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Selling late mother's house - Land Registry problem
Kathymel
Posts: 83 Forumite
Whilst selling my late mother's house, it emerged that a debt was registered against it at the Land Registry. It seems my parents had borrowed money from the previous owners in 1968 when they couldn't obtain a large enough mortgage. A court order transferring ownership of the property to my mother at the time of my parents' divorce mentions that the debt had been paid off within four years.
When our solicitor contacted the previous owner to ask why the Land Registry still had the debt against the house on its files, he claimed that he had not received a penny of the money and would be pursuing it now. We obviously contest this and I also understand that, since he had not pursued the claim for nearly 40 years, it would be 'Statute Barred' by now, even if it was valid.
Our problem now, as I see it, is getting him to sign the Land Registry release forms. Can anyone advise how to go about this?
Kathy Roper
When our solicitor contacted the previous owner to ask why the Land Registry still had the debt against the house on its files, he claimed that he had not received a penny of the money and would be pursuing it now. We obviously contest this and I also understand that, since he had not pursued the claim for nearly 40 years, it would be 'Statute Barred' by now, even if it was valid.
Our problem now, as I see it, is getting him to sign the Land Registry release forms. Can anyone advise how to go about this?
Kathy Roper
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Comments
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Statute Barring does not apply to secured loans.Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0
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Probably forgot about it 40 years ago and is owed an amount. To be honest how much is the amount owed? 40 years ago would've been a few k.
Also there is a good change he wasn't repaid and I guess the onus is on you to prove he was paid and the solicitors didnt remove his charge from the house.
However it does seem that maybe he wasn't paid.0 -
At the time the amount borrowed was around 20% of the value of the property - surely no-one forgets they are owed that much.
His words to our solicitor were apparently 'prove it'.
How far back do bank records go? I have been told that the banks hold all records on an account from the day it was activated. Does anyone know if this is correct?0 -
Just in case anyone gets confused, Jacqui is my sister.
I read that statute barring does apply to secured loans - with a limit of 12 years.0 -
Probably forgot about it 40 years ago and is owed an amount. To be honest how much is the amount owed? 40 years ago would've been a few k.
Also there is a good change he wasn't repaid and I guess the onus is on you to prove he was paid and the solicitors didnt remove his charge from the house.
However it does seem that maybe he wasn't paid.
The court order we have shows that the court were shown evidence that the debt was paid. In addition, my mother never left anything to chance. She would NOT have left this unpaid.0 -
Sorry, yes, I'm KathyMel's sister.
Surely, when the courts transferred the house into our Mum's name a check would have been carried out as to whether any monies were owed on the property other than the official mortgage with the bank - the Deeds would have had to be changed and the other loan would have become apparent if it had not been fully repaid. Wouldn't it?
We're at quite a loss as to what to do as he is refusing to sign the LR papers and we cannot sell the property without his signature.0 -
Offer him £500 to sign plus his legal fees for removing the charge. It will surely cost as much or more going through the courts to get this removed.0
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A share of a house or 40 years accumulated interest might be worth quite a lot now. You can see why his eyes are glinting.
This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
he had not pursued the claim for nearly 40 yearsJacquiMarie wrote: »At the time the amount borrowed was around 20% of the value of the property
How much are you talking about? What was 20% of the house price 40 years ago?
Sometimes it's cheaper - no matter how galling it is - to just pay up in these situations. You can end up paying much more in legal costs that the original claim.The court order we have shows that the court were shown evidence that the debt was paid. In addition, my mother never left anything to chance. She would NOT have left this unpaid.
Does this document say what the evidence was? You could counter the claimant's "Prove it" statement with the court document and see what happens.0
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