Bought A House, Got A School: Why Title Checks Matter Before Academy Conversion

Few conveyancing errors make national headlines. However, one reported this week did: a buyer who purchased a three-bedroom house from a council at auction was handed a primary school as well.

In 2013, businessman Mr Bains bought a three-bedroom house from Birmingham City Council at auction for £395,000. The purchase was made through his care provider company, NH Care Ltd. The house was originally built as a cottage for the caretaker of George Dixon Primary School, and its rear garden backs onto the school playing fields. That proximity to the school appears to explain how the error happened.

According to reports, the buyer’s lawyers drafted and circulated a transfer for the council to sign but used the wrong form. It’s suggested that the house and the school were both registered under the same title number and, as such, a TP1 form should have been used to transfer part of the title. However, a TR1 form was used instead, which transferred the whole title. The council’s