You Know You Own Your Land, But Could You Prove It?

Nov. 19, 2008 - PRLog -- ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle,’ so the saying goes but could you actually prove that you own it in a court of law?

According to the Land Registry just over 60 per cent of the property and land in England and Wales is registered with them, which proves ownership and protects the landowner against claims. Alistair Millar, Partner at Tallents Solicitor comments,

“People assume that they own the land they live on because they and their family have lived there for generations. If the land is unregistered and a dispute occurs they will have to rely upon paper title deeds to illustrate a history of ownership of rights attached to the property, which might not have been kept as safe as they should have been by the generations before.

“When land is sold or mortgaged it is converted to registered land and those rights are recorded on an up-to-date accessible public record at the Land Registry. But if this has never happened then the landowner might be left vulnerable in a property dispute. However, the Land Registry allows people to voluntarily register their land and property at any time.”

Alistair continues,

“People choose to register their land voluntarily for many reasons. It protects them against claims on their land if someone were to try to encroach on it and is the most effective way to bring all their documentation up to date. It also gives landowners the added bonus that their title register is easily accessible online.”

Finding you cannot prove ownership of your land can cause major problems during boundary disputes and incidents of adverse possession. If you think your neighbour has encroached onto your land with a new fence then the plan of the property held at the Land Registry may be the only way to definitively prove who owns what. It will also simplify land transfers between land owners.

The system of adverse possession effectively enables a third party to claim and achieve legal title to property that they do not legally own and on many occasions without the holder of the paper title to the property even knowing. Only if your land is registered can you protect yourself against this happening to you.

Alistair finishes,

“Voluntary registration can seem an unnecessary expense and quite daunting, however the Land Registry is currently offering a 25% discount on application fees as an incentive to encourage landowners to voluntarily register their property and Tallents can smoothly handle the legal aspects for clients.”


For more information, contact Tallents on 01636 671881


Tallents Solicitors, 3 Middlegate, Newark
Tel: 01636 671881

www.tallents.co.uk

# # #

ABOUT TALLENTS

Established in 1774 and with offices in Newark, Mansfield and Southwell, Tallents Solicitors services the legal needs of private individuals, company and commercial clients and farmers in North Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

We still offer a personal service to our clients and our size and structure ensures that partners are never remote from our clients. We provide a full range of legal services and our expertise covers all areas of law including:

Agricultural law, criminal law, commercial and domestic property transactions, inheritance tax planning, trust and estate administration, wills and probate, commercial and general litigation, employment law, company and commercial law, intellectual property, matrimonial and family law, personal injury claims and children issues.