What is a Land Registry compliant lease plan?

Any new lease lasting seven years or longer must be registered with the Land Registry and have a compliant lease plan. The lease plan is essentially a drawing that identifies a leasehold demise within a property — or in other words, a scaled metric drawing depicting exactly what area of land is included in the lease.

There are a number of reasons why you might need to obtain a lease plan, but the most prevalent are:

1. A lease of seven years or more is being granted
2. Land forming part of a registered title or that has been previously unregistered is being sold
3. A section of land being split into two or more parts and sold

 What does Land Registry compliant mean?

Since 2002, it has become the law for lease plans to be compliant with guidelines set out by the Land Registry, largely for consistency purposes. To be compliant with the Land Registry guidelines, a lease plan must:

• Be drawn to scale (preferred scales of 1/1250 — 1/500 for urban properties and 1/2500 for rural properties) Specific section may be at a smaller scale for clarity.
• Clearly indicate its orientation (e.g. depict a north point)
• Not be marked as ‘for identification only’ or any other disclaimers
• Have sufficient detail to be identified on the Ordnance Survey map
• Be clearly identifiable with regards to location (i.e. it must show roads, road junctions or other landmarks around the land)
• Include any land associated with the property, such as the garage, garden.
• Show buildings in their correct position as well as drives or pathways if they form part of property boundaries
• Clearly indicate the separate parts of the property, such as the house, parking, dustbin space, etc.
• Identify any varying floor levels (where required)
• Pull out any intricate boundaries on a larger scale or inset plan
• Show measurements that correspond to scaled measurements (as much as possible)

In addition, specific presentation criteria are taken into account, including edging of a sufficient thickness to not obscure any other detail on the plan and measurements in metric units to two decimal places only.

What happens if I don’t provide a compliant plan?

The reason these plans are taken so seriously is that it can save a great amount of time and money. Lease plans cost around £175.00 (plus VAT) for the smallest properties, with prices increasing as the size of the property to be examined increases. Depending on access, this can take several days to undertake.

However, if your property requires a lease plan, it’s worth getting it right the first time. If the plan you provide to the Land Registry is not compliant with their regulations, the likelihood is that your application will be rejected. Should this happen, you will need to resubmit your application with a replacement plan.

Over to you

Wondering what the difference between freehold and leasehold is? We’ve got everything you need to know about this here.

If you’re in need of a lease plan for your property, Aldrock can help. Our expert team ensures that each and every lease plan complies with Land Registry guidance and practice, so your plans are accepted first time.

Not only can we deliver Lease Plans, we can also tie in the requirement for an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). Almost all properties being leased or sold require an EPC. So why pay for two site visits from two different companies when Aldrock can tie it into one package? Save time, money and stress with us! It’s a no-brainer!

For more information about how we can help you, don’t hesitate to get in touch.