Removing an incorrect charge on a property

our_house

We are currently being held up due to an incorrect charge on the property, to everyone's frustration. We were ready to exchange and complete last week until this cropped up.

The charge comes from before the current owner moved in. Vendor solicitor has requested that this is removed. I've been told that this would take 3 working days but almost two weeks later here we are. Both solicitors seem to be waiting update from the land registry.

Does anybody know how long this process actually takes and what I can do to hurry it along?

Any chance of this compromising the purchase as it is my ideal home?

Thanks for help!

EDIT: To clarify, this charge is from the previous owner's mortgage, which was not removed after the current owner completed the purchase.

davidmcn

Depends what you mean by "incorrect"...

our_house

davidmcn wrote: »

Depends what you mean by "incorrect"...

I wondered this too. Does the fact that it comes from before the current owner purchased the house mean it is incorrect by default? It is from the previous mortgage lender AFAIK.

our_house

To clarify, this charge is from the previous owner's mortgage, which was not removed after the current owner completed the purchase.

Sambella

In my job I sometimes apply to have statutory charges added or removed. We get asked to remove them by solicitors. We apply for removal (we pay cost of removal) and tell the solicitors how many days it is estimated to take and for them to perform another search to ensure removal.

So the mortgage company who added the charge are the ones who need to remove the charge not the solicitor. He merely asks the mortgage company to do so. If the mortgage co doesn’t have a policy to inform them of when the charge is removed then the solicitor should perform another search.

AnotherJoe

Find the land registry thread in here and post on that then you can get in direct contact and see what they can do to speed up the process

davidmcn

Not really "incorrect" if it should have been there originally but just hasn't been removed.

If it's just a previous owner's mortgage which hasn't been discharged, then it takes as long as it takes the relevant lender to discharge it. I presume they've been contacted and that's where the quoted three working days comes from? Really up to their turnaround time - if it's an old account (and you don't have the account number etc) then it can take longer for them to trace it and be convinced that they don't need the mortgage any more.

That is, of course, assuming that they were fully repaid at the time. But they usually were.