Unregistered Title / Hybrid Property

jayjay2010

Just got word from my solicitor that the property that I am looking to buy has "unregistered title and it is a hybrid title in that it is both leasehold and freehold."

I understand that if I purchase this property I will need to register it in the Land Registry.

What I don't understand is the meaning of hybrid, how can one property be both leasehold and freehold?

I will raise these queries with my solicitor on Monday but I wanted to see if anybody here has ever heard of this before.

Could I end up paying a maintenance fee for the leasehold part?

Very confused.

jayjay2010

I should also add that this property is 100+ years old not sure if that would make any difference to the leasehold part.

dusty207

Don't know if any of the following is of any use. Link + cut & paste.
Presume your solicitor will advise, don't know about the unregistered title tho'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee_farm_grant

fullerand
Frequent Poster
Posts:55
Anyone got any idea what a "farm fee grant" is?

Our solicitor described it as being basically freehold, but we may eventually have to pay rent in a few lifetimes. Can anyone offer aclearer definition?!

Nov 17, 2005 #10
MOB
Frequent Poster
Posts:1,116
It is a "fee farm grant" and it is an odd hybrid: it is a freehold estate subject to payment of an annual rent (known as the "fee farm rent"). If I can give you an analogy, it's a bit like having the payment of an annuity charged against the land. The annual payment is rarely if ever demanded - something of an historic anachronism these days really. It's perfectly fine as a title.

jayjay2010

dusty207 wrote: »

Don't know if any of the following is of any use. Link + cut & paste.
Presume your solicitor will advise, don't know about the unregistered title tho'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee_farm_grant

fullerand
Frequent Poster
Posts:55
Anyone got any idea what a "farm fee grant" is?

Our solicitor described it as being basically freehold, but we may eventually have to pay rent in a few lifetimes. Can anyone offer aclearer definition?!

Nov 17, 2005 #10
MOB
Frequent Poster
Posts:1,116
It is a "fee farm grant" and it is an odd hybrid: it is a freehold estate subject to payment of an annual rent (known as the "fee farm rent"). If I can give you an analogy, it's a bit like having the payment of an annuity charged against the land. The annual payment is rarely if ever demanded - something of an historic anachronism these days really. It's perfectly fine as a title.

Thank you so much! Never heard of a "fee farm grant". Perhaps that's what it is. From reading some stuff online it seems that it may be possible to buy out the lease for very little money. I will wait for my solicitor to clear things up!

surrender monkey

Sounds like a fee farm grant alright. As your solicitor explained it's a freehold but it has characteristics of a leasehold such as the payment of rent or there could be restrictive covenants set out in the grant. Often an indemnity against the payment of rent would have been inserted in later conveyances.

The title is unregistered so your solicitor will have to prepare a first registration application for Land Reg. Your legal fees will probably be increased because of the extra work involved in registration. It's nothing to worry about but you should be aware that registration will take a longer time frame in Land Reg.

jayjay2010

surrender monkey wrote: »

Sounds like a fee farm grant alright. As your solicitor explained it's a freehold but it has characteristics of a leasehold such as the payment of rent or there could be restrictive covenants set out in the grant. Often an indemnity against the payment of rent would have been inserted in later conveyances.

The title is unregistered so your solicitor will have to prepare a first registration application for Land Reg. Your legal fees will probably be increased because of the extra work involved in registration. It's nothing to worry about but you should be aware that registration will take a longer time frame in Land Reg.

Thanks for this. Just a question on the registration for the Land Reg, I may be going travelling later in the year, after I have purchased this property. Will there be an issue with me getting this registration done from abroad?

surrender monkey

jayjay2010 wrote: »

Thanks for this. Just a question on the registration for the Land Reg, I may be going travelling later in the year, after I have purchased this property. Will there be an issue with me getting this registration done from abroad?

No that shouldn't be a problem. Your solicitor will deal with any queries raised by the land registry, just be mindful of the fact that a first registration takes a lot longer to complete.

Muahahaha

jayjay2010 wrote: »

Thanks for this. Just a question on the registration for the Land Reg, I may be going travelling later in the year, after I have purchased this property. Will there be an issue with me getting this registration done from abroad?

No, not at all. Your solicitor will be handling the application so as long as you have signed everything before you head away then it is plain sailing. Land Reg applications for unregistered land are taking up to a year to process at the moment so chances are youll be back before it is even complete.

jayjay2010

Muahahaha wrote: »

No, not at all. Your solicitor will be handling the application so as long as you have signed everything before you head away then it is plain sailing. Land Reg applications for unregistered land are taking up to a year to process at the moment so chances are youll be back before it is even complete.

Thanks. So are you saying that after I have purchased the property, I will need to keep my solicitor employed as she will be doing the first registration for me? Also does this impact me being allowed to stay and live in the house in any way? My plan was hopefully to close the sale in the next month or 2, travel for 6 months or so and then come home.