First Registration at HM Land Registry

What it is

A substantial number of properties in England and Wales have never been registered, usually because they have not been sold or mortgaged since registration became compulsory in that area. Ownership rests instead on a bundle of paper deeds. First registration converts that bundle into a single official title backed by the state.

How it works

• We assemble and examine the deeds, establish the chain of ownership, prepare the plan, and make the application.
• Once registered, the title is guaranteed, the boundaries are recorded, and the property can be dealt with far more simply.
• Certain events trigger compulsory first registration in any event, including a sale, a gift and a first mortgage. Doing it in advance turns a deadline into a choice.
• Restrictions protecting a trust or a declaration of beneficial shares can only be entered once the title is registered.

Where specialist advice matters

• Lost or incomplete deeds are common and are far easier to deal with while the people who remember the history are still here to explain it.
• Executors dealing with unregistered land frequently find the estate stalls at exactly this point, which delays everyone.
• Severance of a joint tenancy in unregistered land is recorded quite differently from registered land, and registration is usually the cleaner answer.
• Boundary features, rights of way and third party rights should be checked before the application rather than afterwards.