Preparing for a quick Property Disposal?

However the opportunity may arise for a Registered Provider to dispose of an individual property, at Bevan Brittan LLP, we offer a service which assists you quickly in determining whether to put a property forward for sale or not and on what terms.

Collating the right information so that the right decision can be made

Having in your possession the right information in advance of making a decision to dispose is key.  You want a way of collating the necessary data and information on the property quickly and cost effectively so as to be able to establish the likely level of potential disposal receipt from the sale and also what impact if any there will be on any retained stock owned by the Registered Provider in the immediate vicinity of the property.  Key data will include:-

1. Title information.  Is the property freehold or leasehold, mortgaged, subject to onerous restrictive covenants etc?
2. Planning information.  Is the use of the Property restricted or limited by planning?
3. Practical information.  Have there been any material complaints, damage, insurance claims made
4. Does the Registered Provider own any adjoining or nearby property?    
5. If the Property was subject to the receipt of social housing grant whether the sale of the Property will trigger any repayment, recycling of the grant or reporting requirements to the Regulator or consultation.

Who does what to collate the information?

We assist our clients in relation to items 1, 2 and 4 which coupled with the Registered Providers knowledge of the Property as per 3 and 5 and whether there is any adjoining or nearby Property will allow an assessment to be made as to whether the Property should be sold, for what use and whether the sale will involve engaging with any third party or paying any of the disposal proceeds to your mortgagee or another. 

The Registered Provider is also likely to look at its desktop valuation for the Property and/or engage a view from its valuer as to likely sale value based on the information available and in particular any advice the valuer may have as to any potential likely uplift in value that should be protected by overage as part of the sale transaction in the event that there is any redevelopment or change of use opportunity for a buyer to exploit after purchase. 

Summary Pre-Disposal Reports on Title

At Bevan Brittan we regularly produce summary pre-disposal reports on property titles including planning information and whether the Registered Provider owns any adjoining or nearby property.    The process used is that we are provided with the property address and post code (and a title number if available but not essential) from the Registered Provider.  If there is no title number we can check the property address against the Land Registry portal Map Search facility which will give us a title number information. 

Once the information is submitted to our search provider, Orbital Witness, we order the title and title plan (£3 for each document).  We are then able to extract, free of cost,  with the exception of ordering further office copy documents that may be available for download from the Land Registry (as requested by the Registered Provider):-

A) Planning information as our system pulls up for us details of planning permissions for the Property and the immediately adjoining area which can take us through to the local authority planning portal to provide copies of any planning permission decisions(if held)  that may not be in the Registered Provider’s archives.  It is important to check whether any material conditions or restrictions as to the use of the Property or that the Property (if a flat) has planning for the conversion of the building into flats or a lawful use certificate.

B) Corporate information if needed.  Our system can also take us through to Companies House if there is a need to check company records.  I.e. if there is a company as freeholder, landlord or management company.

C) A basic Report on Title which will detail what is in the official title. This will show who the registered proprietor is,  whether the property is freehold or leasehold and what class of title it has, i.e. title Absolute/Good title/Possessory title, a map of the property not too dissimilar to the title plan, whether there is any charge over the property and to which lender, and what date the charge was made.  The report will show if there are any pending applications, for instance, if the property has been separated into flats, are any of the flats currently undertaking a mortgage or re-mortgage exercise where this has been submitted to the Land Registry and is presently waiting processing. The report will show what restrictions are on the title, and whether there are any rights, reserved rights, easements, covenants or other stipulations that are in favour or burden the property.  

The report will also indicate what properties are in the immediate vicinity belonging to the Registered Provider, as it may well be that the Registered Provider does not hold all the property information on its database.  On some occasions it may be that the Registered Provider is the leaseholder to a property, with a landlord holding the freehold.  We would be able to report on both the leasehold and the freehold aspects to the property in those instances.

The report will also detail what documents are, and are not, available for download from the Land Registry, and for those that are available, we can obtain those for a further disbursement cost (£3) in case the Registered Provider does not hold a copy, for instance, if the Registered Provider does not have a copy of the Lease to a specific flat within a building, it is advantageous to have a copy of that Lease as there may be queries raised by the buyer or its solicitors at a later date and it is always good to check as early as possible whether landlord consent to disposal is required and whether there are any material terms of the lease to be observed if the Property is sold.

Added Commercial Advice

It is then Bevan Brittan’s job to take the basic report and ancillary information set out above and advise the Registered Provider as to the appropriate action that would need to be taken in order to dispose of the property i.e. if there is not any planning permission available, we would advise that the Registered Provider  consider indemnity insurance for lack of planning . Or if the property is mortgaged then to contact the mortgagee and seek details of its requirements in order to sell the property.  Or  if a property has been divided into flats does the Registered Provider hold copies of the leases relating to each flat? If not, we could assist with drafting a flat lease for the Registered Providers’ approval. There may also be instances where historic conveyance documents may show the root of title which have not been submitted on first registration. Also to advising on the restrictions appearing on title and how to deal with the discharge of the same at the point of sale.

Conclusion

By utilising our system and method of working we are able to ensure that the cost of producing a pre-disposal report on title is low and that your fee is spent mainly on the advice given on the interpretation of the entries relating to title and planning rather than production of the report itself.

If we are able to assist with reporting on any pre-sale exercise that the Registered Provider is undertaking then please do contact Wendy Wilks or Kim Watson for a quote.

Wendy Wilks

wendy.wilks@bevanbrittan.com

0370 194 7859

Kim Watson 

kim.watson@bevanbrittan.com

0370 194 7963