Lawyers for Drafting HM Land Registry Certificate of Compliance

Property titles registered with HM Land Registry often contain restrictions (such as the one illustrated in the picture) that HM Land Registry should not permit changes to the register without a conveyancer’s certificate.

The law is quite complicated, and the scenarios easily become convoluted. Even just to understand what needs to be done, and how it might be achieved, requires a high level of qualification and experience in the applicable land law. In short, there’s normally a lot more legal work involved in these situations than lay-people typically expect – so do please anticipate being surprised by how much is entailed.

Our fixed-fee product includes:

• Understanding your description of the circumstances and intended outcome
• Checking the relevant title entries
• Advising what needs to be done to achieve the desired objective
• Drafting the appropriate certificate of compliance

Not included is negotiation of terms between the parties, dealing with any separate documentation required before the certificate of compliance can lawfully be produced (such as a Deed of Covenant), acting for more than one of the parties, obtaining any third party consents required (e.g. from lenders or landlords), dealing with any applicable trusts, and other contingencies including dealing with any Stamp Duty Land Tax arising or similar and making and pursuing to conclusion the Land Registration aspects– although we may able to offer assistance with aspects of these other issues that might arise, at extra cost, as they are required.

We don’t generally do anything for new clients until our process of client retention has concluded – this involves agreeing the scope of what we are doing for the price (our terms are below), setting-up our client record (that includes ID checks), and producing the bill (payment in advance is required for all new clients).

Once the client retention process has been completed, we will review the relevant title registers and advise what action is required by the restriction before a certificate of compliance can be provided. In the event additional documentation or involvement of other parties is required, we will advise of the additional costs involved.  When the relevant provisions which the restriction is seeking to protect have been complied with, we can produce the certificate required by the Land Registry in a few hours once we can schedule it in our workflow, that can depend on how busy we are at any particular time. We would not usually take-on a job for which we could not engage within about a working week.

The certificate of compliance will need to be submitted to HM Land Registry for registration, with the application for registration of the relevant disposition.  The time HM Land Registry take to process such a registration varies greatly, depending on how busy they are. Some applications are processed very quickly, up to “next day”; however, most applications appear to languish awaiting HM Land Registry attention; in 2024 many applications were taking about 12 months to be registered – and some types of application can take even longer than that, unfortunately. However, once submitted HM Land Registry process applications on any title in order of submission – so their delay ought not to affect the priority of the application relative to other matters on that title.

Your supplier is SRA-regulated Mounteney Solicitors, that charges VAT some customers may be able to reclaim.

Our fixed product described is charges at a fixed-fee of £250 + VAT = £300

Our fees are fixed for our work described, regardless of how much work we actually do. In some cases this may mean we’ll get relatively better paid for doing less work than in other cases, in which the fixed fee will barely cover our costs. This is simply the nature of the mutual ‘gamble’ between a solicitor and their client when they fix a fee of a set job.

There is more about our fees on our website here

If you have any questions, require any further information, or would like to engage us on the T&Cs linked Our Terms in the footer below, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us.

If you need expert advice on dealing with restrictions on property titles, our specialist Land and Title Solicitors are here to help. Whether you’re navigating Land Registry requirements, drafting a Certificate of Compliance, or resolving title restrictions, we provide clear, practical guidance tailored to your needs.

With offices in Bramhall, Cheadle, Hazel Grove and Heald Green, our team offers trusted local support. We specialise in simplifying the legal complexities of title restrictions, ensuring your property transactions proceed smoothly and efficiently.

Don’t let title restrictions hold up your property plans. Contact our experienced solicitors in Stockport today to discuss your situation and take the next step with confidence.