It is understood that the Land Registry will shortly be publishing its plans for what it refers to as early completion (partial registration) of applications which await an outstanding form DS1 from a mortgage lender.
At present, where applying to register a discharge and transfer (and possible new charge) where a form DS1 is still awaited from the transferor’s mortgagee, the application is held in abeyance while enquiries are made to chase up the DS1. In order to counteract these delays, from August this year, the Land Registry will proceed to “early completion” of the application, by completing the registration of the transfer (and possible new charge) even though the transferor’s mortgage is still undischarged. This will result in the transferee becoming the new proprietor of the title with the transferor’s charge still present in the charges register. Any new charge will rank as a second charge on the register until the DS1 has been registered.
These proposals sound alarming, but all the Land Registry will be doing is recording on the register what we, as conveyancers, have been achieving off the register for years. Especially in the residential sector, we use a system of conveyancing which involves acquiring property subject to a seller’s existing mortgage, and placing trust in a system of undertakings and discharges to clear up the title after completion. Full consideration of these proposals, when published, will be given here, and in the CPI Update.