It is the law that any new lease lasting for seven years or longer must be registered with the Land Registry and, in almost all cases, have a lease plan. The lease plan must be compliant with Land Registry guidelines and so it is important that this plan is produced accurately by someone who is familiar with the guidelines and used to producing plans that comply with them.
What is a lease plan?
Quite simply, a lease plan is a drawing or diagram that shows which part of a property is included in a lease. It is drawn to scale, and shows all parts of the property included in a lease as well as any land, garden and outbuildings.
How is it made Land Registry compliant?
For consistency, and to ensure that the land included in a lease can be readily identified with minimal room for error or misinterpretation, the Land Registry publishes guidelines. Since 2002, it has been the law that these guidelines must be followed.
The full guidelines can be found here but they include requirements such as:
- It must be drawn to scale; usually 1:1250 – 1:500 for urban properties and 1:2500 for farms and other rural properties.
- It must include enough detail that the property included in the lease can be identified on an Ordnance Survey map, including enough roads, junctions and landmarks that the general location of the property is clear.
- It must include a bar scale using metric measurement.
- In the case of flats and maisonettes, it must show the location of the property in relation to the external footprint of the building.
- If the leased property is split across multiple floors, it must show the extent of the lease on each floor, using separate plans if necessary.
- It must show in greater detail, using a larger scale, any intricate boundaries such as internal divisions within a building.
- It must agree with the verbal description contained in the deed.
Plans may be rejected if they are ambiguous, are not to scale, do not match the verbal description or cannot be accurately related to the OS map in terms of location and alignment.
Do I need one?
It is probable that, if you are buying or selling a leasehold property with a long lease and with no changes to the boundaries of the property, a compliant plan will already exist and your solicitor will be able to confirm this.
However, you may need to obtain a lease plan if:
- A lease of more than seven years is being granted for the first time.
- Land is being sold that was previously unregistered.
- A property is being divided into two or more parts, one or more of which is being sold.
Not providing a compliant plan can cause applications to be rejected, requiring a new plan to be prepared and submitted, and this causes time delay and additional cost. Ensuring that a high-quality, compliant plan is in place also makes sure that the buyer clearly understands what they have bought, and there is less room for dispute in the future.
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Bloomsbury Plaza Residents Association
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It has been a great pleasure to work with you since AWH commenced the management. We have all been much impressed by AWH.
Hanover Gate Mansions
Thank you for doing such a great job of managing the properties. Before you took over we always noticed that there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of gardening being done - at an excessive cost per year. We're pleased to see that the front garden looks just as nice but you've significantly cut the costs.
Removing the fire escapes, as well as improving safety will be a significant improvement to the light quality in the flats below, and will reduce the damage to the windows below.
- Lessee at Hanover Gate Mansions
Thank you for doing such a great job of managing the properties. Before you took over we always noticed that there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of gardening being done - at an excessive cost per year. We're pleased to see that the front garden looks just as nice but you've significantly cut the costs.
Removing the fire escapes, as well as improving safety will be a significant improvement to the light quality in the flats below, and will reduce the damage to the windows below.
- Lessee at Hanover Gate Mansions
Climpson & Co. Limited
What can I say but you're doing a fantastic Job and we appreciate all you're doing for us.
What can I say but you're doing a fantastic Job and we appreciate all you're doing for us.
Graham Properties
I would like to take this opportunity to comment that having dealt with multiple managing agents over the years, it was a breath of fresh air to deal with your company who sent everything across very precisely and efficiently and made the whole process extremely straight forward and easy, I very much appreciate it.
I would like to take this opportunity to comment that having dealt with multiple managing agents over the years, it was a breath of fresh air to deal with your company who sent everything across very precisely and efficiently and made the whole process extremely straight forward and easy, I very much appreciate it.
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How AWH can help
Our experts can help with drawn plans that show which part of a property is included in a lease.
Speak to our team of expert surveyors on 0800 071 5517 or email admin@awh.co.uk.