Removing a secured debt from land registry

bluejulie

My ex bought a car and secured the debt on the property 10 years ago. After court cases and struggling with debt caused by him, our property was transferred to me but I am now in a situation when his car debt is registered as a charge on the land registry document. I am not planning to sell but I'm in a process of a new lease and the charge has to be removed.
I had written to Toyota and asked them to remove the charge( my ex was made bankrupt and the charge was included in his bankruptcy) but they had informed me that a solicitor is dealing with the case and I should refer my queries to him. I have written to him but he's adamant that I'll have to pay approximately £10 000 if I want the charge removed.
As far as I know the car was even taken by Toyota as he couldn't keep up with the repayments and it wasn't worth more than £3000. With all the interest it's up to £10 000 and I wasn't even aware of it.

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome. Should I apply directly to Land Registry and ask for the charge to be removed and explain all of the above or there is no point?

sourcrates

Hi,

As the debt was a secured debt, it may not of been included in his bankruptcy.
Who buys a car with a secured loan anyway ?

Was the house in joint names originally ?

If so, they will only have a restriction, not a full charge.

bluejulie

Thanks for your response. Yes, the house was in joint names and after court proceeding transferred to me. Ex says it was included in the bankruptcy but the solicitor who is dealing with the case insists that the amount is paid before the removal of the restriction . I tried negotiating a lower amount but again no agreement.
Any suggestions???

sourcrates

If the house was in joint names, then they could not of put a full charge on the house, only a restriction.

As the debt was in his name, it should of been removed when transferred to you surely ?

Have a read through this thread, it is very long, but contains some good info :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1839539

Have you contacted land registry direct about this ?

bluejulie

I will read it ..........thanks!
I know it should have been removed but the judge only said the solicitors should be able to deal with it. I had a useless solicitor who charged me app £1000 to be told I have to pay it.

fatbelly

The rights of secured lenders are not affected by bankruptcy.

However if the property is now solely in your name then there cannot be a charge in someone else's name on the property - it would have had to have been dealt with at the time of transfer.

You need to check what's actually recorded at the Land Registry and take it from there.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

sourcrates

fatbelly wrote: »

The rights of secured lenders are not affected by bankruptcy.

However if the property is now solely in your name then there cannot be a charge in someone else's name on the property - it would have had to have been dealt with at the time of transfer.

You need to check what's actually recorded at the Land Registry and take it from there.

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

Exactly my point, I would possibly put in a complaint about the legal advice you received on this, as it looks like your so called solicitor was, shall we say, not very competent !!

bluejulie

I have just paid and have a fresh land registry document. The charge exists as it is secured against the property.

fatbelly

The concept of securing one person's debt against another person's property...

(sound of fatbelly and sourcrates' heads exploding)

The thread sourcrates linked to earlier has regular postings by Eggbox (who specialises in this stuff) and the Land Registry Representative.

I think what you're asking is right up their street so suggest you post there. I'm sure there must be a bit of the jigsaw we are missing.

bluejulie

Thank you ! I'll get in touch with them.

eggbox

fatbelly wrote: »

The concept of securing one person's debt against another person's property...

The crucial point to remember is that it wasn't "another persons" property when the Charging Order was granted; the debt was secured against the debtors asset when it was still in his possession?

As the Land Registry have confirmed on the "CO the Myth" thread; transferring a property does not remove a Form K Restriction as no overreaching occurs.

All a debtor does, when relinquishing their interest a property, is transfer their share of the property over to the other joint owner. If that share happens to have a CO registered against it then that part won't be affected by a transfer.