Ex husband has charge on property

misterthrifty

A friend of mine is in a mess. Following her divorce many years ago, her husband let her keep the house but he had a charge on the deeds giving him 20% of the value if she sold. He has paid nothing towards the property since then and has resisted in co-operating in any way untill recently he has said he wants to give up his rights. Does anybody know what the process for doing this is?

She is keen to sell but having this charge is going to be a major problem. The mortgagers say that she should deal with it when she sells the property but I thought she could get him to sign a discharge form which could be placed with the deeds.

Any advice much appreciated as she is frantic with worry. She got legal aid to sort this a couple of years ago but he messed them about till the money ran out!

TIA

AndrewSmith

Get her to call a local firm of solicitors, she will need one for the sale anyway, and ask them to quote for the costs involved with selling/purchase.

At the same time get her to ask them what the proceedure is regarding having the charge removed. They will be able to advise her in simple terms and will, most likely, take care of it during the conveyancing process.

Get her to negotiate regarding the fees for this, ask for a discount for doing both the charge and conveyancing.

Andy

Bossyboots

They can do it themselves if they are reasonably savvy by using the forms below.

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/ds1.doc
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/ds2.doc
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/ap1.doc

If they need any advice, the land registry staff are normally very helpful. You will need a copy of the property ownership register to be able to complete the boxes but that can be bought on line from the land registry site for a nominal sum.

Even if they want a solicitor to do the actual registration, completing the forms themselves will save money. If they can't get their head around them, then they do need to get the conveyancing solicitor to arrange the discharge of the charge during the sale process. The only problem I see with that is that the ex might change his mind at the last minute and any related purchase and the sale will fall through. He is effectively being given a whip hand in controlling the transactions. My own choice would be to do it now, while he is agreeable either themselves or through a solicitor.

misterthrifty

Thanks, that's very helpfull. The forms look fairly complex so I think she would be best to speak to the Land Registry office to confirm what she needs to complete and, if necessary, a solicitor to check they are OK.

I presume she then gets her ex to sign and she sends them to the LR, is there a document issued then that she sends to the mortgagers to be kept with the deeds?

I agree it would be best to sort this now as any possible purchaser would see flashing warning signs when they see the charges on the property (there is also a charge from legal aid who gave her disastrous advice at the time, which is accruing interest!) As suggested, she could tie it in with the conveyance fees.

Many thanks

Bossyboots

misterthrifty wrote:

Thanks, that's very helpfull. The forms look fairly complex so I think she would be best to speak to the Land Registry office to confirm what she needs to complete and, if necessary, a solicitor to check they are OK.

I presume she then gets her ex to sign and she sends them to the LR, is there a document issued then that she sends to the mortgagers to be kept with the deeds?

I agree it would be best to sort this now as any possible purchaser would see flashing warning signs when they see the charges on the property (there is also a charge from legal aid who gave her disastrous advice at the time, which is accruing interest!) As suggested, she could tie it in with the conveyance fees.

Many thanks

Study the forms well, as they look far more daunting than they actually are. You can always ask on here for help if she gets stuck.

The only thing with the conveyancing fees is that she is likely to be charged extra for removal of the charge and I would be concerned about the ex deciding to put a spanner in the works.

As for the legal aid charge, this is unrelated to the advice she had as the administration of legal aid is remote from the solicitor/client relationship in respect of the advice given. She will of course have benefitted from a significant reduction in the cost of her legal advice by having legal aid and if she had paid privately, she would have had to stump up the fees at the time, rather than have them charged to her property. If she is planning to sell then I would suggest she get a redemption figure from the LSC well in advance so that she knows what she owes. The will usually give a figure up to a month ahead of the date of the redemption figure itself but they are not always quick to send them out so she doesn't want to leave it until the last minute. If she is looking to re-mortgage at any time, she should consider adding the legal aid charge to that as, at the present time, the interest rate payable on legal aid money is higher than most high street loans and mortgages. If she had this charge from some time back, then she may be paying the lower rate of interest, rather than the higher one imposed in the last couple of years.