Double charge for mortgage discharge in Scotland

VeeW

Please help if you can. I have just paid off my mortgage last month including a mortgage discharge fee of £250. I rec'd the deeds and a covering letter which says that as I live in Scotland I must appoint a solicitor to fully discharge the loan. I phoned a solicitor & they said yes I must do this, cost £122, to register at land registry. I phoned Northern Rock & asked the difference between discharge of mortgage & discharge of loan & was told they're the same. I then asked why I'd paid them to discharge mortgage if I had to pay a solicitor to do that in Scotland. Simply told I have to. Is there anyway I can reclaim the money/part of it to cover this?

jaynes2326

Give your local land registry a call and ask them to help you.

In England, you pay the money to the mortgage lender who then discharge the mortgage. However the mortgage would still be registered against the title to the property at the land registry. In England you would then fill in an AP1 to send to the Land Registry, enclosing the discharge form from your lender. The LR would then remove the charge from the title. In England you can easily do this yourself. As you're in Scotland (different legal system), just double check with your local LR office but you shouldn't have a problem doing this yourself.