help for my nan - £1 balance

bobsyourteapots

hi

I was just wondering if I could have some advice for my nan as we seem to be stuck in tough situation.

My Grandad passed away in August and everything has gone to my Nan, including the house which currently has a £1 mortgage balance so the building society keep the deeds.
Unfortunately he was the only borrower and therefore was in his name only so we are having massive problems trying to talk to them over the phone.

We keep being told different information about what my Nan has to do to get house put over into her name?
We have been told a solicitor would need to deal with it and it would cost at least 2k but we have also been told that if she goes in with the death certificate she can pay off the £1 and have it transferred over?

any advice would be really appreciated
thanks

UsernameAlreadyExists

She needs to apply for Probate.
As the surviving partner (assuming they were married, and the will doesn't state otherwise) everything will go to her. She will also be the sole executor unless others stake a claim.

Google "probate", you can easily do it yourself and save on legal fees. It's not hard, but maybe lots of form filling and time involved.
Sorry for you loss

troubleinparadise

I used a solicitor recently to transfer the title of my deceased mum's house into the 2 new owner names, and register the title with the Land Registry as it hadn't previously been registered. I also had the same situation re the deeds being held by the (paid off) mortgage lenders which the solicitor handled (the lenders required a letter from the solicitors anyway).

The whole thing cost me a little under £1000 - in this instance a sensible spend as it needed to be handled by a third-party professional - and saved me yet more paperwork headaches.

kingstreet

Presumably she is next of kin?

Was a will left? If it was, the process is probate and it's done in conjunction with the HMCS Probate office nearest her. You can't transfer the property without first dealing with the estate as a whole. Was she named Executor?

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/probate-registries

If no will was left, there is a similar process with the Probate Office, but this is Administration, dealt with by a close family member who accepts the role of Administrator.

Either way, the lender will need a Grant of Probate or Letter of Administration before it will allow any change to the mortgage and the removal of any charge.

Land_Registry

As others have stated the first thing to do is for you or your Nan to apply for Probate which will provide you with the necessary authority to deal with his estate, the mortgage and the property.

Many people will use the services of a solicitor to deal with any probate, will, property/estate and as such have everything done as one instruction. Others may not and this will often depend on the size/value of the property/estate as well as who the beneficiaries are. There can be other issues to consider other than just the property itself and a solicitor is often best placed to cover the various aspects of the law which may affect.

However, if the matter is relatively straightforward then investigating the issue of Probate would be a first step. Obtaining Probate i.e. the authority to deal with Grandad's estate will enable you to deal with the lender, clear the mortgage and release the deeds - if that is what you/your Nan want to do

Once that is done, and if the property is in England & Wales, then take a look at our Public Guide 9 for some general guidance re the property i.e. the legal title.

If the property is unregistered then section 5 of the PG is relevant as you will need to register ownership for the first time. There is another Public Guide, number 13, dealing with the subject of first registration made by the owner in person. You don't state whether it is registered or not but if your grandparents have owned it for over 30 years it may well be depending on where it is - if you are unsure then look up the district in Practice Guide 51 and find the date of compulsory registration. If they bought the house before the date shown (and did not remortgage after it) then the odds are that it is unregistered.

If it is registered then the PG9 explains how to transfer/assent the property into your Nan's name

A lot of potential reading but hopefully the guides will assist with understanding how to at least deal with the property. As mentioned other matters can often be involved as well which may need legal advice but if you have any queries or concerns re dealing with the Land Registry then either Contact Us by email or phone or post them here and we will do our best to provide an answer - we cannot though provide legal advice.

Goldiegirl

You don't mention the name of the lender, but it sounds suspiciously like a Halifax Deedstore account.

I worked for the Halifax for many years.

The Halifax has a huge underground vault where Title Deeds are stored. Some years ago, they had surplus storage space, so they launched the Deedstore scheme. People coming to the end of the mortgage could keep the account open with £1, and the Halifax would store the Deeds. The business rationale for this was, if a further advance was required, the customer would return to the Halifax.

Deedstore was stopped a few years ago, as they had run out of space, and, as everything is now done electronically, the Deeds are not the important documents they once were.

Existing customers were allowed to stay in the scheme.

In the circumstances you describe, the name of the property needs to be changed in to the sole name of your nan. Any mortgage has to be held in the same name as the property holders.

If the name on the mortgage needs to be changed, a customer needs to apply to the lender (Halifax?) for a consent to a Transfer Of Mortgage Property (TOMP)

However, with Deedstore Accounts, as it is a closed issue, the Halifax does not accept TOMP applications on Deedstore accounts. The mortgage account with its small balance needs to be closed.

When probate is obtained, the exectutor will have the necessary authority to approach the Halifax to obtain an amount owing figure and close the mortgage.

Once the charge on the property is removed, the Halifax will have no further interest in the property and you can then deal with changing the name of the property to your nan.

If the lender is not the Halifax, the action that is reqired would be similar.

Up until 3 years ago I dealt with 'TOMPs' at the Halifax everyday, so this advice is correct from a Halifax point of view (unless things have changed a lot, and I don't think they have)