WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE YOUR PROPERTY REGISTERED
Before we go through the importance of registering your property at the Land Registry lets go down the memory lane of what brought about the invention of Land registry.
The Land Registry Act came about in 1862 and was introduced by Lord Chancellor Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury but the Act didn’t provide for compulsory registration therefore a lot of property that were registered by the initial owners could have been sold and not updated at the Land registry.
The previous Act was flawed therefore the Land Transfer Act 1897 by Lord Chancellor, Hardinge Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury was introduced. This Act sold the Idea of compulsion to register all properties that were being bought or sold in the respective owners name.
The Land Transfer Act 1897 also went through its own modification because it was not perfect but it had set the ground running for what we presently use which is the Land Registry Act 2000 which is an all electronic form of transferring and registering of property from one individual to another.
The purpose of making registration compulsory was to make conveyancing less stressful and allow a buyer or solicitor see the Title deed in one single document. This document is referred to as the Title information Document and it states out five Major things
1. Who the owner of the Land is
2. What are the restrictions
3. Is there a Charge on the Property
4. Is it affected by Rights of Way
5. The Plan that shows the boundaries
During a conveyancing process, it is important that whomever is representing you has an updated copy of the title deed from the Land registry with the sellers name boldly and Correctly written on it. This confirms that he is the real owner of the property. There are instances that the owners maybe deceased then you will need the seller to provide the Certificate of Trust and Death Certificate of the seller.
Once the transaction process has been concluded ensure that it is registered in your name. This comes with so many benefits which have been outlined below:-
* This will serve as proof of ownership and a vivid plan showing the boundaries that you own.
*The Land registry will always have a copy kept electronically so if at anytime the title deed is destroyed a copy can always be gotten from the Land registry.
*It protects you from claims of Adverse possession and makes it easier to defend your title if the need ever arises
*It helps prevents fraud
* It makes buying and selling of a property a whole lot easier.
If you have not registered your property it’s not to late, JUST IT REGISTER TODAY!
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