Land-registry-value of land

[Siamsal]

I am a parish councillor. The council is looking at registering the land its owns. We're intending to start with the largest, which is our recreation ground. A couple of councillors are vociferously opposing this on the grounds of cost.

The land was given to the village (the council holding the deeds) with restrictions on its use to ensure it stayed a recreation ground.

The crux is that it isn't clear how much we'd have to pay to register the land.

We have contacted the LR who have said they'd accept a low market value on the grounds the land has no/low commercial value (IE it'd cost us �40 or so to register).

BUT in our dealings with our solicitor he has said the full, commercial valuation (IE as sold on the open market) should apply. This - due to the area we're in - could potentially be �1m or more, and so the LR fees would be significant. This 'fact' is being used to block any action on the grounds of excessive cost.

So my questions are: 1/ Who should we believe? 2/ Is there a third-party we could turn to for advice? Preferably cheap/free! EG the legislation defining/explaining the valuation required - I can't find anything giving any detail.

(If the answer is 'it depends upon the restrictions' - unfortunately I don't know them in detail, as I've never seen the deeds.)

[buildersmate]

Have you thought about registering it as a Village Green? One of the 'proper' lawyers may be able to comment further, however this is typically used in situations when the land is not owned by anyone (either old deeds or LR). By registering a Village Green, it effectively joins the Register of Common Land, which is held by each Council Council (or Unitary Authority for counties run that way). As I understand it, the LR doesn't get involved. See here for what East Sussex says about this (picked out at random - seems to explain it well) http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/community/townsvi llages/villagegreens/default.htm

[Golden Shred]

The Land Registrar is in fact a Senior Specialist Solicitor. The Registrar's have delegated powers of discretion in all sorts of matters. If the Registrar for your area has given the decision you state then that's it, no further discussion. The Registrar will transfer the restrictive covenants from the old deeds onto the Land Registry Register - fairly obviously with the restriction you mention running with the land it truly has little commercial value. In point of fact the Council can effect the Registration themselves without a solicitor, the Land Registry will guide you through a bit of simple form filling, so it need cost only the �40. For the purpose of Registration you are only concerned with the situation that exists now, you do not have to anticipate that in the future someone might try to rid the land of the restrictions and if successful the value will increase enormously.

[Siamsal]

buildersmate, thanks for the suggestion, but this land is properly owned, by the council. We have deeds etc. And we'd prefer that the parish council retained ownership rather than relinquish it to county.

GS, that was my opinion, not because I knew all the details about the LR but just because 'if the LR say that, then it must be good enough for the LR'!

Yes, I've looked at all the forms on the web, and I can't really see why we need to pay a solicitor - it looks simple enough to me and we have all the deeds etc. But the anti-registering faction is trying to drive the cost up so as to be able to say 'we can't afford it'.

I can't understand why they are so against the council registering their own land. It will probably be compulsory in a few years, anyway, and will cost us more then.

[Golden Shred]

I have been dealing with land, property and construction legals (including local authorities and councils) for twice as many decades as it took Noah to build the Ark. Always, without exception, whenever this sort of demur crops up in what is obviously a simple and beneficial matter I find that someone at some time has done something crooked and is trying to cover up. In Registering the land all Restrictions will appear for everyone to see but which might not be so obvious from the unregistered Deeds particularly if they are a bundle. So start by suspecting that the Deeds have been used to secure an improper loan (these things, again without exception, are always that someone has pocketed the council's money) and take a good, hard look at whoever is doing the objecting, calling in the police if necessary.

[Siamsal]

Oooohh dear, I hope you're wrong about that!