If your solicitor has come back to you saying there is a restriction on your title register that needs to be dealt with before your remortgage or sale can complete, you are in the right place. This is one of the most common causes of last-minute conveyancing delays in England and Wales — and it is entirely fixable, usually within days.
Mortgage offer expiring soon? If your completion window is tight, do not wait. The Certificate of Compliance can be obtained in as little as one working day with a Fast Track service. Act now rather than risk your offer.
There are several types of restriction that can appear on a title register. The one most likely to be causing your mortgage delay is a Form LL restriction — also known as an anti-fraud restriction or identity verification restriction.
You can check your own title register at Land Registry for around £3. If your restriction contains the phrase "without a certificate signed by a conveyancer that the conveyancer is satisfied that the person who executed the document submitted for registration as disponor is the same person as the proprietor" — that is a Form LL restriction and this article is exactly relevant to you.
The restriction is registered at Land Registry and it means exactly what it says: no transaction can be registered until a Certificate of Compliance is produced. Your remortgage solicitor cannot submit the mortgage to Land Registry without it. Until that certificate exists, your completion cannot happen.
This is not a problem with your mortgage, your lender, or your solicitor's competence. It is simply a legal requirement attached to your title that needs to be satisfied — and your transaction solicitor cannot satisfy it themselves, because the certificate must come from an independent solicitor.
This is the most frustrating part for most people. The independence requirement means the solicitor handling your remortgage or sale is conflicted from issuing the certificate — they are acting for you in the transaction, so they cannot also act as the independent verifier. They need a separate firm to do it.
The problem is compounded by the fact that most general conveyancing firms rarely handle Form LL verifications. It is a specialist area, and many firms either decline or — more dangerously — accept the enquiry and then refer you on after wasting critical time.
Mortgage offers in England and Wales typically expire after three to six months. If your offer is close to expiry and you spend two or three weeks searching for the right specialist, you risk missing the window. The consequences are significant:
The answer is not to wait. Getting the right specialist immediately is the only way to protect your offer, your rate, and your transaction.
Once you have the Certificate of Compliance in hand — signed with a wet ink signature and emailed to you by the independent solicitor — you pass it to your transaction solicitor. They include it in the Land Registry application and your transaction can proceed to completion.
The certificate is drafted specifically for your transaction type. A remortgage certificate has different wording to a sale or transfer, so the solicitor needs to know exactly what is happening before they draft it.
Fast Track service guarantees the certificate is issued on the next working day for an additional £80.
FormLL gets you the Certificate of Compliance in days. Specialist solicitor confirmed within 24 hours. Fixed fee.
Get Your Certificate — £160 Fast Track available — guaranteed next working day for £240Ask them directly: have they handled Form LL verifications before and do they hold appropriate PI insurance for this work? If there is any hesitation, contact FormLL. The cost of getting the wrong answer is your mortgage offer.
Yes. The Certificate of Compliance satisfies the restriction for the current transaction only. The restriction remains on your title and will need to be satisfied again for any future sale, remortgage or transfer. You can apply to have the restriction removed permanently, but that is a separate process taking several months and is rarely practical during an active transaction.
Both legal owners must be verified on the same video call before the certificate can be issued. An additional fee of £50 inc VAT applies per additional owner.