HM Land Registry keeps a record of property ownership in England and Wales. Registration of title provides certainty and gives reliable information about property ownership and interests affecting land and property. The Land Register contains more than 26 million titles showing evidence of ownership for more than 88% of the land mass of England and Wales.

However, there are still many properties that are not registered with HM Land Registry. There can be several reasons for this, with a common one being that the property hasn’t been involved in a transaction since the UK Government made registering property compulsory in the 1990’s.

You don’t need to wait for an event like selling your property to register with HM Land Registry. Senior Property Lawyer, and Manager of our Post Completion Team, Sandra Harley-Radcliffe, explains some of the benefits of registering your property.

Evidence of full ownership

If your property is not registered, it might be more difficult to evidence full ownership if you want to pass your property onto a loved one or to sell it or to raise finance against it.  When a property isn’t registered, the record of ownership is contained in lots of separate deeds and documents that can be very old and difficult to read. Registering with HM Land Registry condenses all these documents, instead, outlining details about the property such as boundaries, owners and whether there is a mortgage against it by issuing a Title Information Document to you, confirming the data the Registry holds on its central digital register. Rather than there being any confusion or missing/damaged documents, you can be confident that the correct details are stored, and the risk of future complication is greatly reduced.

Fraud prevention

Unregistered land can also be subject to a higher risk of fraud, as criminals can register with HM Land Registry using forged and fake documents to change the title of the property from your name to theirs. Your property can then be used as collateral if they take out loans. Registering your property with HM Land Registry means your title is protected by state guarantee and if anything goes wrong with an error in the register, you are indemnified and you’re more likely to be compensated from public funds.

Easier to sell or remortgage

As it is now a legal requirement that property needs to be registered following a transaction, such as a sale or a remortgage, you might find it easier to arrange registering your property prior to beginning those transactions.  Having your property correctly registered with HM Land Registry also greatly reduces the chance of any delays once those transactions have started, as the conveyancers involved won’t need to spend additional time looking over old deeds and other documents. Registration can also cure defects in title which may, up to the time of first registration, cause issues for you when attempting to sell or remortgage your unregistered property.

Voluntary registration is cheaper

There are two types of first-time registration, ‘voluntary’ and ‘compulsory’. Compulsory registration is triggered by a sale or other transaction, but you can choose to register voluntarily without a transaction happening. Voluntary registration is cheaper as it is offered at a reduced rate.

Get confirmation of boundaries

Whilst hopefully rare, sometimes neighbour disputes happen or things may need to be repaired where you may need access to do so via your neighbour’s property. Knowing where your boundaries lie is clearly important. When you register your property with HM Land Registry, you will receive a title plan that gives you a rough outline of your boundaries. The title plan might not go into specifics around fences or hedges, but it gives you a strong starting point when discussing access to your neighbour’s land for repairs with neighbours, or if, perchance, there is a boundary dispute.

It is a legal requirement for any new transaction

As registering your property with HM Land Registry is a legal requirement, it makes sense to get ahead! Most first registrations are taking up to 16 months as a minimum, so starting the application process sooner rather than later means it is one less thing for you to worry about.

If you want guidance on registering your property with HM Land Registry, our team of conveyancing experts are on hand to help. Call us today on 0151 282 1700 or make an enquiry and one of our team will be in touch.