Nightmare remortgage - is there anything I can do?

wildog

Hi,

I'm currently going through a very long and stressful process of remortgaging to a different bank that has already cost me £995 on a product fee for an application that expired (and they want another £995 to apply again) and excessive payments on a standard variable rate. Along the way, I feel that a mistake has been made by two separate solicitors and the bank has told me a porky pie..

It started in February this year, I went through a transfer of equity to remove an ex from the titles using a solicitor's firm who I will name as Solicitor X (it's not supposed to sound seedy!). The transfer of the title was 'completed' in April and I applied for the new mortgage in May.

It was all going smoothly up until the mortgage offer was sent to myself and the new bank's third party solicitor working on my behalf (free legal fees). I will name them Solicitor Y oh Y.

Solicitor Y oh Y informed me that there was an issue with the transfer of title deeds performed by Solicitor X, there was a strange set up on my house in which I owned the freehold and leasehold title. Solicitor X were aware of this but failed to perform the transfer of title for both parts, and had only done this on the leasehold - effectively meaning my ex still owned half of the freehold despite paying a painful amount to buy them out.

Solicitor X acknowledged the error but it took until early August to amend it causing the initial offer to expire. In this case, the bank allowed me to extend it.

At around the same time I received a mail from Solicitor Y oh Y asking for an update on the title deed amendment and to inform me that a document pack had been sent to complete. I responded to say:
"I received a letter yesterday to sign from my solicitors (Solicitor X) which will hopefully be with them by Monday.
I understand that they have had the necessary documents signed for the freehold title by the other (ex) owner."

Now, I understand that perhaps this could be taken as ambiguous but to me it seemed obvious that I was informed Solicitor Y oh Y that Solicitor X had received all the relevant paperwork from the ex and would receive all the paperwork from me by Monday (give or take a day).

On top of that, the documents I received from Solicitor Y oh Y stated that I didn't need to contact them again and they would notify me upon completion of the new offer.

Hoorah - I thought.

Anyway, two months later (now into October) and I'm getting a bit concerned - I hadn't heard anything but the online case update looked fine, no blockers or requests for information mentioned. I sent Solicitor Y oh Y an email asking for an update, they responded to tell me that they were waiting on confirmation from me that the title deeds had been transferred (as per my previous email to them in August). On top of that, the mortgage offer had also expired at the end of September.

So, I phoned the bank and asked for another extension explaining the delays with both solicitors and this time they denied. I had paid £995 for the product fee upfront which they will not reimburse.

Finally I asked the bank if they'd waive the £995 product fee if I stayed with them, as after all it was them that declined my extension and not me wanting to use a different product - I was informed that YES - they would waive it if I stayed with them but wouldn't reimburse it otherwise.

Well, today I was called with the new product offer and low and behold - they told me they couldn't waive the new £995 fee.

What on earth can I do? It seems like everybody is out to shaft me. I'm concerned now that if I pull out and user a bank with a better rate (which does exist), then I'll be liable to pay legal fees to Solicitor Y oh Y for not completing on the mortgage with their bank?!

If anybody has actually read to the end of this I will be amazed, but you will also be my hero if you have a good response.

Many Thanks,
Wildog

Mr.Generous

Q. why would the solicitor work for the bank do it for free for the customer?
A. Because they are so useless and incompetent they can only get work this way.
Talk to the solicitor about consequential loss, ask them is this their normal service, if it is then complain, if its not then what are they going to do to remedy the situation. Threaten them with a complaint to the legal ombudsman and the solicitors regulation authority. But most importantly NEVER EVER use the recommended or free solicitor suggested by anyone with a business arrangement with them. They are absolutely utterly useless in almost every case.

marmaruser

All 3 parties are liable partially. But taking this case with some other solicitors/Bank is going to cost more.