Management company requesting evidence of a deed of covenant for a remortgage

normalpeopleworryme

Remortgaing a leaehold flat I have own since 2003. The purpose of the remortgage is to raise capitial to buy a new house whilst letting out flat.

the management company changed in 2012 from the one I'd dealt with previously, but the residents association they manage the properties for have remained the same. I pay the service charge on a 6 monthly advance basis.

Anyway, the lease has a restriction on it. If the lease is to be trnsferred or disposed of consent is needed from the lessor. Fair enough...solicitor on it, and acknowledge I'll have to pay to [FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]register notice of the[/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]charge to and them to [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]issue a compliance certificate for the Land Registry.[/FONT][/FONT] BUT the management company are asking for [FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]evidence that the Deed of Covenant or a covenant was inserted in the Transfer to me.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Is this unreasonable given a/that I have owned the property for several years b) that I am not disposing the property, just taking a second charge c/ I've paid service charge since buying property. so will they please confirm that if we produce a notice of second charge, and pay the £60 plus vat they will.

I am sure a covenant was entered into when I bought the property, but the solicitors I worked with no longer exist...my friend who is a solicitor reckons the management comapy are just trying their luck to try and get me to pay for a new deed of covenant which they can charge for...?

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Land_Registry

The details don't all make complete sense and I assume you have copied and pasted some info from details provided to you by your solicitor/management company - it may help others if you could clarify it a little more?

You state that the management company are asking for evidence that the Deed of Covenant or a covenant was inserted in the Transfer to me - this reads as being something quite separate from the remortgage so are they (as they are new in 2012) simply trying to fill in what they believe might be blanks re their records from the time you actually bought the flat?

You don't have a record either so it might be helpful to confirm what the wording in the lease is and/or the restriction wording on the title re the deed of covenant is? - if your solicitor had to supply a certificate confirming that you had signed a deed of covenant then we would presumably have a copy of that certificate but not the deed itself. If it was in the Transfer itself as a separate clause then a copy of the Transfer should also be available from us.

If your solicitor no longer exists then check with the Solicitors Regulation Authority to see which firm took over their work/files as they may have the details you now need.

normalpeopleworryme

OK - the restriction in the lease

"except under an order of the registrar no transfer assent or other dealing by the proprietor of the premises shall be registered unless and until a certificate has been given by a director or secretary of the solicitor of [...]residents association Ltd that such a transfer assent or other dealing does not contravene clause 3 of lease."

Management company saying "[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]we need to see evidence that you entered into a Deed of Covenant with the Manager when you bought the property.[/FONT][/FONT]"

normalpeopleworryme

Hi all,

any thoughts on this...?

Shahni

From LR rep's post:

Land_Registry_representative wrote: »

if your solicitor had to supply a certificate confirming that you had signed a deed of covenant then we would presumably have a copy of that certificate but not the deed itself. If it was in the Transfer itself as a separate clause then a copy of the Transfer should also be available from us.

If your solicitor no longer exists then check with the Solicitors Regulation Authority to see which firm took over their work/files as they may have the details you now need.

Have you approached the Land Registry for a copy of the certificate or transfer?

Have you approached the SRA to see which firm took over from the firm you used to see whether they have a copy of the documents?

normalpeopleworryme

Found out who has got the files, awaiting a response from them...

normalpeopleworryme

OK, got the following info from the residents association:

[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]you require the Certificate of Compliance in respect of the Land Registry application. [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]In order to be able to issue the Certificate, we will require certified copies of the relevant Notice of Charge be forwarded to this office with a Notice Registration fee of £60.00 plus VAT in order to maintain accurate records of the mortgagee.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman,serif][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]The restriction also states that a Deed of Covenant should have been entered into at the time of your client, Ms Black’s, purchase of the property. Please provide a copy of this either via post or email so that we can confirm that this has been complied with.

The company that hold my original solicitors files have been unable to locate them, but say this shouldn't be a problem because: "[/FONT][/FONT]The majority of Titles are registered electronically at the Land Registry. You can obtain a copy of the register from the Land Registry directly. This is the document which has replaced Title Deeds, and contains information showing the owner of the property or land as well as any other relevant information including any charges against a property.

To sell a property, a copy of the register current at the time is the only document you would need and this will be obtained from Land Registry by your chosen lawyer to enable him to prepare the contract."

Land_Registry

Important to remember here that the Deed of covenant you/they refer to is quite separate from the 'certificate' mentioned in the restriction and I very much doubt that the Deed (if entered into) was ever submitted to us.

The certificate I suspect will take the form of a letter signed by the Director/Secretary etc and which simply states 'I/We hereby certify.........' as it is that line which makes it a certificate.