Module 4 · Chapter 10

After Completion: Tax and Registration

Completion gives the buyer the building. The legal title passes only when the Land Registry registers the buyer. This chapter covers the tax, the application and the queries in between.

≈ 11 min read 8-question test

In this chapter

  • Why a buyer who has paid is not yet the legal owner
  • The two deadlines after completion: the tax and the search
  • How the application is made, queried and checked

10.1Completion and registration in one paragraph

Completion gave Fellgate the building, but not yet the legal title. A transfer of registered land takes effect at law only when it is registered (section 27 of the Land Registration Act 2002). Until then Fellgate was the owner in equity (the owner a court protects), but not the owner the register names.

But the register, which everyone else relies on, still named the seller. The time between completion and registration is the registration gap. After completion, your firm's work is to close it safely.

Key point

Completion hands over the building. Registration hands over the legal title. Until the register changes, the buyer depends on the right papers reaching the Land Registry in time.

Also in this chapter

  1. The register speaks from the day the application arrives
  2. Stamp duty land tax within 14 days
  3. The priority search holds Fellgate's place
  4. The application and the bank's second register
  5. The requisition: a discharge that had not arrived
  6. Checking the new register
  7. Papers that outlive the file
  8. Your job

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