Our Residential Property team offers a comprehensive range of specialist residential services. We handle everything fromd voluntary land registry applications to adverse possession claims and lease extensions to transferring a deceased’s property to their named beneficiary.
Explore the sections below to learn more about how we can assist you with your property needs.
Assents
An assent is the process of transferring a deceased person’s ownership of a property to their named beneficiary.
The property must be assented by the deceased owner’s personal representative, which will be either their executor or administrator.
When dealing with an assent of a property, Sydney Mitchell are able to act on behalf of both the personal representative and the beneficiary.
What is involved in an assent?
- Reviewing the deceased owner’s death certificate and grant of probate or letters of administration.
- Reviewing the deceased owner’s last will and testament.
- Preparing the deed of assent.
- Advising on the deed of assent.
- Submitting the application for registration to the Land Registry.
Adverse possession applications
Adverse Possession is a principle whereby an individual claims ownership of a parcel of land that they do not legally own. To be able to make a claim for adverse possession, certain criteria must be met.
What is the criteria for claiming adverse possession?
- The claimant must have used the land openly and must not have made any attempts to hide their use of the land.
- The claimant must have exclusively possessed the property for the required time period, as if the land was their own.
- The claimant must have openly and continuously possessed the property, without the landowner’s permission, for a minimum of 10 years where the land is registered and a minimum of 12 years where the land is unregistered.
What is involved in an adverse possession claim?
Below is a list of common steps involved in a claim for adverse possession:
- The client will be required to provide background information on the land being claimed.
- A request will be made to the client for photographic evidence of the land, which should evidence how the land is exclusively being possessed by the claimant.
- The conveyancer will draft the application documents based on the information provided and submit these to the claimant for review and approval.
- Once approved, the conveyancer will arrange for the claimant to sign the application documents.
- The application will then be submitted to the Land Registry for registration.
Whilst an application for adverse possession can be submitted to the Land Registry, as conveyancers, we are unable to guarantee that adverse possession of the land will be granted.
Voluntary first registration applications
In 1990, it became compulsory for land in England and Wales to be registered with HM Land Registry.
This meant that any disposition (sale, transfer, re-mortgage or assent) of a property after 1990 would trigger compulsory first registration. As a result, the majority of land in England and Wales is now registered.
If there has been no disposition of a property since before 1990, the land may remain unregistered. It is therefore possible to submit an application for voluntary first registration to HM Land Registry, even where you do not wish to sell, transfer, re-mortgage or assent the property.
Lease extensions
A lease extension is the process of extending the remaining term of an existing lease, to avoid the possibility of the lease term expiring and to improve the property value and its mortgageability
There are two types of lease extension; statutory lease extensions and voluntary lease extensions:
- A statutory lease extension results in a mandatory 90 year extension and reduces any existing ground rent to a peppercorn (zero).
- A voluntary lease extension enables negotiation on the terms, term extension and ground rent.
Provided you meet certain criteria, a freeholder generally cannot object to your request for a statutory lease extension, but they do retain the right to object to a voluntary lease extension.
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