This is not particularly rare at all, neither is the period 50, still less 100 years.unperplex wrote:The one exception to this would, theoretically be a VERY OLD unregistered title, where old documents do carry the title. However this is (a) very rare indeed and (b) have to be a property which has not been sold or mortgaged for a VERY LONG time (maybe 50 or 100 years or more)
Compulsory registration was brought in as a rolling programme, starting in Central London in the 1920's and ending up in the most rural areas at the end of 1990. So if you own a house in, say, rural Suffolk, that's not been transferred or mortgaged since November 1990 the title will still be unregistered, meaning that if you do want to sell or mortgage it you will have to prove title by the production of title deeds.
This provides lots of entertainment for the few solicitors left who can still happily deal with unregistered conveyancing - the reaction of the average 25 year old, completely unqualified `conveyancing executive' to being presented with an unregistered title for approval is often hilarious.
You might be surprised how often such titles crop up in practice - I'm dealing with a woman whose parents completed the purchase of the house she's living in on 1 September 1939, just two days before war broke out!
Lenders are perfectly happy to lend on unregistered titles, but probably only because mortgaging the property triggers the need for first registration of the title.and (c) I cannot conceive of a mortgagee lending on an unregistered title without the title having to be registered.