Mortgage never completed but still charged payments.

barneyadi

Hi

I wonder if someone can give me some advice. My partner arranged a mortgage with Halifax/Bank of Scotland for a property we were purchasing at the end of February. Unfortunately completion got delayed and eventually fell thru at the end of May, when the solicitor returned the funds to Halifax.
My partner then noticed that 3 mortgage payments had been taken from her account. We called Halifax who advised they would be refunded within 48 hours. When they weren't we raised a complaint and now 9 weeks later they have come back to us.
They have said that because the solicitor never advised of a problem with completion that the 3 payments will not be refunded to her. To me this sounds completely wrong, she has in affect paid over £500 in mortgage payments for a mortgage she never had.
I am thinking of contacting the ombudsman but thought i would see what people here think.
Any help much appreciated.

dotdash79

I would raise it with the FOS, but also get the copy of your case file from your solicitor to investigate when they sent the funds back.

However I'm quite confused when did the sale fall through? Before or after Exchange?

barneyadi

dotdash79 wrote: »

I would raise it with the FOS, but also get the copy of your case file from your solicitor to investigate when they sent the funds back.

However I'm quite confused when did the sale fall through? Before or after Exchange?

It was after exchange I believe, could that be the problem?

dotdash79

If it's after exchange then this could get very complicated.

Is this in England, Scotland or NI?

amnblog

I think you need to speak to your solicitor first to make sure these funds were returned. (and get evidence of this)

Thrugelmir

barneyadi wrote: »

To me this sounds completely wrong, she has in affect paid over £500 in mortgage payments for a mortgage she never had.

If the mortgage funds were drawn down, then the bank is within it's rights to charge interest. What was the sequence of events and the timescale.

ACG

The bank charges interest on money it lends out. If the solicitor requested the funds from the bank and then never paid it back for however long - why should the bank not charge interest on it? There isnt enough information here to suggest you have a valid complaint although as thrugelmir says it would be interesting to see a timeframe of what happened and when.

The key dates are when were the funds requested from the lender and when were they returned?

amnblog

I'd be concerned whether the funds were 'returned' ACG and when

Thrugelmir

amnblog wrote: »

I'd be concerned whether the funds were 'returned' ACG and when

If contracts were exchanged but not voided. Then the situation becomes more complex.

ACG

It says:

Unfortunately completion got delayed and eventually fell thru at the end of May, when the solicitor returned the funds to Halifax.

Im assuming hes checked the funds have been returned based on that.

Although i agree, if that hasnt been checked then it would be the first thing i did.

ValHaller

barneyadi wrote: »

My partner arranged a mortgage with Halifax/Bank of Scotland for a property we were purchasing at the end of February. Unfortunately completion got delayed and eventually fell thru at the end of May, when the solicitor returned the funds to Halifax.

That is it in a nutshell. You actually borrowed the money from Feb to May. So 3 months.

Depending on how the situation arose, it could be quite negligent of your solicitor not to return funds - but then again, it could be entirely reasonable to keep the money to hand.