What is a Transfer of Part (of Registered Title)?
12/02/2019
17,450
9 min read
Transfer of Part of Registered Title, or simply Transfer of Part, refers to when you own some land or property or some combination of both and decide to sell part of the land and/or property to someone else.
You have to ensure that you've an accurate diagram of the portion of land/property you're selling then the conveyancing process can proceed as normal. When you've completed the process, you inform the Land Registry and a new - and separate - registration is made of the new title with an appropriate and publicly obtainable Land Registry title plan .
Parcel or Plot?
You might be wanting to sell a few square yards of your garden to a neighbour but on the other hand, you might be wanting to sell a larger piece of land with a building on it or that someone wishes to develop - and have their own access to regarding utilities and roads.
Commonly if you're looking a selling the former, it's often referred to as a small parcel of land, at the selling price might for example be between £3,000 and £20,000. This should normally be a comparatively simple affair because things like matters of access and utilities won't feature.
In the case of what is commonly termed a plot however, where development or access to utilities and rights of way will feature, the price of the land being sold is likely to exceed £20,000 and the area to be considerably larger. The conveyancing concerned, in keeping with this, will consider and examine more factors and is likely to take longer.
At all times, your property lawyer has to bring to your and your buyer's attention what might happen when the buyer wishes to sell the parcel or plot and encourage both of you to take consideration for it. One perverse result of not doing so might be the creation of a ransom strip (click to find out more or scroll down).
It should be noted that you cannot transfer a part of land and/or property to yourself in law - there are multiple ways in which doing so might be abused - and if you are transferring a part which involves property, in order for the part sold to qualify for a new and separate title with the Land Registry, it must have adequate and separate utilities.
This is likely to require the appropriate planning permission having been sought as well as building control sign-off when the necessary works have been completed.
This article takes you through the conveyancing process for a Transfer of Part.
Is your property mortgaged? Then you must have lender consent for your transfer
If you have a mortgage on your property, you must get consent from your lender to go ahead with selling the portion of land/property. This is in large part because you will effectively be reducing the total value of your property by selling part of it.
As your mortgage lender normally has a first charge on your property, should you default on your monthly repayments to the extent that your lender moves to repossess the property, all things being equal it is likely to realise less of a return because the property has reduced in terms of its overall plot size.
NB The person you're selling to requires separate legal representation for conveyancing purposes.
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If you wish to know more about creating leasehold titles from splitting a freehold title, such as in the creation of new leasehold flats, please read our article Creating a new Leasehold Title from splitting a Freehold Title
Want to sell part of your property to someone?
Our experienced property lawyers can smoothly guide you through the Transfer of Part conveyancing process, right through to ensuring that the new title is correctly registered with the Land Registry.
We can also provide separate and independent legal representation for the party you are selling to if required.
*Fixed Fee – No Sale No Fee – On all Mortgage Lender Panels
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Organise Land Registry-compliant plans
This initial step is about getting an accurate diagram representing what you propose the new property's boundaries will be such that a surveyor can draw up Land Registry-compliant title plans.
You have two options here; you can either a) have a surveyor visit your property or b) you can provide the required information yourself to a surveyor working remotely.
a) Site Visit
The surveyor attends your property and uses the title plans provided to create a title plan that can be registered at the Land Registry. The title plan does not include measurements within the document however measurements are taken of the physical boundary, not the legal boundary (click to find out more about the difference).
b) Non-site visit
You can do the survey without a site visit based on the title plan being drafted by you and this is then used to create the new land registry title plan.
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Value the land/property being transferred
You only carry out this step if you haven't already agreed what you'll be paid for your land and/or wish to get an independent valuation.
Known as a 'red book valuation', a qualified RICS valuer visits your property and works out a current market valuation for your whole property and gives an estimate for the land/property being sold. The official RICS report additionally provides comparables of 3 recently sold properties similar in nature and type (if available and only related to the whole property).
Please note that the valuation isn't a structural assessment or defect survey such as a Building Survey or HomeBuyer Report.
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Complete the conveyancing process for transferring the title
The final part of the process is instructing your solicitor to complete the transaction and register the new title with the Land Registry.
They need the new plans from stage 1 and information related to access to utilities (water, electricity, gas cable etc.) and the plot itself to go ahead and written consent from your lender if applicable.
In all other aspects, the conveyancing process is more or less the same as for a standard sale and/or purchase. They draw up and issue draft contracts (whether freehold or leasehold) to send through to the otherside solicitor - the person you're selling to needs separate legal representation - and they reply to all enquiries where able. If there are any problems with consent from your mortgage lender, they can also offer support with this.
They handle the progress of the matter through exchange of contracts to completion and the payment of the consideration to you. They also, as stated, liaise with the Land Registry to ensure that the new parcel of land/property is correctly registered.
What is a Ransom Strip?
In the UK a ransom strip refers to a parcel of land needed to access an adjacent property from a public highway, to which the owner is denied access until payment is received. The strip of land can be either between the property and the highway, or be located between two properties.
When a transfer of part is first sold, it may be that the buyer hasn't been sold a particular strip of land from the seller which grants the access described above but because the buyer is a neighbour who has a good relationship with the seller, there's no problem with the access and the owner of the strip tacitly allows this to continue.
However, this tacit allowance has no force in law and a future buyer of the same parcel might be denied this access. The current owner of the strip can be approached to sell it, but might set the price extortionately.
This is so well known that you can, with a simple Google search, find sites devoted to selling these so-called ransom strips; some might even buy them as part of a balanced portfolio of investments. The width of the ransom strip can be as narrow as 150 millimetres (5.9 inches) wide, but it can hold significant value.
An owner is entitled to use the disputed property without payment if there has been 20 years of uninterrupted access.
It is certainly worth considering the future where matters like ransom strips are concerned.
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Rights of Way and/or Easements - if required
Depending on the individual circumstances of your property and plans, the matters of Rights of Way and/or Easements and/or restrictive covenants might arise.
The party you're selling to might need clearly defined legal rights of access (which will be covered by easements) to the land/property, for example and/or you may wish to reserve certain rights in terms of the land you continue to hold. You might also choose to impose one or more restrictive covenants on the land/property sold (these can be diverse, for example you might wish to bar the keeping of pets).
The critical form your property lawyer provides to the Land Registry which details the transfer of the newly-created land/property title is known as the Transfer of Part of Registered Title Form, also known as the TP1 Form. This TP1 form is where reference is made to any rights of way, easements or restrictive covenants.
If you do need any of these matters to be included alongside the sale in the TP1 form, your solicitor, once they know more about your individual case, can include this work for an additional fee.
Want to sell part of your property to someone?
Our experienced property lawyers can smoothly guide you through the Transfer of Part conveyancing process, right through to ensuring that the new title is correctly registered with the Land Registry.
We can also provide separate and independent legal representation for the party you are selling to if required.
*Fixed Fee – No Sale No Fee – On all Mortgage Lender Panels
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