We’re all pretty familiar with the old adage “caveat emptor” or buyer beware and those studying the LPC will have notes that stress that even after all the record searches have been completed a visual inspection of the property remains important and that such inspection might raise new enquiries which need to be dealt with. A recent case has reiterated the point.

The facts of R (on the application of HCP (Hendon) Ltd v Chief Land Registrar make for scary reading. A freeholder got planning permission to add another floor to premises and went ahead to create a new second floor flat which he duly leased. The demise was of “the area above the joists or beams of the ceilings of the first floor flats, including the roof and roof space.”

Are any of you getting a dark inkling of where the problem might lie?

The roof and roof space above the first floor flats had already been included in the leases of all of the first floor flats and registered as such. Unsurprisingly the Land Registry refused to go ahead with the registration of the second floor flat.

The claimant applied for a judicial review of the Land Registry decision. The court refused the application. The claimant was unable to rely on the face of the land register (which made no mention of the roof space). The claimant was aware of the existence of the leases of the first floor flats and had to inspect those leases to confirm title. He had failed to do so, and his lease could not be registered. Definitely food for thought for anyone in the market for property!