Sellers Got a Unilateral Notice on Property!

silvercar

Downloading the deeds from Land Registry would tell you that there are (recent) charges on the property. It won't tell you the amount of each charge. So your suspicions may be raised by the charges but you won't know if the sale will produce enough to clear all the charges. Solicitors won't be aware of final amounts required to clear charges; even on a straightforward mortgage the solicitor has to wait for a redemption statement from the lender.

Lets say in this case the seller has difficulty paying their loans. If the sale doesn't proceed, then repossession is likely. This could take months to happen, unless arrears are already building up or the seller hands back the keys.

Its still not a bankruptcy situation. If other debts are looming and the seller decided to go bankrupt (or a creditor made her bankrupt) the Official Receiver would register their interest in the equity. With no equity left after the charges on the property, the seller's family/ friend could buy out the OR's interest for £1 + legal costs. Either way a sale wouldn't be forced by the bankruptcy in itself.

I don't think you can blame the solicitor - they wouldn't have been aware of the secured debt final total until they apply for redemption statements, usually the week before exchange. The seller's in a tight corner, could well be burying their head in the sand and clutching at straws (sorry mixed metaphor there) but may not have told the solicitor the extent of their problems.

Millionaire

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Can you avoid this in the future? Possibly ... at the very least, pay £3 to get the title from the Land Registry. Take the price you offer, less all the charges and you can see if your offer will clear all the secured debt. I'm sorry - it sounds as though I'm telling you that you should have done this .... I hadn't thought about it myself, until I started to type this and I would have been where you are, had it been me.

The problem is as a First Time buyer I never even knew the land registry online existed where you could retrieve the details.

Not only that the details don't tell you anything other than a charge is registered, not the amounts or anything. Its very basic info which i didn't know what it meant anyway the first time i saw it.

The solicitors both seller and buyers didn't pickup on it until now as its becoming more apparent they were lied to regarding the amounts these charges were outstanding by.

$h!tty .... I am sorry. I do feel a little for the seller too .. .they must be very, very desperate to have covered their tracks in the way that they did. They are now truly up $h!t creek ... but then you've suffered too.

I'm depressed now

There are many people in debt that I genuinely would have sympathy for, but the sellers are not in this case.

Why?

They were living the life of luxury, looking back at it when we viewed the property me and my OH came out talking about stuff they had wishing we could afford stuff like that. I even had other family members view the house to get an opinion and even they were talking about some of the stuff they had.

I have told them whats happened and even they can't believe it.

They had a 42inch LCD flatscreen TV, Sky + with all sports channels+ movies and multi-room for the kids.

They had to my count 3 consoles, Wii, PS2 and xBox + the kids having their own handhelds.

The kitchen re-fitted and only 3 years old, the garden had been done up with a pond with fitted electric and a working fountain with lights.

They had a huge jumping thing for the kids(i dont know what it is called) which was like 12 feet high and wide and I hve never seen anything like it before in a garden and it looked damn expensive.

They tried to sell me there leather suite telling me they only had it a year and it cost them £1800 and they had reciepts to prove it.

All these items were quite new and there was other stuff as well, i could go on and on.

To top it off the seller husband has a BMW worth at least 7-8 grand and they have 2 cars.

I mean when we went to view the house they were even boasting, when i asked if there was a chain that they didn't have a mortgage and that they want to sell quickly as they already had put down a £25,000 deposit on a house abroad and they didn't need to purchase another house and the sale of this would help fund the new property they are getting abroad.

That is why I am absolutely in disbelief and in shock that they are in so much debt and they lied so much and the seller is now telling me they tried debt management and all this and that and that they have been defaulting for a few years etc.

It doesn't make sense to me that someone would be so reckless in spending when they are that much in debt.

I mean they brought the house before the house price boom and got it for a bargain but have taken out all the equity from the house as well and I have found out the mortgage is virtually double on what they originally paid.

Millionaire

silvercar wrote: »

Solicitors won't be aware of final amounts required to clear charges; even on a straightforward mortgage the solicitor has to wait for a redemption statement from the lender.

I think your spot on Silvercar, as this seems to be exactly whats happened.

They got the registry details confirming who owns the property. It seems from what i gather the sellers solicitor was lied to regarding to the charges when they asked the seller and initially took there word that they were telling the truth.

I think the seller didn't understand that this will all be checked and thought they could get a way with it.

Obviously when the solicitor have sent off for confirmation after everything else had been completed on my side its come back as a shock to them as the amounts actually are no where near what the seller told them.

I'm getting the impression that the seller tried to get the sale through so that the mortgage could be paid and they would pocket the rest of the cash.

Thinking that the other money they owe would have no restrictions on the house sale.

They only started negotiating with the other lenders once they reliased that they couldn't sell the house which was this week.

silvercar

I'

m getting the impression that the seller tried to get the sale through so that the mortgage could be paid and they would pocket the rest of the cash.

Thinking that the other money they owe would have no restrictions on the house sale.

Secured loans are not always registered, even though the lender says they are, so the seller could have thought they would get away with it. They may still manage to negotiate on the charges to become unsecured loans.

Millionaire

Well the saga continues..

I just rang the seller to see if they had any progress with the charges companies and they told me they will speak to them again on Monday as they are too busy today.

Wondering what could me more important it seems they are jumping ship and emptying the house and have a removal van around so that apparently if the bailiffs turn up they can show them they have nothing of value in the house.

It seems they obviously have been threatened this by the companies and have decided to take action beforehand to cover themselves.

I don't know what to say.

silvercar

Baliffs would not be interested in second hand furniture; they may want a flat screen TV, stereo and their PS3, but they are not going to bother with carting off the 3 seater sofa.

If they have got removal vans in my guess is that they are being repossessed by the lender or handing the keys back and running away!

Millionaire

silvercar wrote: »

Baliffs would not be interested in second hand furniture; they may want a flat screen TV, stereo and their PS3, but they are not going to bother with carting off the 3 seater sofa.

If they have got removal vans in my guess is that they are being repossessed by the lender or handing the keys back and running away!

Well I can only go on what they have told me and even that can't be trusted from whats gone on in the past. So you might be right again.

I've started to resign myself to the fact that alls lost and just move one and forget about the fees lost.

Now I just need to see if I can renegotiate with my landlord so that he doesn't kick me out over Christmas.

Thanks for th advice.

silvercar

I think a call to the lender's repossession department on monday morning may pay dividends. If they are repossessed you are in an excellent position for a purchase from the lender!

Millionaire

silvercar wrote: »

I think a call to the lender's repossession department on monday morning may pay dividends. If they are repossessed you are in an excellent position for a purchase from the lender!

oohh Stop it!! I keep feeling sorry for myself and you keep on giving me hope:D

Note for Monday: Get lender details, make call :beer: and live happily ever after

Millionaire

Well Ive tried getting info this morning to find out whether the house has been repossed or not but the mortgage company are refusing to discuss any details regarding repossessions and told me that if a house has been just look out for it in local estate agents etc.

So might be a dead end until they decide to throw it on the market. !!!!!!!