Bank Destroyed Mortgage Deed

RMcoiner

I received an email from my solicitor, informing me that my bank has "Accidentally" destroyed mortgage deed. However I have only held a mortgage between 4 - 5 months.

I previously received a letter from my solicitor advising me that the title for the property had been registered with the land registry.

The solicitor is now asking me to sign another mortgage deed, which is questionable considering that the bank has been negligent

Can anyone advise me please whether they have been in a similar situation and what my rights are or whether I am obligated to sign another mortgage deed considering I am up to date with my mortgage payments and am not responsible for destroying the original mortgage deed.

opinions4u

You can sign the form and get on with life.

Or you can force the lender to get a court to agree that the mortgage charge is legal. Which the court will agree.

While the bill for that will probably end up with the lender, it's not impossible that a judge will say you're an awkward so and so and award costs against you.

Honest question. What are you trying to achieve?

Sign the form, complain, walk off with £25 by way of apology.

bizzybee

This happened to us a few years back. Deed had been mislaid by the lender.

Signed the deed again as requested by the lender via our solicitor.

Accidents happen, things get lost. Just sign the deed and move on.

shonzyd

whats the problem with signing another one? what costs are you incurring as a result of this? How much time will it take to sign a form? what exactly are you complaining about - or is this purely down to principle??

Sign the deed, i'm sure there's bigger things you could be worrying about, signing a form that's lost being the least!

Goldiegirl

I agree with the other answers.

It looks as if there's been a human error.

Signing a new Deed is a simple way of putting it right, so I can't see the benefit to anyone in being obstructive about it.

RMcoiner

Many thanks for all the replies, my only real worries are that I could incur further charges for the issue of a brand new mortgage deed and the fact that the bank made an error after only 5 months. I just did not want to be lumbered with yet further fees by my solicitor or my mortgage provide. I will complain, as it is not the first time the bank has made a mess of things. Many thanks again to all who have provided a reply.

Thrugelmir

RMcoiner wrote: »

I will complain,

Surely better just to ask to your solicitor to confirm that you'll incur no further charges.

dunstonh

my only real worries are that I could incur further charges for the issue of a brand new mortgage deed and the fact that the bank made an error after only 5 months.

Why would you incur further charges?

Loss of documentation is most likely to occur at the start or at the end. The rest of the time it sits in the same place gathering dust. The minute a human is involved, you introduce the capacity for error.

I will complain, as it is not the first time the bank has made a mess of things.

Its a simple error. You appear to have an agenda against your bank. What has made you so bitter?

ValHaller

opinions4u wrote: »

You can sign the form and get on with life.

Or you can force the lender to get a court to agree that the mortgage charge is legal. Which the court will agree.

While the bill for that will probably end up with the lender, it's not impossible that a judge will say you're an awkward so and so and award costs against you.

Honest question. What are you trying to achieve?

Sign the form, complain, walk off with £25 by way of apology.

I cannot see this going to court unless OP uses the loss of the mortgage deed as an opportunity to wriggle out of paying. If the bank take it to court with no dispute, OP could reasonably argue that he did not want to be in the situation of having 2 valid deeds and effectively double his mortgage liability. And if the bank took it to court without addressing that, I doubt that a judge would be impressed enough to award costs to the bank.

The way forward is that the bank must pay all legal costs and must provide a mortgage deed which either states that it is a duplicate or which also discharges the previous deed. And given that the document has to be witnessed - presumably with a solicitor appointment - I would suggest that £100 is more appropriate than £25 for the time off work and the inconvenience

_Andy_

What further charges? No one has mentioned any

ValHaller

_Andy_ wrote: »

What further charges? No one has mentioned any

OP is concerned, not unreasonably, that because his own solicitor contacted him, that he might become liable for his solicitor's fees for redoing the mortgage deed.