How do I go about removing charges from a property?

ahrimaniac

Mate of mine got into difficulties a while back, and two companies took out charging orders against his property - one for £8k, the other for £3k.

He's just paid these off but both firms are saying that he has to sort out getting the charges removed. Is it a fairly easy process? He has no idea where to start and has asked me to look into it, but I'm none the wiser either!

He has given me two receipts showing the debts have been paid in full - that's all I have!

RAS

pm the Land Registry Represenative on here; s/he is very helpful.

ValHaller

RAS wrote: »

pm the Land Registry Represenative on here; s/he is very helpful.

I believe that Official Company Representatives don't have PM facilities?

Pending the appearance of the Land Registry rep, I would suggest going to the Land Registry Practice Guides http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides which cover many topics in depth. In particular Practice Guide 31 -
Discharges of charges http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-31-discharges-of-charges looks very relevant - but others may be useful

Edit: Having looked at some of the forms at the end of the practice guide, it appears that the holders of the charges must release the charges by way of deed. ahrimaniac, it looks like the companies holding the charges are being either lazy or obstructive, because they have to provide the release.

Land_Registry

The key from a Land Registry perspective is how are the COs protected on the land register?
There are Four common ways of protection, namely an Agreed or Unilateral Notice, a restriction or a Caution (pre 2002). Can you confirm how the COs are protected?

Practice Guide 19 explains the different ways of protecting the interests (CO) and also explains how they can be cancelled by someone (or withdrawn by the creditors).

If you can come back and advise on how they are shown on the register I can provide a little more guidance as to what is required or point you to the relevant section of the guide.

The guide ValHaller refers to above will be relevant if the debts have been secured against the property as legal charges. As you refer to COs I suspect PG19 will be the best point of reference.