Remortgage & Deed of Postponement

Rock2000

Hi I am currently going through a remortgage. I have a secured loan on the property and have paid a fee of £180 to Optimal Legal for the Deed of Postponement. The loan company has confirmed to me that they have not agreed the amount of the remortgage after I was told by my mortgage advisor that they had... We have now amended the remortgage amount so they we can pay off the secured loan so will no longer need a Deed of Postponement - I have asked Optimal Legal when the £180 fee will be refunded and they have said that they are unable to refund 'we have already drafted the Deed of Postponement and sent it to Central Trust Limited. Even though they have declined postponing the charge the fee is non-refundable' I don't think this is OK as i have essentially thrown away £180 which i can ill afford to do! I don't see how £180 is a justified amount to charge but I had paid it in good faith – how are these companies allowed to get away with this sort of thing?? Is there any way I can dispute this or am i not living in the real world?? Thanks in advance

libf

You asked them to do something, they did it. Why shouldn't they be paid for that? It's not their problem that you changed your mind later on...

If you didn't agree with what they were charging, you should have queried that before paying it.

You can try making a complaint, but I don't expect you would get anywhere with it.

Rock2000

I understand what you are saying I agree in parts but I didn't just change my mind, we couldn't move forward as the loan company didn't agree the amount so with that logic I could argue that it's not my fault they didn't agree. I paid the £180 as I didn't feel I had a choice as I didn't bring Optimal Legal in - they contacted us on behalf of the people we are remortgaging with

Thrugelmir

Rock2000 wrote: »

I don't see how £180 is a justified amount to charge but I had paid it in good faith – how are these companies allowed to get away with this sort of thing??

£30 of the fee will be in respect of VAT. The £150 will be the charge for a professional persons time. Not just their salary but all the the on costs of doing business.

libf

Rock2000 wrote: »

I understand what you are saying I agree in parts but I didn't just change my mind, we couldn't move forward as the loan company didn't agree the amount so with that logic I could argue that it's not my fault they didn't agree. I paid the £180 as I didn't feel I had a choice as I didn't bring Optimal Legal in - they contacted us on behalf of the people we are remortgaging with

Okay, so you didn't 'change your mind' but you still engaged them to perform a service, which they did, regardless of whether you still require that service after the fact or not.

Just because they contact you doesn't mean you had to use them. You could've picked any conveyancing firm to act for you.

Try a complaint if you really think you've been hard done by.

kingstreet

What is more alarming is someone submitted a remortgage application expecting a second charge to remain in place without establishing the second charge holder's position on the postponement beforehand.

It is that which has resulted in the OP spending unnecessarily and now having to consolidate the loan into the remortgage.

I would be asking the "advisor's" firm for a review of this case and would consider a complaint.