Interim charging order holding up remortgaging

SA789

Hello all,

First time poster on MSE. Just wanted to see if anyone could offer any advice or has been in a similar situation to myself and can guide me through the steps I should take.

Essentially, I am a solo interest-only mortgage holder who is looking to re-mortgage to a jointly-owned repayment mortgage with my son on the property we both currently reside in. We have received the mortgage offer however, the bank appointed solicitor who is handling the conveyancing has noted that there are two interim charging orders on the property register relating to a single creditor for a dispute which I had back in 2011. These charges are under my name and need to be settled before the re-mortgage can complete.

Back in 2011, I let a solicitor handle all aspects of the dispute without any input or intervention and buried my head in the sand (which I sincerely regret). I did not attend the final hearing so I am unsure of the final decision made by the courts and the only thing I know is that the solicitor told me that I had lost the case and the charge would be applied to my house. I did not receive any correspondence to confirm this fact and the solicitor is now out of the picture.

I just wanted to get some advice on what my options are at this stage? I have had no communication with the creditor and I am cautious to approach them before I get some advice.

It is worth noting that the charges remain as interim charges and never changed to 'final'. Unsure why there is more than one?

I will be seeking legal advice but was hoping to get some thoughts on the matter before I do so. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

G_M

Contact the creditor or instruct the solicitor to do so on your behalf.
Establish how much you owe.
Pay the debt.
Get the orders removed.
Re-mortgage and transfer the propety into joint names.

SA789

G_M wrote: »

Contact the creditor or instruct the solicitor to do so on your behalf.
Establish how much you owe.
Pay the debt.
Get the orders removed.
Re-mortgage and transfer the propety into joint names.

Thanks G_M - looking through old paper work, it seems that the debt has been accruing interest (I did not know about this until the remortgaging) and considering the original debt was for around 20k, I will simply be unable to pay back the debt in one lump sum.

Does this mean we will be unable to remortgage? Would a creditor be willing to remove the charge if we are able to come to some other arrangement, say an affordable monthly instalment plan? Considering the rate of interest, the debt would be growing faster than any repayments made.

davidmcn

SA789 wrote: »

I will simply be unable to pay back the debt in one lump sum.

Even with the funds from the new mortgage? Can you increase what you're borrowing to cover it?

SA789

davidmcn wrote: »

Even with the funds from the new mortgage? Can you increase what you're borrowing to cover it?

The new mortgage is to essentially allow my son to take over the current mortgage as I am unable to repay the capital and the mortgage is coming to the end of its interest only term. Essentially, I am transferring the equity to our joint names. We will definitely not be able to borrow any more as even borrowing the amount we need to now has had to go through an underwriter review process

G_M

SA789 wrote: »

The new mortgage is to essentially allow my son to take over the current mortgage as I am unable to repay the capital and the mortgage is coming to the end of its interest only term. Essentially, I am transferring the equity to our joint names. We will definitely not be able to borrow any more as even borrowing the amount we need to now has had to go through an underwriter review process

So you are transferring the equity/property ownership to son so that he can help pay off the mortgage yes?


Why not leave it with the current lender, n your sole name, but let your son help pay your mortgage? Either as a one-off loan, or as a monthly loan?


You could document the loan (or series of monthly loans) from your son, with an agreement that it would be repaid if/when you sell the property, or on your death (whichever came sooner).


That way you avoid the problems of remorguaging, but your son still has the financial security that he would have got from joint ownership.

Fire_Fox

SA789 wrote: »

Back in 2011, I let a solicitor handle all aspects of the dispute without any input or intervention and buried my head in the sand (which I sincerely regret). I did not attend the final hearing so I am unsure of the final decision made by the courts and the only thing I know is that the solicitor told me that I had lost the case and the charge would be applied to my house. I did not receive any correspondence to confirm this fact and the solicitor is now out of the picture ....

Thanks G_M - looking through old paper work, it seems that the debt has been accruing interest (I did not know about this until the remortgaging) and considering the original debt was for around 20k, I will simply be unable to pay back the debt in one lump sum.

Does this mean we will be unable to remortgage? Would a creditor be willing to remove the charge if we are able to come to some other arrangement, say an affordable monthly instalment plan? Considering the rate of interest, the debt would be growing faster than any repayments made ...

.... as I am unable to repay the capital and the mortgage is coming to the end of its interest only term.

Welcome to MSE.

No criticism or judgement implied just bluntly worded questions.

How did you pay the solicitor back in 2011? Could their fees be one of the charges?

Given the history, why would this creditor convert a secured debt to an unsecured one? How would you consistently fund monthly installments, without making yourself ill with stress? Any mutual acquaintances willing and able to mediate?

Would be worth posting as much information as you have on this debt and interest rates on the excellent Debt-free Wannabe board here on MSE. Interest can be frozen, it may even have been as part of the judgement if you are lucky.

(((hugs))) if that helps a little.

SA789

G_M wrote: »

So you are transferring the equity/property ownership to son so that he can help pay off the mortgage yes?


