Developer registered themselves as title

1DRose

Hi there,

I am in the process of buying a corner site from my parents on which to build a house. Everything is approved from planning to mortgage to architect and builder.

I was going through the usual due process with my solicitor last week when we discovered that a development company registered themselves on the Land Registry in June 2009. My parents have owned the house since 1981 so I am astonished that there is any legal grounds for that to have happened in the first place, and how my parents were never consulted/informed of this. I am obviously a layperson so I admittedly do not understand the law as clearly.

The developer is now in NAMA which is a further complication.

My question is around the best way to speed this up? We are due to start the build in September and cannot draw down any funds without being the registered owner on the Land Register. My solicitor has not seen this before and seems a bit caught cold by it.

I would appreciate any advice on this from anyone who may have seen this before.

Thanks.

whippet

You won’t get legal advise here .. but you mention it’s a corner site .. was this ever on your parents folio? Sounds to me like it was a bit of land that was attached to the site your parents purchased and never dog owned ... when maps were being looked at during the recession to sort out legal stuff the developer had to get house in order and regestered the bit of land.

It may be a case that your parents never owned the big of land and as such can’t actually sell it.

Your solicitor is the only one who can advise

GerardKeating

1DRose wrote: »

Hi there,

I was going through the usual due process with my solicitor last week when we discovered that a development company registered themselves on the Land Registry in June 2009.

How long have your parents owed the house and the corner site, perhaps ask your solicitor if "Adverse Possession" is relevant in this case.

1DRose

whippet wrote: »

You won’t get legal advise here .. but you mention it’s a corner site .. was this ever on your parents folio? Sounds to me like it was a bit of land that was attached to the site your parents purchased and never dog owned ... when maps were being looked at during the recession to sort out legal stuff the developer had to get house in order and regestered the bit of land.

It may be a case that your parents never owned the big of land and as such can’t actually sell it.

Your solicitor is the only one who can advise

Just to be clear, I'm not seeking legal advice. I'm merely trying to find someone else who may have come across this issue.

Yes my parents definitely own the site. My dad has had to buy a new shed because we are knocking his old one. We are building within the walls of the garden.

It's not just their house but the 10 houses on the road alongside us that have all been registered to this developer.

GerardKeating wrote: »

How long have your parents owed the house and the corner site, perhaps ask your solicitor if "Adverse Possession" is relevant in this case.

1981.

Adverse possession I am familiar with but I would imagine it would have been relevant in 2009 when they made this claim.

I am astonished nobody reached out to the 10 homeowners about this, especially since it was in the height of the recession and all the skullduggery that was going on around then.

How can a building developer stake claim to a row of houses that it sold 21 years prior?

L1011

Are the houses freehold?

1DRose

L1011 wrote: »

Are the houses freehold?

Yes, they own the house and the land.

My parents are also listed as the owners on the Registry of Deeds.

Addle

Send land registry the transfer from the developer to your parents?
It just reads like it was never registered with land registry?

1DRose

Addle wrote: »

Send land registry the transfer from the developer to your parents?
It just reads like it was never registered with land registry?

That's the catch.

My solicitor reached out the developer and we got a "we'll see what we can do" type response.

It seems that way except the developer didn't do the same with the house across the road parallel to us.

nuac

Mod
1Drose, follow up thru' your own solicitor
Will leave open for general discussion, subject to forum rule on legal advice

Addle

1DRose wrote: »

That's the catch.

My solicitor reached out the developer and we got a "we'll see what we can do" type response.

It seems that way except the developer didn't do the same with the house across the road parallel to us.

Why would it be up to the developer?
How do you know there was an application in the registry of deeds?

randomrb

1DRose wrote: »

Hi there,

I am in the process of buying a corner site from my parents on which to build a house. Everything is approved from planning to mortgage to architect and builder.

I was going through the usual due process with my solicitor last week when we discovered that a development company registered themselves on the Land Registry in June 2009. My parents have owned the house since 1981 so I am astonished that there is any legal grounds for that to have happened in the first place, and how my parents were never consulted/informed of this. I am obviously a layperson so I admittedly do not understand the law as clearly.

The developer is now in NAMA which is a further complication.

My question is around the best way to speed this up? We are due to start the build in September and cannot draw down any funds without being the registered owner on the Land Register. My solicitor has not seen this before and seems a bit caught cold by it.

I would appreciate any advice on this from anyone who may have seen this before.

Thanks.

How did you manage to get Planning and Mortgage approval without your solicitor examining title first?? particularly in regard to Mortgage usually a solicitor would have to have a certificate of title signed to attest to that.

Claw Hammer

randomrb wrote: »

How did you manage to get Planning and Mortgage approval without your solicitor examining title first?? particularly in regard to Mortgage usually a solicitor would have to have a certificate of title signed to attest to that.

Bad solicitor?

ittakestwo

Addle wrote: »

Send land registry the transfer from the developer to your parents?
It just reads like it was never registered with land registry?

But could the lands have been registered with the land registry without them knowing the lands had been previously transferred to someone else?

I always thought the registry is gospel when it comes to the identity of the ownership?

December2012

What's on the registry of deeds map?

nuac

December2012 wrote: »

What's on the registry of deeds map?

No maps are attached to memorials of deeds lodged for registration in the R of Deeds.

You are relying on the accuracy and completeness of the description in the deed.

ittakestwo

Did you ever get to the bottom of what happened here. Would be curious to know.

Is it possible that your parents title is a Fee Farm Grant which is a very common title in ireland? That is where you own the freehold land but you pay an annual ground rent (which is usally not collected), so you are in a landlord tenant relationship with who ever has the right to collect the ground rent and if they register that intrest before you register the FFG they will show up as the freehold owner on the land registry map. If you register your FFG you should replace them on map tho as freehold owner.

Mr. Incognito

It is the responsibility of the Purchasers solicitor to register the title of the purchasers

It is also their responsibility to ensure the vendor has good title to sell.

I would follow up with your own solicitor first.