is registered for the first time the registration can take several different forms but the main two are
Absolute freehold – The owner has all the rights subject to rights appearing in the register and overriding interests. This is the most frequently awarded class of title and is the most reliable.
Possessory freehold – An applicant will get a mere possessory title if they cannot produce sufficient documentary evidence of title. They remain subject to all adverse interests existing at the date of registration.
An application for first registration must be made within two months of a disposition triggering first registration and failure to register can have drastic effects. The disposition becomes statutorily void for the purposes of transferring, granting or creating a legal estate and the title takes effect in equity only. The title reverts back to the vendor who holds it on bare trust for the transferee.
After first registration all subsequent transfers of title must be recorded in the register to take effect at law.
Until registration the vendor holds trustee and the purchaser has only an equitable estate in the property. There is no time limit for registration of title in subsequent dealings in registered land, but delays risk the possibility of dealings in the property by the vendor.
Events that trigger first registration
There are certain events that mean you must register the land/property with Land Registry.
When title must be registered
Section 4 of the LRA 2002 sets out the events that trigger the compulsory first registration of title. These were updated and extended by the Land Registration Act 1997, and the Act therefore largely replicates the existing position. First, compulsory registration is triggered by specified types of transfer of a qualifying estate, which is defined as either a legal freehold estate or a legal lease with more than seven years to run. The transfers are those made:
i) For valuable or other consideration (which under subsection (6) includes estates which have a negative value);
ii) by way of gift (which subsection (7) provides will include transfers for the purposes of constituting a trust under which the settler does not retain the whole of the beneficial interest, or transfers for the purpose of uniting the legal title and the beneficial interest in property held under a trust under which the settler did not, on constitution, retain the whole of the beneficial interest);
iii) Under a court order; and
iv) By means of an assent (including a vesting assent).
Under subsection (3), transfers do not include transfers by operation of law (where, for example, an owner's property vests in personal representatives on death). Under subsection (4) compulsory registration will not apply to transfers involving:
- i) the assignment of a mortgage term (where there is a mortgage by demise or sub-demise, and the mortgagee assigns the mortgage by transferring the mortgage term); or
- ii) Where a lease is assigned or surrendered to the owner of the immediate reversion where the term is to merge in that reversion (because the estate transferred disappears).
30. Registration will be compulsory where section 171A of the Housing Act 1985 applies (i.e. where a person ceases to be a secure tenant because his or her landlord disposes of an interest in a house to a private sector landlord (subsection (1)(b), replicating the current law)). Compulsory Registration will also apply to the grant of leases out of freehold land or leasehold, with more than seven years to run, where the lease is granted for valuable or other consideration, by way of a gift, or under a court order, apart from the exceptions in the section.
There is no doubt that Land Registry matters are long and complicated.
If you do find a piece of unregistered land that you wish to buy and you can agree a price with the owner there are several legal points that are worth considering,
- The purchase of the land with an unregistered title involves investigation of the title deeds on each transaction
- Sale of unregistered land triggers first registration of the title.
- Unregistered land titles are subject to Land Charge Act of 1972
- Rights affecting unregistered land must be registered as land charges at land Registry
There are more so it is worth looking into the legal requirements of registering the piece of land with Land Registry.
Unregistered land will always be an interesting area of discussion right up until the day when all land and properties are registered but that day is a long way away.
There are several ways to find out who owns land and several land searches that you can do. You should first use a company to perform some simple land registry searches for you, these can be cheap but immediately let you know who owns the land if it is already registered. Secondly if the land is unregistered you should immediately perform a Search of the index map to see if land registry has any information relating to the property. Finally if you still draw a blank you may be best to try and obtain professional help, there is at least one company that specialises in finding the owners of unregistered land and thats FinderMonkey.co.uk. Good luck with you issues regarding unregistered land