First Registration of Land | Conveyancing

What is the First Registration of Land?

The ‘First Registration of Land’ is the process in which land or a property that is not registered with HM Land Registry becomes registered with them. When registered, the Land Registry assigns a specific ‘title number’ to the property, generates a plan of the property and then looks after the record of future ownership changes, overages, mortgages, easements, or leases.

There are many circumstances in which all unregistered property or land must be registered with the land registry. These include:

When a purchase of a property is completed

Property is inherited or gifted

One property is exchanged for another

A leasehold property is transferred (normally required if there are 7 or more years left on the leasehold)

A new leasehold is agreed

The creation of a first legal mortgage on the property

If you are looking at registering a property with the land registry, Avery Walters land purchase solicitors can help. Call us today for a free initial consultation with our conveyancing solicitor team.

Contact our licensed conveyancing solicitors by calling our Leeds law firm on 0113 200 7480 or Harrogate law firm on 01423 564551. We are ready to help you with the first registration of land.

How to Complete First Registration

When looking to complete the first registration of land, there are a number of steps that must be taken. These required steps are:

Make sure the property or land has not already registered. You can do this by searching the land register online. Please note, there is a charge for using this service.

Apply to the Land Charges Department to search against previous owners since 1925. This is to check they have no charges against the property. Complete this form and send it by post, along with the fee.

Complete the application form for the first registration of land. This form is called FR1.

Prepare a scale plan of the outline of the land (if this is not shown in the deeds).

Get the forms you need and ensure that you complete two copies of the list of documents form, which is called DL.

Calculate the correct registration fee, which will depend on the value of your property.

Send all the completed forms, documents and payment to the Land Registry.

There are some additional forms needed if you bought an unregistered property or if you inherited it from someone. Our land solicitors at Avery Walters Conveyancing Solicitors Leeds can help ensure you complete and submit the correct forms.

As it’s important to get your submission correct the first time, you may prefer to get one of our Leeds Conveyancing Solicitors to complete the first registration for you, in order to remove any potential mistakes which will delay the purchase process, which could have an impact on exchange and completion dates.

What is required to register a property?

Avery Walter’s residential conveyancing and land registry solicitors are experts in registering unregistered property and we will deal with the registration process on your behalf from start to finish.

In order for our land registry solicitors to complete the registration, We will require:

all of the title deeds that you hold for the property (this will allow us to conduct a thorough review of these deeds prior to registration).

a scale plan of the property to be registered (if one is not contained within the title deeds).

We will then make the necessary enquiries with the Land Registry and submit the application for registration on your behalf.

Once the property or land has been registered, we will review the registered title to ensure the details are all correct, including necessary rights and easements. We will then provide you with the title documents provided by the Land Registry for your records.

What if the Title Deeds have been lost or destroyed?

You can still apply to the Land Registry for voluntary first registration of a property if the title deeds have been lost or destroyed.

The Land Registry will require a Statement of Truth from you claiming ownership of the property. In this, you are expected to give a full account of the events that led to the loss or destruction of the title deeds. Any other documents relating to the title of the property that you may have should also be presented.

If there are any other parties who may have had possession of the deeds, such as a bank or building society, they should also be asked to prepare corresponding Statements of Truth, to be used as further evidence when submitting your application to the Land Registry.

The Land Registry will review the application and decide whether to grant ownership of title based on the Statements and documents presented to them.

Contact our Leeds Residential Property Solicitors

If you are looking at completing the first registration of land, we can help, Avery Walters are land purchase solicitors and our Leeds conveyancing services can help you when registering land or property. Call us today for a free initial consultation with our experienced team of land registry solicitors.

Our property and land purchase solicitors can be contacted by calling our Leeds residential property solicitors team on 0113 200 7480 or Harrogate team on 01423 564551. We are ready to help you when completing the first registration of land.