Unregistered Land First Registration

There are a number of benefits to registering your property with HM Land Registry even if you are not planning on selling just yet which include:

1. Making it easier when you do decide to sell the property.
2. Providing proof of ownership.
3. Clear definition of boundary lines and/or ownership to help reduce the risk of boundary or other property disputes with neighbours.
4. Helping to protect from Property fraud which is unfortunately on the rise. Unregistered properties are at a higher risk of being targeted by fraudsters.
5. Ensuring there is no risk of lost, damaged or misplaced deeds for your family or future beneficiaries.

Every registered property has a title number. If you do not know whether your property has a title number we can check it for you free of charge at HM Land Registry.

Yes. We just need your postcode and house name or number.

If your property is unregistered, the deeds to your house are very valuable. These may be held by you, your bank, the lender who gave you your mortgage, the solicitors who acted when you bought the property. You will need these to be able to apply for first registration.

If your deeds are held by a third party you can request they are sent to you. We can request this for you with your authority.

We can help you trace the whereabouts of your deeds. If they cannot be found we can help you put together an application to HM Land Registry for registration where the deeds have been lost.

The Land Registry offer a discount on their fees for Voluntary Registration.  Their fee scale depends on the value of your property so for example, if your property’s value is between £200,001 to £500,000.00, their fee is just £250.00 from the usual fee of £330.00.

James Legal offer a fixed fee service starting at £500 plus VAT that will cover all the legal work necessary to complete your voluntary first registration application and safeguard your ownership of the property. The only additional cost would be the fee payable to the Land Registry and some ID checks to verify your ownership and entitlement to be registered as the owner of the property.