Name removed from Land Register

rockyp48

My husband and I are remortgaging at the moment and we have just had a letter from the mortgage company advising they have checked the land registry and only my name is on it so they can’t offer us a joint mortgage. We have had a joint mortgage since we bought the house in 2002 and remortgaged at least twice since then. The only thing I can think is that my husbands name was removed when he was declared bankrupt 10 years ago but we don’t remember being told that would happen. Is it possible that could be the reason?

Thanks

KeepOnKnitting

That sounds likely. Presumably there was little equity in the property and your husband's interest was seized by the official receiver and then you or another person bought back the interest for a small sum. As such your husband no longer had part-ownership, although presumably he would have started to re-acquire an interest by helping pay the mortgage.

I didn't know that the OR would get land registry to change the record though.

silvercar

I would guess that his ownership was taken by the official receiver and then bought back by you. So you solely own the property and therefore the equity.

But (and you should raise this with the lender), the mortgage was always in joint names and so the lender should not have taken his name off the mortgage as it is a joint debt. Joint mortgage, sole owner mortgages are available but only by a few lenders, so it may be that your lender doesn't offer this, but this is not a reason for the lender to make a change to the mortgage without your knowledge.

Thrugelmir

Are you switching to a new lender , i.e. remortgaging. Or remaining with your existing lender, i.e. new product. There's a considerable difference between the two.

silvercar

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Are you switching to a new lender , i.e. remortgaging. Or remaining with your existing lender, i.e. new product. There's a considerable difference between the two.

Thrugelmir's point is a good one. If you are moving to a new lender they will see the property in your name only and therefore may well only want to lend to you alone. If his bankruptcy is discharged then you could put the property into joint names again, but you may want to take advice on this. I am pretty sure that if you are married there is no SDLT (stamp duty) if you make this change, but do check.

SDLT_Geek

There can be substantial SDLT to pay when transferring property from one spouse into joint ownership with the other spouse. The “chargeable consideration” will include a proportion of the debt.

There is a special rule that the higher rates (with the 3% surcharge) do not apply to spouses living together. See https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/sdlt-surcharge-changes-made-by-the-autumn-budget-on-22-november-2017/

silvercar

SDLT_Geek wrote: »

There can be substantial SDLT to pay when transferring property from one spouse into joint ownership with the other spouse. The “chargeable consideration” will include a proportion of the debt.

There is a special rule that the higher rates (with the 3% surcharge) do not apply to spouses living together. See https://www.blakemorgan.co.uk/sdlt-surcharge-changes-made-by-the-autumn-budget-on-22-november-2017/

If this is the case then OP may want to go back to the Official Receiver and query why the house was put in the name of the person who bought out the equity in the property. If the property and mortgage were in joint names and then bankruptcy meant that the beneficial interest was bought out by the non-bankrupt spouse, there is an argument that the property should have remained in joint names (as the mortgage being repaid would gradually increase the equity and this would be for both spouses) with the BI interest being noted as belonging to the non-bankrupt spouse.