The £584 price tag we have had to pay for Land Registry delays

We can’t get our lease registered without a mortgage and can’t get a mortgage without the Registry

My partner and I extended the low lease of our new flat, a process which took nearly two years and cost £25,000. Our solicitor submitted the documentation to the Land Registry. She informed us there was a backlog and that it should be registered within two months.

Five months later our fixed-rate mortgage was due to end so we found a new deal with a different lender, but it was rejected because Land Registry records still showed our property on a lease of less than 70 years. The Land Registry said that, in order to expedite the matter, we needed to send them a mortgage offer. But lenders will not give an offer on a property with a lease below 70 years. Instead, we sent the mortgage rejection letter, but it still insisted on an offer.

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