How do I find out who owns my deceased mums house?

Willsnarf1983

foi1983 wrote: »

LOL.

Any suggestions as to how to go forward with this?

No sorry, I guess you just find out whats what first and if it isn't good news be as prepared as possible

Will

zzzLazyDaisy

duncan303 wrote: »

Not all areas of the country had compulsory or even allowed voluntary registration up until quite recently.

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In England and Wales compulsory registration of land on sale, re-mortgage, or divorce has been the case since 1990. The passing of title to land through death or gift did not become compulsory until 1998.

However, it appears that in OP's case the land was registered before the divorce and the change in ownership after divorce from joint to sole ownership was not registered. Assuming OP is right and the house WAS transferred to her mother's sole name, it would seem that this failure to register was an oversight on the part of the solicitor.

IF this can be proved (by reference to a consent order, or solicitors papers) it may be possible to apply for rectification, but proving it may be impossible after all this time as the papers are likely to have been destroyed after all this time.

OP, does the Title Certificate say that the house is held by your father in his sole name, or by your parents as 'joint tenants' or as 'tenants in common'?

This isn't looking good, it sounds like you are going to need legal advice if you wish to pursue this.

clutton_2

""She showed me a new deed that transfer the house to her"" = so where is this new deed ?

duncan303

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

In England and Wales compulsory registration of land on sale, re-mortgage, or divorce has been the case since 1990. The passing of title to land through death or gift did not become compulsory until 1998.

I have completely misread the date for some reason I read it to be 1966 and not 1996. Thankyou for clarifying my post.

___

foi1983

clutton wrote: »

""She showed me a new deed that transfer the house to her"" = so where is this new deed ?

She has all original paper work in fireproof safes in her house, which we are looking for at the moment.

I have all paperwork regarding her divorce so will look through that.

She has showed me the solicitors letters regarding the transfer of ownership to my dad and they are all in her safes.

My mum kept everything so I know she still has the papers from 1996.

zzzlazydaisy - If we can find all these papers, can we apply for a rectification? Also, the title certifcate just says "registered owners - my dads name and my mums name".

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi, if you have all the divorce papers showing that it was agreed that the house should be put into your mum's sole name, then yes you can apply for rectification of title.

It seems that there has been an error by the solicitor in not registering the change at the land registry. So you should go back to the firm of solicitors who dealt with your mums divorce, and explain what has happened. They should deal with rectification of title for you, as this was their fault.

Normally you only have three years to raise a complaint of negligence, but this can be extended if you did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to know, about the negligence. Also, strictly, it should be your mum who makes the complaint, but she isn't here.

The reason I suggest you go back to the solicitor rather than doing it yourself is that rectification can be complicated (when I bought my house there was an error on the land certificate and the title plan, which took about a year to sort out, even though everyone concerned agreed it was a simple mistake)

foi1983

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Hi, if you have all the divorce papers showing that it was agreed that the house should be put into your mum's sole name, then yes you can apply for rectification of title.

It seems that there has been an error by the solicitor in not registering the change at the land registry. So you should go back to the firm of solicitors who dealt with your mums divorce, and explain what has happened. They should deal with rectification of title for you, as this was their fault.

Normally you only have three years to raise a complaint of negligence, but this can be extended if you did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to know, about the negligence. Also, strictly, it should be your mum who makes the complaint, but she isn't here.

The reason I suggest you go back to the solicitor rather than doing it yourself is that rectification can be complicated (when I bought my house there was an error on the land certificate and the title plan, which took about a year to sort out, even though everyone concerned agreed it was a simple mistake)

Thank you very much zz.

I havent eaten since I found out about this. Its bad enough trying to be the guardian of my 16 year old brother, trying to keep it together for my family and trying to root out the gold diggers in my family, without all this.

My mum had a hard life and worked hard to pay off the mortgage on her house without the help of my useless father and to think that the [EMAIL="c@#t"]c@#t[/EMAIL] would get 50% would probably drive me to suicide (I kid you not).

I better go and find those safes!!

Once again, thanks a lot.

zzzLazyDaisy

foi1983 wrote: »

My mum had a hard life and worked hard to pay off the mortgage on her house without the help of my useless father

Once again, thanks a lot.

That is very strange. If the house was transferred to your mum, she would also have had to take out a mortgage in her sole name - and the lender would also be named on the titled deeds as having a charge over the house. Then, when the mortgage was paid off, the land registry should have been notified and the lender's charge taken off the house.

So it is not just the transfer into her sole name that wasn't registered. But also the new mortgage in her sole name (which the lender should have picked up on). Then, later, it seems that the subsequent removal of the lender's charge, once the mortgage was paid off, was also not registered.

Somewhere along the line this should have been picked up.

Do let us know how you go on.

EDIT: just re-read the OP - you said the house was bought outright - by which I understood you to mean that there was no mortgage. So now I am confused!

foi1983

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

That is very strange. If the house was transferred to your mum, she would also have had to take out a mortgage in her sole name - and the lender would also be named on the titled deeds as having a charge over the house. Then, when the mortgage was paid off, the land registry should have been notified and the lender's charge taken off the house.

So it is not just the transfer into her sole name that wasn't registered. But also the new mortgage in her sole name (which the lender should have picked up on). Then, later, it seems that the subsequent removal of the lender's charge, once the mortgage was paid off, was also not registered.

Somewhere along the line this should have been picked up.

Do let us know how you go on.

Sorry, let me explain.

The mortgage was in my mums name anyway as my dad didnt have a good job and his credit was rubbish. So there was no need to tell the mortgage lender anything.

When they married, the mortgage was in her name but the deeds of the house were in both of their names as they agreed he would still pay half of the mortgage as they were husband and wife. He later recanted on this and said he is not helping her to pay the mortgage as she earns more than enough to pay it herself (what an idiot!) so they went to the solicitor and he signed a document to say that he will no longer pay mortgage payments and transfers the house to my mum. I have seen this document signed by my mum, dad and the solicitor.

What a mess!

foi1983

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

That is very strange. If the house was transferred to your mum, she would also have had to take out a mortgage in her sole name - and the lender would also be named on the titled deeds as having a charge over the house. Then, when the mortgage was paid off, the land registry should have been notified and the lender's charge taken off the house.

So it is not just the transfer into her sole name that wasn't registered. But also the new mortgage in her sole name (which the lender should have picked up on). Then, later, it seems that the subsequent removal of the lender's charge, once the mortgage was paid off, was also not registered.

Somewhere along the line this should have been picked up.

Do let us know how you go on.

EDIT: just re-read the OP - you said the house was bought outright - by which I understood you to mean that there was no mortgage. So now I am confused!

Sorry, what I meant was the mortgage had been paid off at the time of my mum's death.