First registration without deeds

[salawinder]

Hi all,

I have a plot of land for which the deeds have been lost. We have copies (some certified) and our solicitor is compiling an application to the land registry with no charge (they won't admit they lost them, but I think no charge says it all..).

The solicitor keeps telling us that we will probably get a possessory title, but the land registries Practice guide 2 says "we will probably grant only a possessory title where the evidence supplied does not establish those events and the history of the title beyond doubt", which to me means they will grant an absolute title if there is no doubt.

What I'd like is any advice about how we can word our statement of truth or anything else we should include with the submission that might encourage the Land Registry to grant an absolute title.

Further info:
We have a potential buyer, who has said he would not buy if we get a possessory title. I'm not sure if he is bluffing or if it would really put him (and any other buyers) off.
The land is adjacent to another property we own which we have all the deeds for but is also not on the land register.
The land was part of a larger plot, the remainder was sold in 2012 (this is where the original deeds were lost). The buyers registered their plot on the land registry with the correct boundaries leaving our remaining plot unregistered.

Any advice you can offer is much appreciated.

[Clitheroekid]

Firstly, when you're posting about a topic previously raised it's generally sensible to post on the existing thread, rather than start a new one, as it saves people having to dig out the original thread - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=40992&p=620961#p620961

The solicitor keeps telling us that we will probably get a possessory title ...

This sounds like `expectation management' to me. As I said in my post on the other thread, there's no reason why absolute title shouldn't be granted if the evidence stacks up, but as the situation appears to have arisen because of the solicitors' negligence they want to give the impression that you should be quite happy with possessory title, in the hope of heading off a claim if that's all you get.

What I'd like is any advice about how we can word our statement of truth or anything else we should include with the submission that might encourage the Land Registry to grant an absolute title.

It's not the wording of the statement that matters - it's what evidence can actually be provided.

From your original thread it seems possible that the solicitors may have accidentally sent the deeds to whoever bought the plot of land - have they / you checked with the buyer's solicitors whether they received them?

One potential problem is a potential conflict of interest. Your current solicitors may not want to include an admission in the statement of truth that the deeds were lost through their negligence, as this would amount to an admission of liability, on which you could found a claim. This might influence them to give a much weaker statement that would indeed only result in possessory title. You therefore need to read the statement very carefully before it's submitted to LR, and ensure that it does provide a full explanation as to the loss of the deeds.

And whatever happens, do not allow the solicitors just to submit a statement signed by themselves, so that you don't know what they've told LR.