Santander being awkward releasing deeds/charge over property

chat01

Hi, I am trying to obtain the 'deeds' to my late fathers house in order that we can sell it. By that I mean Santander have retained a charge over the property following repayment of the Abbey National mortgage over 20 years ago. I believe this is the 'Deedsafe Scheme'.

The house was owned jointly with my step mum, who pre-deceased him by some 15 years.

The house was owned as tenants in common with a 50% split.

She left a Will but no other assets of note other than her 50% share of the house. My father was an Executor (and Trustee) of her Will.

My father did not advise Santander (or Abbey National at that time) that she had died.

She left her 50% beneficial interest in the property into a Trust via her Will, of which my father was a Trustee. Her Will gave my father powers to stay in the house until he passed away, at which time, the 50% was to be distributed to her three children (my step-brothers and sister).

Upon my fathers death I contacted Santander to advise of his death and sent them a death certificate; it was at this time that I realised he had not notified them of step-mums death 15 years ago as they wrote out to her. I responded to this letter and sent them her death certificate.

Santander replied and advised that I would require Probate for each of them before they would 'release the title deeds'. They confirmed that there was no money outstanding on the mortgage.


Upon receipt of Probate for my father I wrote to Santander and advised them that Probate has not been obtained for my step-mum and that we had no intention of applying for Probate. I forwarded them a copy of her Will which I explained to them appointed my father as Executor and Trustee and given that he had passed gave me as his Executor the ability to act in his capacity as Executor/Trustee of her Will.

Seven weeks have passed and following a chase up call where they admitted last week that nothing had been done with my letter I have today received a response from them advising that they require probate for step-mum.

I'm inclined to simply pass this onto a solicitor to deal with (i need to appoint one for the property sale anyhow) and get them to deal with Santander.

However I just wondered if they, as Mortgage Company (with no debt outstanding), can dictate that we get Probate so that they will release the deeds/charge?

Any thoughts?

Thank you.

Keep_pedalling

Have you spoken to the bereavement team?

tel:0800 587 5870

chat01

Hi, yes that is who I have been dealing with.

SevenOfNine

Anyone with their deeds in Santanders 'deedsafe scheme' should get them out. They keep £10 as outstanding mortgage so there's still a 'charge' on the property, & store the deeds for free.

So to all intents & purposes chat01, there IS an outstanding mortgage on the property, as far as Santander are concerned, ridiculous as that seems.

Annoyingly, then when someone dies it's not the simple case of requesting the deeds (which mostly people don't exactly need anyway, as long as the property has been registered with Land Registry, the original deeds became much less of an important document).

Bit different to your case OP because of the trust, but when my MiL died whole house transferred to FiL (as joint tenants). When he died Santander wanted £10 to clear the 'mortgage' & remove the charge, plus £50 or so 'admin fee'.

We were applying for probate anyway so it was just an added nuisance, Advice from a solicitor might be cheaper & faster than probate for you, particularly with the added incentive of being employed to handle the sale.

Keep_pedalling

chat01 wrote: »

Hi, yes that is who I have been dealing with.

Then I think you are stuck. Probate and registering the change of ownership should have be done by your SM’s executors, but it seems none of that was done, so technically the bank can insist on this.

If any of her executors are still alive then it would seem the simplest and least expensive option would be for them to actually apply for probate. If there are no executors one of your step siblings will need to apply for letters of administration. Getting a solicitor to sort this out could be time consuming and expensive.

Keep_pedalling

SevenOfNine wrote: »

Anyone with their deeds in Santanders 'deedsafe scheme' should get them out. They keep £10 as outstanding mortgage so there's still a 'charge' on the property, & store the deeds for free.

So to all intents & purposes chat01, there IS an outstanding mortgage on the property, as far as Santander are concerned, ridiculous as that seems.

Annoyingly, then when someone dies it's not the simple case of requesting the deeds (which mostly people don't exactly need anyway, as long as the property has been registered with Land Registry, the original deeds became much less of an important document).

Bit different to your case OP because of the trust, but when my MiL died whole house transferred to FiL (as joint tenants). When he died Santander wanted £10 to clear the 'mortgage' & remove the charge, plus £50 or so 'admin fee'.

We were applying for probate anyway so it was just an added nuisance, Advice from a solicitor might be cheaper & faster than probate for you, particularly with the added incentive of being employed to handle the sale.

I have never known a solicitor to be faster or cheaper when it comes to matters of probate, and solicitors who’s day to day work is house sales may not be the best choice to handle probate issues.

No harm in getting initial advice from them though.

TonyMMM

As far as Santander are concerned, 50% of the legal ownership of the house remains with your step-mum, or at least with her estate. As this was not dealt with properly at the time, you (or someone) will have to apply for probate (or administration) to deal with it.

This isn't an unusual situation between married couples, and only gets noticed on the 2nd death.

Brynsam

The issue isn't getting hold of the deeds (assuming the property was registered at the Land Registry, you can download for for a small charge), but the fact there is a charge on the property. Given that your father and stepmother held it as tenants in common, and he was only left a life interest in the property (rather than being left the property outright), Santander are not being deliberately 'awkward' as you understandably feel, but simply following a process which, annoying as it is, needs to be followed.

Get the probate ball rolling as soon as possible, given the delays at Probate Offices.