More than one title- mortgage 28 February 2019 at 4:13PM in Mortgages & endowments 15 replies 2.2K views

Onlyforboards

Hi all, Has anyone successfully bought a property on more than one domestic title?
I was due to complete and exchange last week, my full deposit with the solicitor, when my mortgage company queried the titles (house, garage,garden). They are straight forward, all one type, no covenants, all in one name.
They would not accept my solicitor amalgamating on completion (despite originally asking for this) without an undertaking that this application would be successful. My solicitor says they cannot give this undertaking as it is dependant on the land registry.
We are now asking the vendor to merge. Seven months in..

If you have managed to buy a house on more than one title, how did it proceed for you?

The land registry says separate titles should make no difference to a lender. Where I live land is cut up all sorts of ways so I am not sure how everyone else is lending if such an undertaking is required.
Replies much appreciated.

davidmcn

I'm not sure why the lender would have a concern. It's not that unusual. Have they (or your solicitor) given an explanation?

Onlyforboards

Hi, thanks for the reply. No reason at all, just a very last minute (today, a week after exchange was due!) no.

Thrugelmir

Well if your solicitor, who also happens to represent the lenders interests, cannot provide an assurance. Why should the lender be exposed to any degree of risk. After all it's your money that you are using to fund the purchase. The titles are their security. Selling piecemeal would be costly and perhaps not realise the same value.

Onlyforboards

Hi Thrugelmir, thanks for your reply. All the titles are included in the purchase, as far as the land registry are concerned they can put a charge on them all to protect their interests so nothing would be sold piecemeal,as far as I can see, but I am interested it this actually is the reason someone else may have come across.

Onlyforboards

Unless you mean selling to a debt collector if I default.

Mrs36

How odd!

I purchased a property two years ago held on two titles (house and part of garden on one, and the rest of the grounds on another). It was no problem, and no one ever mentioned it, as I recall. Mortgage lender is named on title for both (not saying that this is correct in all cases, of course, more that it can be done.

Has the lender clarified their issue with it?

Wobblydeb

Hmmmmmm your solicitor should be best placed to advise - and also to persuade the bank if it is a genuinely straight forward situation. We had an odd situation with 3 titles relevant to ours - a head lease, a sub lease and a freehold.

If I remember it correctly, our solicitor advised us to get the vendor to sort out the complicated bit which was acquiring the freehold for the leasehold, and being released from the head lease.

Once we were down to the freehold titles, they were amalgamated on completion ... I believe.

Even if the process was relatively straight forward it did take time and I am sure cost the vendor a chunk of legal fees i was glad not to pay.

davidmcn

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The titles are their security. Selling piecemeal would be costly and perhaps not realise the same value.

They'd only be selling piecemeal if they chose to. They just register their charge over all the titles and can repossess the whole lot. I don't see the problem.

MoneyGeoff

I bought (and later sold) a property that had two titles (one for the house and front garden and a separate one for the back garden). It didn't cause any delays in the conveyancing process. My solicitor flagged it up so I asked the land registry about it and they said it's fine, and not that uncommon, and it's a fair amount of work for them to merge them so it's best just to leave as is.

One thing that did annoy me a bit is that when I came to sell the house, I discovered that my purchase from several years early did not show up on any of the popular house buying websites. It did show on the land registry, but nowhere else. The land registry said it was because the feed they send to other websites doesn't include sales that involve multiple titles.

Now the thing is that these website show average sales price by area. I lived in an area with very few sales, so by excluding my purchase from the data it reduced the average sales price in my area by tens of thousands. Most people don't use such info of course, but some do. So it is possible it can effect the price when you come to sell.

Thrugelmir

davidmcn wrote: »

They'd only be selling piecemeal if they chose to. They just register their charge over all the titles and can repossess the whole lot. I don't see the problem.

The solicitor appears to have reservations though. Which triggered my original comment.