Currently paying £20 per day interest due to my remortgaging process being delayed through no fault.

hjclark89

Hi,
I'm looking for some information & guidance regarding my rights to do with my current remortgaging / staircasing application.

I'm currently in the process of remortgaging and staircasing at the same time. I currently own an 80% share in my flat but I'm in the process of staircasing to 100%. A few weeks ago I signed a memorandum of staircasing and was told everything was on track and that I would complete before the end of March 2020 (when my mortgage with Nationwide switches from fixed to a variable rate).  I then recently found out (from me chasing) that basically no progress has been made over the last 3-4 weeks - my current solicitors sent the memorandum of staircasing to the housing association's solicitors and they are claiming they never received this letter so they could not sign it. I'm told the delays have been caused by the pandemic which I understand can slow things down, but this memorandum of staircasing was sent off weeks ago and I'm being told it still hasn't been received after being sent first class so I'm not happy with this being used as an excuse as they should have still received this document, regardless of the current climate.

And basically this means that I've now switched to the variable rate on my current mortgage and I'm paying £19.92 per day in interest. I've also just been informed that competition will likely happen on the 17Th April, which means I'm going to pay £338.64 in interest this month and this is through absolutely no fault of my own. I have tried ringing all parties involved and I've been told the following:

1. My current solicitors - told me that their customer care team will look into this and see if I'm due any compensation, but a decision on this won't be made until 20 days after completion (which seems way too long to me) and there are no guarantees I will receive any compensation.
2. Current mortgage provider (nationwide) - have simply told me there's nothing they can do and that I'll have to pay whatever interest is due once I complete. Even during these troubled times with the current pandemic, they simply would not provide me with any help.
3. Housing associations / their solicitors - Have simply told me they'll try and get the application completed as quickly as possible, but nothing in regards to compensation.

 What are my right's here and what can I do to recover this money which it currently looks like I'll have to pay? As mentioned, it's the delays caused by the solicitors which have left me in this situation, yet I'm going to be the one that pays for this.

Any help or advice would be really appreciated as I plan to challenge this right until the very end.

Thanks
Harry 

davidmcn

Can't see that anybody else is in breach here, it's just one of those things. You don't normally get any promises about timescales in a remortgage.

Bear in mind your "loss" isn't the entire amount of interest anyway, it's the difference between the current rate and the new rate - and is that purely just the interest element rather than capital repayment (which you're not losing)?

ACG

Who is at fault? Once you get the answer to that, you can then determine who you think owes you compensation.
You cant just blame anyone and everyone in the hope someone covers the money. 

If it was that important to you, you should have sent the document as recorded delivery rather than first class. First class does not guarantee delivery. If the solicitors have not received it, then they cant work it. Unless you can evidence they have received it and when, how can they be held accountable? 
I cant see how the other 2 parties can be to blame either. 

You probably need to include Royal Mail in your list, but they wont compensate you either. 

It just happens that you have also (like everyone else) been caught up with this virus and so that has also compounded the issues. I think you are going to end up sucking this one up to be honest, you might get something from the solicitors for not chasing sooner but that would be a goodwill gesture rather than a requirement I think. 

Thrugelmir

hjclark89 said:

Any help or advice would be really appreciated as I plan to challenge this right until the very end.

You'll achieve absolutely nothing. Nor do you have any rights to compensation. 

hjclark89

I'll try and respond to all these points separately.

1. Firstly I'm not just blaming anyone, I've been trying to see what help is out there given the current climate. When staircasing you're only provided with 3 months to get everything turned around (as you have to get your property valued and that valuation is only valid for 3 months). You can't really afford delays like this when you have such a small window to get everything completed.
2. It's hard for me to say who is at fault. My solicitors told me they sent the memorandum to the housing association solicitors and their solicitors said they never received it. Essentially a very important document which I signed has been lost (again, through no fault of mine) so I don't agree that this is just "one of those things". People need to be held accountable if important documents like this go missing.
   
3. Sending the document via recorded delivery - I sent the memorandum to my solicitor and they confirmed it was received. They have then sent that on to the housing associations solicitors and it's now lost. So you mention here it should have been recorded delivery but I was not the one sending this document so my solicitors should have sent the document as recorded? and if they didn't, then I think they should be held accountable (I'll have to check whether they did this).

ACG

I did not say it should have been sent recorded. I said if it was important to you, you should have sent it recorded. 

I think I maybe miss understood your first post and I think the solicitors should be shouldering some of the blame as it should really have been sent recorded delivery. But that is my opinion and does not mean I am right. I know if we have important documents that need posting, we do it recorded but I also can not remember the last time we posted anything, so I can take the hit on a fiver postage costs once or twice a year. A solicitor would probably need to up their charges.