last conveyancer forgot to cancel stop right on title deeds

fothers365

Hi,

I can't remember the exact term my conveyancer just used so please bear with me!

We bought our current house 10 years ago from a divorcing couple. We are now selling and all is going well except my conveyacer has just found out that there is a sort of stop sale/protection right on the title deeds that must have been registered at the last sale. He thinks the conveyancers last time must have forgot to post the cancelllation form back to the Land Registry along with the change of ownership forms.

Because it is 10 years ago he says that the previous conveyancing firm may have destroyed the previous records.

He is going to contact the firm and get them to check the archives to see if they still have the document so it can be sent with a note to the Land Registry.

What happens though if thy have gotten rid of the files (and the firm have moved premises in the meantime so I wouldn't be surprised)?

Starting to panic

TBagpuss

Is it a registration of Matrimonial Home Rights?

Provided that the form is still in existence , this sounds as if it was their error so they should deal with (or meet the costs of) fixing . If it is, Matrimonial Home rights notice can be removed by submitting a copy of the relevant Decree Absolute, which can be obtained for the county court. N doubt the Land Registry Rep. will be along in due course but as far as I know, there is no reason why you can't apply to remove the notice even though you were not a party to the divorce.

G_M

What did your current conveyancer say would happen...?

I iagine you could still get it removed but it might be a convoluted and slow process.

fothers365

TBagpuss wrote: »

Is it a registration of Matrimonial Home Rights?

Yes, I think that was what it was called.

My present solicitor was contacting the office of the people we used before this afternoon to see if they still had the form in their files. As it was 10 years ago though they may well not.

I phoned and spoke to a lovely lady at the Land Registry a little while ago and she gave me the name of a form that we can complete and issue to the last known address of the named person. If they do not hear anything from them in 20 days the right can be removed.

So, it sounds like it could be worse but we were hoping to complete at the end April as everything else is all in place and I doubt that will happen now:(

I am hoping if this incurrs extra costs they can b claimed back from the previous solicitors as it is them that made the mess last time.

Land_Registry

The form referred to is a form HR4 which would normally be signed by the spouse/civil partner whose rights have been protected.

If they don't sign it then as TBagpuss suggests an official copy of the decree absolute would also be needed. Other options exist such as a death certificate or court order.

On receipt of such an application we will sometimes serve notice on the spouse/civil partner at the address on the register to advise them of the application. If they respond and say Ok then we can remove it sooner than the period of days normally allowed (21).

If the HR4 is lodged by a conveyancer along with the evidence as mentioned then it is unlikely a notice need be served although nothing is decided until such an application is lodged as they are all treated on merit.

fothers365

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

The form referred to is a form HR4 which would normally be signed by the spouse/civil partner whose rights have been protected.

If they don't sign it then as TBagpuss suggests an official copy of the decree absolute would also be needed. Other options exist such as a death certificate or court order.

On receipt of such an application we will sometimes serve notice on the spouse/civil partner at the address on the register to advise them of the application. If they respond and say Ok then we can remove it sooner than the period of days normally allowed (21).

If the HR4 is lodged by a conveyancer along with the evidence as mentioned then it is unlikely a notice need be served although nothing is decided until such an application is lodged as they are all treated on merit.

Thank you. I am waiting to hear back from my solicitor as to whether the previous solicitor still has the paperwork on file <crosses fingers> but otherwise hopefully we can go down that route.

Thank you again:)