Why not leave it with the current lender, n your sole name, but let your son help pay your mortgage? Either as a one-off loan, or as a monthly loan?


You could document the loan (or series of monthly loans) from your son, with an agreement that it would be repaid if/when you sell the property, or on your death (whichever came sooner).


That way you avoid the problems of remorguaging, but your son still has the financial security that he would have got from joint ownership.

Hi G_M, Apologies for getting back to you so late. My mortgage term expires in July 2020 with approximately 200k of the capital outstanding - its just not possible for it to be paid back in time even with your suggestion so the mortgage was the only way to go. The building society is not willing to extend the term at all considering my age.

I believe the only way around this is to come sort of agreement for a full and final (reduced) settlement but unsure how this would work in practise considering they have the charge on the house already and will recover their money regardless.

SA789

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Welcome to MSE.

No criticism or judgement implied just bluntly worded questions.

How did you pay the solicitor back in 2011? Could their fees be one of the charges?

Given the history, why would this creditor convert a secured debt to an unsecured one? How would you consistently fund monthly installments, without making yourself ill with stress? Any mutual acquaintances willing and able to mediate?

Would be worth posting as much information as you have on this debt and interest rates on the excellent Debt-free Wannabe board here on MSE. Interest can be frozen, it may even have been as part of the judgement if you are lucky.

(((hugs))) if that helps a little.

Firefox - thank you for your words. I will create a thread on the debt-free board to hopefully redirect my issue towards the actual debt which needs to be paid off. Hopefully someone over there is able to help out but I appreciate your guidance!

Phildb1

Hello,
Any advice on a similar but very frustrating situation we have at present.
We have a similar problem with an interim charging order holding up the remortgage process for me and my wife.
Whislt going through the stages of the remortgage a check of the Land Registry title revealed a restriction order on our property in the name of Tessera Management Ltd, 5th Floor, Maitland House, Warrior Square, Southend on Sea SS1 2JS. This was made at the Southend County Court on 12/10/2007. It originally was a CCJ that ended up as the restriction.
We made payments to these people through an associate company linked to Tessera called Rockwell. these payments were made to this company up until Feb 2014 when they were discontinued. We have heard nothing more from them or anyone since and always assumed the debt to be cleared, but never received proper notification that this was the case.
Upon recent enquiring however we have discovered that Tessera or Rockwell no longer exist, they were dissolved somewhere around 2012/2013 so there is no one to contact regarding the eventual fate of the debt and more importantly that it was satisfied. If this was the case certainly the Land registry Office were not informed that this was so.
So now we have a problem in that the Mortgage company want the restriction removed before continuing with the remortgage, the restriction charging order still exists, but the company named does not exist, and there is no record of who may have taken over from Tessera to confirm the information I need to clear the charging order, that the debt is gone, or still exists. My estimation of payments made indicate that a substantial part of the debt was cleared, but I am not sure if it all was cleared.
Unfortunately I do not have any original documentation or court papers that could confirm who the original debt was to, account number, amount outstanding etc.
I also feel that if money was still outstanding somebody would have been chasing after us, but after nearly 6 years no one has.
We have applied to the Land registry office to have the restriction removed but it was turned down due to lack of evidence stating they would need:
* A court order discharging the charging order
* A receipt for the money secured endorsed on a copy of the charging order(stays of signatory must be made clear)
* Form DS1 suitably amended
* A receipt for payment of the money secured
It is rather difficult to carry out any of these requests without the original company, in that Tessera being dissolved and uncontactable.
So in conclusion we are at loss where to turn to next to progress the restriction removal and the continuation of our remortgage. Any advice or information would be very gratefully received. Sorry its a long message. Thank you.

davidmcn

Phildb1 wrote: »

a restriction order on our property in the name of Tessera Management Ltd, 5th Floor, Maitland House, Warrior Square, Southend on Sea SS1 2JS....
Upon recent enquiring however we have discovered that Tessera or Rockwell no longer exist, they were dissolved somewhere around 2012/2013

Are you sure you have the company name correct? I can't see anything matching "Tessera Management Limited". Do you have the company number? There are some similarly-named companies still existing, are you sure they didn't take over?

If this was the case certainly the Land registry Office were not informed that this was so.

Interests owned by dissolved companies don't themselves disappear in a puff of smoke, they'll stay on the register until something else happens.

they would need:
* A court order discharging the charging order
* A receipt for the money secured endorsed on a copy of the charging order(stays of signatory must be made clear)
* Form DS1 suitably amended
* A receipt for payment of the money secured
It is rather difficult to carry out any of these requests without the original company, in that Tessera being dissolved and uncontactable.

But not impossible. If the creditor company was dissolved, any assets it had would be "inherited" by the Treasury Solicitor. So if you knew you still owed something (and how much), it would be a relatively straightforward process to pay that amount to the Treasury Solicitor and get them to discharge the charge.

It becomes more complex if there isn't anything owed, because the fact their name is still on the register isn't an "asset" which the Treasury Solicitor can do anything with. But I expect there must be a court procedure enabling you to cite the Treasury Solicitor and anybody else who might want to object to the charge being removed.