Land Registry Report - Equitable Charge

ctm_2

I purchased a flat almost 3 months ago, and noticed the other day a letter for the previous occupant from the Land Registry. This was forwarded along with all the other post.

It got me thinking about why they would be writing to her, so I got a copy of the land registry entry from the internet, only to find that she is still listed as owning the flat (I will be speaking to my solicitor on monday about this to see why it hasn't been updated yet), and also, during August an 'Equitable charge' was created by a charginc order from a County Court in favour of a credit card company.

What exactly does this mean?

hells_2

It sounds like the credit card co took a charge over the property in lieu of the previous owner's outstanding debt, which I imagine should have been discharged at the time of sale of the property to you. Make sure you get an updated charge register from HMLR. Depending on which office is handling it, they can be a bit slow sometimes....I would say within another 3 months this charge should have been removed and the title clear and in your/your mortgage lender's favour.

Bossyboots

What concerns me here is that a charge has been registered on the property after the date on which you bought it. This should not have been able to happen and this charge will have to be cleared before you can be registered.

It may just all be a case of delayed paperwork which will run through the system in time. Your solicitor will know from experience what length of time that particular Land Registry takes to process its paperwork so you must check with them and in particular ask how a charge could have been registered after the date on which you purchased the property and for definite confirmation that they have sent on your details for registration.

silvercar

Your solicitor has an obligation to your mortgage company, as well as to you, to ensure that the mortgage is the first charge on the property. They ensure, through the seller's solicitor, that all charges will be paid off by your purchase monies.

We recently bought and the land registry site is still showing a charge from June (previous owners) as well as our mortgage. I'm waiting a few months before I download the info or contact my solicitor - one of the land registry web pages does say it can take a few months to update all information.

There was a thread on here recently about someone who couldn't actually complete their purchase because a new charge had been put on the property and there wasn't enough money to release the charge.

As you are actually living there now, chance are the paperwork is just slow.

clutton_2

did you use a credit card to buy the property ? is this your charge ?

Bossyboots

clutton wrote:

did you use a credit card to buy the property ? is this your charge ?

As the letter from the land registry was addressed to the previous occupant and there is a recently registered charge, then it is clear that the letter would have been the notice of that registration in the name of the seller.