Agreed sale Repossessed

Molinaar

Hello all,

Was hoping that someone could offer advice on the following issue, as first time buyers we have literally no idea how to proceed at present....

We found a house on rightmove a few weeks back, listed on a Friday afternoon we went to view on the Monday and had a bid accepted the following day. The house was marketed through "Swift Residential", one of the stipulations for buying was that we had to be a cash buyer or have a mortgage in principal agreement ready (we had this due to a previous purchase falling through).
All went quiet for a couple of weeks as we waited for the searches to be carried out, only to receive an email and phone call yesterday from the vendors EA informing us that the sale would not be proceeding as the property had been repossessed.
My partner and I were stunned as there had been no mention of any issues with defaulting mortgage up to this point. The EA told us that they had "left a message" with the solicitor dealing with he repossession to advise them that they had a sale already agreed but had heard nothing back from them. When I asked for he solicitors details I was told that hey were not able to give them out (is this purely because they would not receive any payments if I deal with the solicitor directly?).
We still want to push the purchase but are now left with no details of whom to contact with regards the sale. Is it likely that the lender g
(Presumably the company selling the house) would continue the sale instead of putting the house up for auction?

Any suggestions\advice would be warmly received as we feel like we have had the rug pulled from under us at the moment and our heads are still spinning!

Many thanks

R&H

CKhalvashi

I'd think that they'd want a sale rather than auction, but I wouldn't be sure.

Would it be worth finding out who the current lender is, I wonder?

Subscribed with interest, as I don't know the honest answer to this one, and I've never seen it before.

CK

PaulLuke

Agree that's an interesting question as would have though a sale would be better than having to go to auction/try marketing the property again.

You could download the title papers from the land Registry website as that will include details of charges/mortgages secured on the property and might mean you can identify who the lender is and contact them. Possibly worth a try if you like the property enough.

If you can track the lender then the main issue might be if the amount you're willing to pay is sufficient to discharge the mortgage?

Land_Registry

PaulLuke wrote: »

You could download the title papers from the land Registry website as that will include details of charges/mortgages secured on the property and might mean you can identify who the lender is and contact them. Possibly worth a try if you like the property enough.

If you can track the lender then the main issue might be if the amount you're willing to pay is sufficient to discharge the mortgage?

If you do decide that you want to check who the lender (proprietor of the registered charge) is then you can follow our online FAQ guidance and use the Find a property service as mentioned.

If the property is in England & Wales and registered then the information is likely to be available online. The fee for checking the register, which contains the details of any registered charge(s) and who they are with costs £3.

Molinaar

Thanks for the swift advice!

We have know found the lender (using the steps given in the last post) and are now in the process of contacting them.

Still grateful for any advice you can offer.

R&H

Molinaar

Quick update.

Using the information we obtained from the Land Registry we were able to contact the lender directly. Unfortunately that's where our progress ended as we were told in no uncertain terms that they were unable to discuss a repossession, we were told that it was a matter for their legal team (whom we can't speak to) and that we can do no more than wait till the property resurfaces on the market....

Any other ideas?

Also, are repossessions still listed in local papers? The original EA told us that a solicitor was now handling the property, if we could get their details then I feel we could make some headway but at the moment we're drawing a blank as the EA refuses to pass on their details.

Fire_Fox

Write to the lender's legal team, give your full details and your solicitor's details, explain that you are in a proceedable position and have already completed searches. They won't discuss the repossession with for Data Protection reasons but they can hold your name on file and contact you when ready to sell.

Yorkie1

I would ask your solicitor to deal with the lender's solicitor.

Professional rules prevent sellers' solicitors dealing with buyers direct where the buyers have a solicitor.