Registration held up by a missing receipt
A leasehold purchase completed a few weeks ago. The post-completion team is preparing the registration application when they realise the lease has a restriction requiring a certificate from the management company, and nobody has served notice of the transfer or charge on them. Now the notices go out, with fees, and the application waits for the receipted copies and the certificate.
Meanwhile the lender chases for confirmation that their charge is registered.
Why notices get missed
The notice requirements are in the lease, sometimes several deeds of variation, and the management pack. They vary: some leases need notice to the landlord, some to a management company, some to both, some need a deed of covenant too. The details are read during the purchase and then need to be acted on after completion, often by a different person.
Each notice has its own fee and addressee, and a receipted copy is needed back for the file or for registration. Tracking all that across many leasehold files is left to memory and a checklist.
| Post-completion item | Common problem |
|---|---|
| Notice of transfer | Addressee unclear, fee not known |
| Notice of charge | Forgotten when the lender changes |
| Deed of covenant | Not prepared in time |
| Certificate for a restriction | Only discovered at registration |
| Receipted copies | Not chased, so registration waits |
What missed notices cost
Registration is delayed, lenders chase, and the post-completion team spends time on urgent catch-up. Buyers may not be recognised by the landlord or management company as the new owner, which causes problems with service charge demands and correspondence. Fees may have to be recovered from clients after completion, which is awkward.
File reviews also pick up missing notices, because they are easy to check after the fact.
Serving a notice late is also more work than serving it on time. The post-completion team has to reopen a file they thought was finished, contact a client who has moved in and moved on, and sometimes ask them for a fee they were not expecting. None of that is difficult, but all of it could have been avoided by a list set up while the purchase was live.
How we build post-completion notice tracking
- Notice list during the purchase: when the lease and management pack are reviewed, the tool proposes a list of notices, deeds and certificates from the relevant clauses and pack answers, quoting the source, for the case handler to confirm.
- Fees in the statement: fees for each notice are recorded so they can be included in the completion statement, not recovered later.
- Notices prepared: after completion, notices and covering letters are prepared from your templates with the parties, dates and fees filled in, for the post-completion team to send.
- Tracking receipts: each notice is tracked until the receipted copy or certificate arrives, with chasers on the intervals you set.
- Registration link: registration is not marked ready until any certificate required by a restriction is on file.
- Status for the lender: the file shows which notices are complete, which helps answer lender queries.
What post-completion looks like afterwards
The notice list is set during the purchase, so there are no surprises after completion. Fees are in the completion statement. Notices go out promptly and receipts are chased. Registration applications are not lodged without the certificates they need.
Buyers are recognised by their landlord or management company without delay.
Could this be your firm?
- Notices of transfer and charge are sometimes forgotten.
- Fees for notices are recovered from clients after completion.
- Restrictions requiring a certificate are found at registration.
- Receipted copies are not chased routinely.
- Post-completion notices are tracked on a paper checklist.