Property Mortgage Search

Lady_Hardup

Hi

What is the best way to find out who the mortgage lender is for a particular property?

Thanks in advance xx

Cannon_Fodder

Ask the mortgagee, for free.

Land Registry should record it, but that costs £4 per property.

Lady_Hardup

Thanks for the reply Cannon Fodder. I should have been more specific in my opening post.

I work for a block management company and we have to collect the service charges from the leaseholders to pay for the buildings insurance and general maintenance costs. Some of the leaseholders owe a lot of money which means the ones who do pay are subsidising them. My boss has told me that we have to inform their mortgage providers of the arrears. He has gone on holiday without telling me where I can get this information from - hence the original question.

I will try the Land Registry as you suggested.

Cheers

Berkshiregirl

I'd be interested in how this stands up legally - under what rules does a block management company need to tell a mortgage provider that service fees are in arrears?

Not to suggest what you're doing is wrong, but questioning the practice in general.

Cannon_Fodder

I'm guessing here...

A leasehold mortgage will probably have conditions to the effect of "you will fulfill all obligations in respect of the lease"...

...in order to ensure the interests of the lender are not jeopardised by an omission on the part of the leaseholder.

happybroker

Berkshiregirl wrote: »

I'd be interested in how this stands up legally - under what rules does a block management company need to tell a mortgage provider that service fees are in arrears?

Not to suggest what you're doing is wrong, but questioning the practice in general.

if the conditions of the lease are not adhered to, and this will include maintenance charges etc, the freeholder can declare the lease void. The lease is the lender's security for the debt.

often a lender will put pressure on the borrower/ lease holder to pay up and sometimes the lender will pay the arrears and add this to the mortgage.

Lady_Hardup

happybroker wrote: »

if the conditions of the lease are not adhered to, and this will include maintenance charges etc, the freeholder can declare the lease void. The lease is the lender's security for the debt.

often a lender will put pressure on the borrower/ lease holder to pay up and sometimes the lender will pay the arrears and add this to the mortgage.

You are quite correct happybroker. Unfortunately, we are legally required to inform the lender of any breaches of the terms of the lease. It’s not something that I relish doing given the current financial climate.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

opinions4u

I used to deal with this sort of thing when I first started work in a building society.

When the lender was advised of the unpaid management charges, ground rent etc I'd send a letter to the borrower asking for them to make payment direct and write to the management company / ground rent company asking them to write back in 28 days if they had not received payment.

If the second request came in then the lender would make the payment and add the amount to the mortgage balance outstanding. Another letter to the borrower confirming it has been done and that interest will accrue on the amount charged.

Back in those days there was no fee charged for this, but these days the Halifax site has:

"Payment of ground rent/service charge/shared ownership rent £75
We charge this fee to cover the administration cost we incur where you hold your property under a lease (including a shared ownership lease), and we have to pay any of these charges on your behalf."

One would assume other lenders have similar charges. £75 is steep if you forget to pay a ground rent of £2.50 a year or something, but the administrative costs are the same whatever the amount.

Lady_Hardup wrote: »

Unfortunately, we are legally required to inform the lender of any breaches of the terms of the lease. It’s not something that I relish doing given the current financial climate.

If the individual can't afford it, their mortgage company will ensure that things are sorted out to ensure that others who are paying their management charges are not unfairly subsidising the non-payers.

Lady_Hardup

That is very informative opinions4u - thankyou.

Luckily, it's only a couple of leaseholders but they owe a hell of a lot!!