Properties are now compulsory registerable, meaning that, upon any disposition of the property, such dealings are to be registered at HM Land Registry. There are, however, still many properties across the board that are unregistered and have had no registerable dealings, requiring the same to be registered. 

 

The Land Registration Act, of 2002, made all properties compulsory registerable, upon enacting legal dealings. This was to impose country-wide requirements to tighten the provisions that first introduced such provision, under the Law of Property Act 1925. 

 

So, if you are one of those with an unregistered property, our team can assist you in carrying out a voluntary registration of the property, at a fixed-fee. 

 

The process involves collecting the Title Deeds pertaining to the property, evidencing your legal ownership to date, together with all pre-dated documents that give information on the various matters affecting the property, and forming what is known as an Epitome of Title. The Epitome chronologically organises all documents showing an unbroken chain of ownership to the present day. 

 

The documents are presented to the Land Registry for review, who then legally register the property in your name, together with the various rights, restrictions and charges that may be affecting it. 

Carrying out a voluntary registration of your unregistered property is beneficial as it, not only, legally records your ownership in the property, but is also a method of protecting against property fraud. The Land Registry holding data about the property, helps to ensure that only the registered owner can legally dispose of that property and, without good reason – such as a certified death certificate and grant of probate, they will not register any such dispositions on their legal records. 

In addition, having your property registered with HM Land Registry provides additional protection. Firstly, they have an indemnity scheme in place which indemnifies those whom have been victim to fraud, that has resulted in financial loss. 

Furthermore, the Land registry offer an alert service to registered properties which is designed to alert the registered proprietor of a property, should there be any dealings with the same. This way, any activity that is being attempted that is not being carried out by the registered owner, can be adequately reported and dealt with. 

For many, a property can be the biggest asset we on, therefore, why run the risk of being a victim of property fraud?