Land registry/title deed fees

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Bourne73
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Joined: 27 May 2019 14:15

Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Bourne73 »

Hi.. Looking for some advice regarding title deeds. About 2 months ago I visited the Land registry in Paphos and paid monies owed in order to have the deeds transferred to my name as part of a restructuring with the Bank. No problem. However, the Land registry had valued the apartment at 185,000 euros. They did not send a surveyor to evaluate the property. They just came back downstairs with whatever figure they fancied in my opinion.I was told that if I paid the sum they had calculated, I could then fill in an application form to contest their price, which i did on the day and that they would eventually contact me with the possibility of being refunded some money back in the future once they had a look at my claim.
Now before restructuring my loan, the Bank had sent a surveyor along in Feb and just today I have actually received their documents. They have valued my property, in February, for 124,000 euros (A massive difference). When the property was registered at the Land Registry in 2008, the developer had it down at 148,000 euros.

A week ago, the Land Registry called me and have told me that if i still want to contest their valuation, I can proceed but understand that "YOU MAY END UP PAYING MORE BECAUSE WE FEEL WE UNDER VALUED YOUR PROPERTY".They also said that the chance of my property being valued at less than their initial price is basically zero. Has anyone been in the same position. I have a meeting tomorrow at the land registry in order to sign a withdrawal and to end my claim, due to being worried that they may in fact try and get even more money out of me but now that I have the surveyors documents I'm not sure what to do.Any advice? Thank you
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Nigel Howarth »

Hi Bourne

The Land Registry doesn't have and property valuation surveyors. They assess a property's 'Open Market Value' by referencing historic data of what similar properties in the same area as yours were bought for at the same time you bought yours. It's the estimated amount that a property would sell for between a normal buyer and seller.

Transfer fees are paid on the value that the Land Registry department determines that it is the Open Market Value of the property on the day of the original. They are required by law to assess transfer fees by this method.

This is a 'well-know' problem. I only know of one person whose property's Open Market Value was less than they actually paid for it. And if you look at the transfer statistics, the Land Registry's 'accepted value' (open market value) is, on average, about 7.5% more than the 'declared value' (price declared in the contract).

I expect the bank has assessed the property's 'Forced Sale Value' (which will always be less than its Open Market Value.) It's the price at which a property can be sold at an auction or by liquidation.

And I haven't heard of anyone who's managed to get the Land Registry to reduce its Open Market Value.

Regards,
Nigel Howarth
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Bourne73
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Joined: 27 May 2019 14:15

Re: Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Bourne73 »

Thanks Nigel. That was helpful. Appreciate you getting back to me.
Nigel Howarth
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Re: Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Nigel Howarth »

You're welcome Bourne - I made a couple of typos in my reply, which I've corrected.

Regards,
Nigel Howarth
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Pantheman
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Re: Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Pantheman »

I think you should still go ahead with the objection. The land registry just like to make the rules as they go along. You can keep fighting this.

Things to note, the valuation you had from the bank, (sorry to say Nigel), but may not be the forced sale value, unless you can see the valuation you won't know.

We are talking about a difference of about 45000 here and the additional TFs amounts to €675.

if you have the valuation you can show it to them and discuss it.

I (about 8 months ago) bought some land, I assessed its value to be around 10k, for which I paid. At the day of the transfer, they said it was worth 20k, I argued this, in the end I paid the TFs for the 20k and made the objection. I recently had a latter saying that the 20k figure was wrong and that it was more like 18K!!!!!

Needless to say they refunded my massive €30 extra I paid. So it is possible to fight this.

If you want to take them on do so, if you just want to spend the extra €675 and call it a day, up to you. But they are robbing *£$%^&.

Good luck.
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Bourne73
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Joined: 27 May 2019 14:15

Re: Land registry/title deed fees

Post by Bourne73 »

Thanks mate..Have to weigh up my options but so obvious that the land Registry cannot be trusted.
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