Equitable charge from previous owner on land registry title

rose_T

I am trying to buy a house just now that has a old standard security registered from 1983! The previous owner passed away and it’s her children that are selling the property. They have said the mortgage was paid of in 94/95. 

Our offer was accepted on the 12th may the venders solicitor tried to offer title indemnity insurance to cover the standard security but our solicitor and lender both refused this. Now venders solicitor is now chasing the bank to try and get this sorted. 

we are in a position to wait and see the outcome of the bank etc but do accept it will be a long process and the outcome maybe that the property will be unsaleable. If we were desperate to move we would have pulled out months ago. 

Same as yourself I have asked for a rough timeline but they can’t advise on that so just a waiting game 

GEZ

I had to remove a charge on the title to my deceased father's property in order that the house would be sold.
The solicitor involved originally with the seller 5 years ago is at fault ,and he/she take steps to provide  updates to your  solicitor on the reason why this happened .
Is the charge related to a mortgage which the bank should have resolved with the solicitor that the mortgage had been paid off years ago by the owner of the property.[This is what happened in my case but I contacted the  Bank deeds Department myself to sort out]
Once the bank or [third party] agrees the charge should be removed a form will be sent to Land Registry as proof  and then Land Registry will remove the charge
All the best GEZ

rose_T

GEZ said:

I had to remove a charge on the title to my deceased father's property in order that the house would be sold.
The solicitor involved originally with the seller 5 years ago is at fault ,and he/she take steps to provide  updates to your  solicitor on the reason why this happened .
Is the charge related to a mortgage which the bank should have resolved with the solicitor that the mortgage had been paid off years ago by the owner of the property.[This is what happened in my case but I contacted the  Bank deeds Department myself to sort out]
Once the bank or [third party] agrees the charge should be removed a form will be sent to Land Registry as proof  and then Land Registry will remove the charge
All the best GEZ

I hope you don’t mind me asking, did it take long for the bank to agree the removal of the charge? 

Our vendors solicitor has contacted the bank at the start of august but has heard nothing back so far. 

The previous owner was an old lady who paid her mortgage of around 94/95 but never discharged after final payment so charge is still showing on the land register ( Scotland). 

The lady passed around 3yrs ago and it’s her children who are selling the property but they have no paperwork for the mortgage and no prof it was paid. 

de_nav

rose_T said:

GEZ said:

I had to remove a charge on the title to my deceased father's property in order that the house would be sold.
The solicitor involved originally with the seller 5 years ago is at fault ,and he/she take steps to provide  updates to your  solicitor on the reason why this happened .
Is the charge related to a mortgage which the bank should have resolved with the solicitor that the mortgage had been paid off years ago by the owner of the property.[This is what happened in my case but I contacted the  Bank deeds Department myself to sort out]
Once the bank or [third party] agrees the charge should be removed a form will be sent to Land Registry as proof  and then Land Registry will remove the charge
All the best GEZ

I hope you don’t mind me asking, did it take long for the bank to agree the removal of the charge? 

Our vendors solicitor has contacted the bank at the start of august but has heard nothing back so far. 

The previous owner was an old lady who paid her mortgage of around 94/95 but never discharged after final payment so charge is still showing on the land register ( Scotland). 

The lady passed around 3yrs ago and it’s her children who are selling the property but they have no paperwork for the mortgage and no prof it was paid. 

In my case there is an equitable charge left on the title, that was supposed to be removed (as vendor's solicitors had an undertaken) at the time of transfer of title. So far there isn't any update from vendor's solicitors except that they are looking into the matter.
I have chased my previous solicitors but they are also waiting for an update from vendor's solicitors, definitely we are at the mercy of vendor's solicitors on how quickly do they handle the case. 
When I asked about the estimated timescale based on experience from previous solicitors, they mentioned should be between 5-7 working days once the issue is reported to bank, but the challenge is that we don't even know if the vendor's solicitors have actually picked up the case and have reached out to the bank or is it still in their pipeline.

GEZ

To Rose-T and d-nav
The bank which the mortgage was held should have historical records with the name of the person and account number. This will be the first step ,and secondly if the Bank has produced a redemption statement , a copy of this should have been sent to the homeowner.[The bank should have the original redemption statement]
The discharge of the mortgage is registered by the solicitor acting on behalf of the homeowner ,by sending the form 53[produced by the Bank with details of the title number , name of property; Date of charge and date of Discharge] along with the Charge Certificate and mortgage attached to the appropriate Land Registry.
Backroom searches provided by the bank are not swift to reply on any updates ,so keep pressing your solicitor .
All the best GEZ

de_nav

Hello all,
Hope you are well and keeping safe.

Wanted to get some advise on the complaint process.
At the moment the only update we have from the solicitors is that previous vendor's solicitor are looking into this matter and its been already over 2 weeks since then. I have reached out to my previous solicitors asking for updates and explaining about the tight timeline and the entire process (sale & purchase) is on the line because of this charge on the title but think they don't understand our really tight time scale and their only response is that they are also waiting to hear from the vendor's solicitors.

(I have also copied the managing director & the partners in the email when reaching out to ask for updates)

Don't know what to do at this stage.

GEZ

de-nav
The solicitors for you and the vendor are aware of the tight timeline, and should be working at your case. The banks probably have this issue come to their attention on redemption of mortgages all the time,; so they know the procedure.
Once you have the news the solicitor has managed to receive the bank's instructions to discharge let me know 
All the best
GEZ

de_nav

Almost another week is passed and again the only update I have from previous solicitors is that they have reached out to seller's solicitors but they havent responded.
Now running out of ideas, not sure what to do to make this move forward, just losing patience  

GEZ

May I ask what Bank has the charge on the title deed?

de_nav

NatWest (have reached out to them too but didn't get any response as the charge isn't related to us, it is from previous owner)