A Guide to Resolving Title Problems When Selling Commercial Property

Land sales aren’t always straightforward, especially when timing, planning permission, or development risk comes into play. For those navigating long-term or strategic deals, option and pre-emption agreements are crucial tools for balancing flexibility with security.

Whether you’re a property developer or landowner, understanding the difference between these legal mechanisms – and when to use them – can help you make smarter secure decisions. Click below to download our free PDF guide:

What’s Inside the Guide?

This advisory note from our Commercial Property team explores the most frequent title issues that arise during sales and practical ways to resolve them before they derail your transaction or escalate into property litigation between buyers and sellers. You’ll discover:

• How property titles work: the role of the Land Registry and the differences between absolute, possessory, qualified, and leasehold titles.
• Ownership and registration problems: what happens if your ownership isn’t fully recorded, updates are delayed, or only part of your property is registered. These types of concerns often need resolving before parties move forward with option and pre-emption agreements, which depend on clear title positions.
• Missing or inaccessible documents: why old deeds and covenants matter, and how statutory declarations or indemnity insurance can fill the gaps. Such gaps can complicate negotiations, particularly where heads of terms are being agreed and key legal risks need early identification. These issues frequently arise during the early stages of leasing, both for tenants entering into new arrangements as part of a commercial lease and for landlords preparing documentation and responding to enquiries when granting a lease.
• Restrictive and positive covenants: how these obligations can limit use of the property, and the options for modifying, releasing, or insuring against them. These kinds of obligations are often heavily negotiated during the drafting of collaboration agreements, especially in complex multi-party developments.
• Easements: from rights of way to utility connections, why clarity on easements is vital for buyers and how to formalise implied rights. They can also become critical discussion points within land development agreements, where access and service infrastructure are key.

Understanding these issues early can make the difference between a smooth, timely sale and a stalled or abandoned deal. The guide explains the risks in plain terms, giving you practical insight into what buyers will look for and how you can address concerns before they become barriers.

N.B. In some cases, any unexpected uplift in land value tied to these issues may also require overage deeds to be revisited or restructured.

When to Reach Out for Advice

Title issues don’t have to derail a sale. With the right legal support, many can be resolved quickly and cost-effectively.

At GoodLaw, our commercial property solicitors help clients identify and fix title problems so transactions can proceed with confidence.

Contact us today.