As lawyers, when we start work on preparing the legal pack for a new plot sales scheme, one of the first sets of documents that we want to review are the plans. It may seem like a simple task to have a plan showing the area to be sold, but we are seeing increased plans with badly drawn details or that don't comply with the Land Registry's requirements, creating more work and costs as well as the associated delays in making them right.
Changes to plan are a fact of a new build scheme with "as built" boundary changes meaning that plans often need to be updated between exchange and completion. However, many issues that we see with plans are that they are simply badly drawn e.g. inaccurate lines clearly not following the building or boundaries or plans that appear accurate on the face of it but do not comply with the Land Registry requirements. And with the Land Registry stating on their website that they are taking between 11 and 18 months to register new leases or transfers of part (and with those registration delays also making it more difficult to obtain Estate Plan Approval), if the plans are not correct it can result in additional work and costs years after completion. It is therefore worth spending the time at the start of a scheme to make sure that the plans are accurate and Land Registry compliant.
We have laid out the key rules from the Land Registry practice guide below and devised this simple acronym S.O.L.D. to help remind you how to keep your plans Land Registry compliant.
SCALE – they must be drawn accurately to a stated scale based on metric measurement and include a bar scale – preferred scales are: (a) 1:1250 – 1:500 for urban properties (b) 1:2500 for rural properties (fields and farms etc.).
ORIENTATION – they must show the plan's orientation, such as a north point.
LOCATION – they should clarify the property's general location by showing roads, road junctions or other landmarks.
DETAILS – they must show sufficient detail to be identified on the Ordnance Survey map. It is also important to add colouring to clearly show additional features that need to be mentioned in the Lease or Transfer such as shared accessways, easement strips and communal facilities (making sure that each colour is different to ensure no confusion). Other requirements include ensuring the plans are not marked in a way to suggest that the plans are not accurate or to scale (e.g. “for identification only” or “Do not scale from this drawing” or any similar phrase) and the plans should not include a statement of disclaimer intended to comply with the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.
If you are looking to save time and money with having Land Registry complaint plans, then just remember S O L D.
We, at Trowers & Hamlins, are always happy to help with queries.
