Title Transfer - Santander will not answer letters etc

ninthace

I am currently selling my house. During the conveyancing, it came to light that the title to some of my garden belongs to my 4 neighbours. They do not have an issue, the boundary has always been where it is, this an error in registering the title in Land Registry at the time of construction. All my neighbours have happily signed TP1s transferring their title to me.

2 of the properties have mortgages, one with Halifax and one with Santander. Halifax have happily signed off the DS3 but Santander will not respond to repeated faxes, emails or letters from my solicitor nor will they discuss the matter with him on the phone because he is not on their panel. As a result, we are in danger of losing the sale.

What can we do to get Santander to respond?

davidmcn

Have your neighbours contacted Santander? Is your solicitor also acting for your neighbours? Have Santander said that they need a panel solicitor to act for them?

ninthace

My neighbour has been in touch with Santander but to no effect that I am aware of. He is prepared to let my solicitor act for him as there is no conflict of interest in this case as it is in both parties and the lenders interest to correct the error. My solicitor asked that Santander call him as soon as they got his fax/email/letter. That was on 30 June. Since then nothing. We just want to talk to them to find out what they want.

Halifax were quite happy to deal with my solicitor and let him act for both parties.

davidmcn

Whatever Halifax have done, I wouldn't expect a lender to speak to somebody else's solicitor without an instruction from their customer authorising them to do so. Normally the customer will need to contact them directly in the first place, asking for their consent to releasing part of the property from their charge.

It is likely though that Santander will want a panel solicitor to act for them, as they'll need confirmation from a solicitor they trust that the change won't adversely affect them.

G_M

Santander has a contract (mortage) with your neighbour, not with you.

I am therefore not surprised that Santander will not communicate with you, or with a solicitor acting for you.

They will, however, communicate with their client (your neighbour) or his solicitor (providing of course he instructs a solicitor on their panel).

Has your neighbour written to them himself about this? If yes, and they have not replied, then he ( not you or your solicitor!) should raise a formal complaint.

Of course, they may decide that removing this segment of garden from his Title reduces the value of their security (his house) so they may refuse their consent.

The only surprising part of your post is that Halifax have responded to your solicitor!

ninthace

As far as I know he has done that. He has his copy of the TP1 and has rung them. I do not know what he has been told. His house has a tenant in it so we are working at a distance but solicitor is in touch with him. What I do not understand is why Santander refuses to respond to us if only to say that is what they require. Technically, the property has never been in their charge. It is drawing error that has not been picked up in at least 5 sets of conveyancing.

This is the only issue that is preventing us exchanging contracts and my advice, supported by the Halfax response, is that Santander should discharge it.

I have suggested we lodge £5k of the purchase price with my solicitor pending successful completion of the title transfer. My purchaser has already completed on his sale and is in storage waiting the outcome so he is losing out too.

david1951

Unfortunately it sounds like you can only chase the neighbour and hope they chase santander on your behalf. I had a similar situation once and the bank were not interested in rushing at all. They refused to fax any documents and sent stuff 2nd class post.

You might just have to be a bit pushy with the neighbour, awkward as it may be.

ninthace

GM My solicitor wrote to Halifax. Halifax acknowledged and told him they would write to their customer which they did. The customer took the Halifax letter to a solicitor, discussed it and signed it. The solicitor returned it to Halifax. Halifax then approved the title transfer. I cannot understand why Santander cannot do the same. I accept the contract is between my neighbour and Santander but it is to everyone's benefit to address the matter rather than ignore it.
As I said, the boundary of the properties has been unchanged since the day all the houses were built. The builder planned one boundary, built another and nobody noticed. The error came as a surprise to everyone, which begs the question as to what all the solicitors involved in the sale of the houses were doing but I shall address that separately depending on what losses I incur.

G_M

ninthace wrote: »

GM My solicitor wrote to Halifax. Halifax acknowledged and told him they would write to their customer which they did. The customer took the Halifax letter to a solicitor, discussed it and signed it. The solicitor returned it to Halifax. Halifax then approved the title transfer.
What Halifax chose to do is irrelevant.
I cannot understand why Santander cannot do the same.
Santander is not part of the same banking group so will follow its own procedures. If that includes not communicating with 3rd parties with whom it has no relationship, then that's what they will do.
I accept the contract is between my neighbour and Santander but it is to everyone's benefit to address the matter rather than ignore it.
Errr..... no. It's to your benefit, and possibly your neighbour's (though he's about to lose some land he could possibly lay claim to). It is not to Santander's benefit. Makes no fifference either way to them. Or rather, there is potential for them to lose part of their security.....

As I said, the boundary of the properties has been unchanged since the day all the houses were built. The builder planned one boundary, built another and nobody noticed. The error came as a surprise to everyone, which begs the question as to what all the solicitors involved in the sale of the houses were doing but I shall address that separately depending on what losses I incur.

The solicitors involved in the various sales would have had no way of knowing that the physical boundaries were not built as per the Plans, unless someone (eg the buyers), told them. Solicitors do not do site visits to compare actual boundaries with Plans!

The onus is therefore on the buyers to check the documents the solicitors send them (in this case the Plans) and compare them with the land being handed over.

ninthace

G_M wrote: »

The solicitors involved in the various sales would have had no way of knowing that the physical boundaries were not built as per the Plans, unless someone (eg the buyers), told them. Solicitors do not do site visits to compare actual boundaries with Plans!

The onus is therefore on the buyers to check the documents the solicitors send them (in this case the Plans) and compare them with the land being handed over.

Funny you should say that but the matter only came up because my purchaser's solicitor asked for confirmation of the boundaries against the Land Registry plan and it was me that pointed out the error. Also, when I bought the property there was a question over a different boundary so I sent my solicitor photographs of all the boundaries at the time of purchase. Had the boundary now in question been as per plan, it would not have been the straight fence I sent him a photo of but rather a zig zag fence. I still have copies of the email and his acknowledgement with mention of sending it to the Land Registry. Incidentally, the plot now in question is a triangle with sides of around 5ft so I doubt it is worth a lot to Santander.