Equitable charge from previous owner on land registry title

de_nav

Hello there,

Hope you are well and keeping safe.
I am wondering if someone would be able to help until I hear from the solicitors (as I am totally freaking out)

I bought a property (first time) back in 2016 and trusted that my solicitors will take care of everything, so didn't read all the enquiries in detail (also didn't even understand the terms). All went well, completion happened and we moved in. Didn't even think to look at the documents in detail after completion.

Now after 5 years, I am in the process of selling this property and this morning my solicitors mentioned about an equitable charge on the title dated 31-03-2010.
Did some research and find out that the charge should have been removed when we bought the property as all the payment charges would had been made as a result redemption from the sale. (believe you cant even sell the property if there is a charge entry on the title - and if you do, you will have to clear all the charges on the title and whatever is left from redemption that is transferred to your account by the solicitors). Land registry confirmed that the charge is still there on the title.


The solicitors at the time of purchase did raise this enquiry with vendor's solicitors and looking at old documents they did receive a response from the vendor's solicitors (only an email attachment - that they didn't forward to me (maybe due to some personal information on it))

My question is, who should I reach out to get this sorted
1- My current solicitors
2- My previous solicitors (when we bought this property)
3- Vendors solicitors
4- Land Registry
5- Company that the charge references to.

(Can this even be sorted or will only delay the sale?)

Thanks for the help, getting really worried.

Tiglet2

Firstly, refer back to No. 2.  Your previous solicitor should not have let you exchange without ensuring that the seller's solicitor would be remove the charge before exchanging, or the seller's solicitor providing an undertaking that they would assist in with any problems at Land Registry after completion.  They will have to locate the file in their storage system, in order to liaise with the vendor's solicitor and find out what went wrong.

If your previous solicitors are unhelpful, then refer to No. 1 your current solicitors, who can try to get the charge removed, but as this is relating to the original vendor,  they will most likely have to write to the vendor's solicitor to assist and find out what went wrong.

You should not approach the vendor's solicitor yourself.  They won't speak to you as you were not their client.

There is little point speaking to Land Registry unless you have written evidence of the charge being settled.

You should not approach the Company that the charge refers to.  They won't speak to you as you were not their client.

Yes, it can be sorted, but equally, this will take time and most certainly will delay the sale.  Your buyer's solicitor will not exchange without this being rectified.

de_nav

Thanks so much for the valued information, any rough idea what time scales should we consider associated with the delay of sale, because of this charge on title? Want to speak to solicitors regarding this with clear time scales.

We have already started the paper work with solicitors to buy next property and don't want our buyer and seller to pull out just because of the delays.

de_nav

Update: 
Just spoke to current solicitors and they told me that the charge shouldn't even be there as previous solicitors should had cleared it before the exchange of contracts/completion.

There is a strong possibility that the charge is still pending but shouldn't have anything to do with us. 

Current solicitors told me to contact previous solicitors and put them in copy so they can liaise and get this sorted.

This will certainly delay the sale and if it gets too long the buyer might pull out.


Fingers crossed that this will be sorted quickly and we will be back on track with the sale.

I will keep you all posted with updates and process (just for the benefit of someone else who is in the same boat)

robatwork

100% 2.

Email or write to them and follow up with a phone call a couple of days later. If they don't react very positively ie. "We will sort this out and it will be a few weeks" then tell them you will instigate a complaint. They dropped the ball.

de_nav

Update:

Previous solicitors have reached out to vendor's solicitors.
Vendor's solicitors have confirmed that they are looking into the matter and will revert as soon as possible. They didn't give any timescale though.

Just worried that if there are major delays due to this, the buyer might pull out.

Tiglet2

They won't give timescales, because they don't know how long it will take.  Obviously your previous solicitor will have to liaise with the previous vendor's solicitors, the party to which the charge relates, as well as Land Registry and they cannot know how long these third parties will take to respond.  As it was 5 years ago, your file and the previous vendor's file will most certainly be in their archive storage, which could take weeks to retrieve.

Probably best to explain to your buyer that there will be delay, just so they are in the picture and you will have an idea if they are prepared to wait.

london21

Hopefully gets sorted soon, not much you can do but hope your buyer is patient for this to be sorted out. 
It's a seller's market now so either ways you should be fine.

wilfred30

london21 said:

Hopefully gets sorted soon, not much you can do but hope your buyer is patient for this to be sorted out. 
It's a seller's market now so either ways you should be fine.

Indeed it is but that also applies to the OP's seller so they could potentially lose the house they want to buy due to the delay.

de_nav

Not sure what does the law say oavout it was thinking to speak to my current solicitors if we can go ahead and prepare for exchange while previous solicitors are sorting out the removal of charge (as previous vendor's solicitors  have now confirmed in writing that they are looking into it, also concerned if the charge has actually been paid by previous vendor's solicitor and they have to track down previous vendor to pay the charge)

Tiglet2

Your current solicitors can proceed as far as exchange, but are unlikely to actually exchange the contracts, until this matter has been satisfactorily dealt with, either by your previous solicitors, the previous vendor's solicitor or your current ones.