Unilateral notice on Title deed | Middle of remortgage

Davina_Hart

I am currently in the middle of remortgaging our property, the solicitor of new lender have advised us that there is a notice on our title deed that is in favour of local council. I am not really sure why this notice is there on our deed as it is a freehold property solely owned by us. 

I have also contacted the Land Registry, they have informed that the council has interest in the land since 2014. This interest may probably be when land belonged to University of Nottingham as the house did not exist at the time. The house was built by Belway homes in 2018. 

I have contacted the council to get this notice removed, but there is no direct contact number of their legal time and was advised to drop an email and wait for 10 days to receive a response. 

I am very puzzled as to why this notice is there on our title in the first place and why it wasn't picked up by our solicitor at the time in 2018. 

The new lender hasn't made any decision yet, but I am wondering if they would ask for this unilateral notice to be removed first before proceeding further. 

Just want to reach out on this forum to check if anyone else had been in the same situation and how did it plan for you. 

Any help, suggestion, advise is highly appreciated. 

Many thanks 

Marky4040

Davina_Hart said:

I am currently in the middle of remortgaging our property, the solicitor of new lender have advised us that there is a notice on our title deed that is in favour of local council. I am not really sure why this notice is there on our deed as it is a freehold property solely owned by us. 

I have also contacted the Land Registry, they have informed that the council has interest in the land since 2014. This interest may probably be when land belonged to University of Nottingham as the house did not exist at the time. The house was built by Belway homes in 2018. 

I have contacted the council to get this notice removed, but there is no direct contact number of their legal time and was advised to drop an email and wait for 10 days to receive a response. 

I am very puzzled as to why this notice is there on our title in the first place and why it wasn't picked up by our solicitor at the time in 2018. 

The new lender hasn't made any decision yet, but I am wondering if they would ask for this unilateral notice to be removed first before proceeding further. 

Just want to reach out on this forum to check if anyone else had been in the same situation and how did it plan for you. 

Any help, suggestion, advise is highly appreciated. 

Many thanks 

Lender solicitors are absolute drama queens and love nit picking like this.

What they fail to mention is you can take out a small idemnity insurance against the local council exercising their right to bulldoze your house and build a new student union or something. It will be about £50 if that.

Yes your original solicitor should have picked it up at purchase and yes all covenants pertaining to the land should have been removed when the council sold the land to Belway, seems nobody was doing their job properly.

Davina_Hart

Thanks Marky4040, appreciate you have taken time to respond. So, as you have suggested, I get an indemnity insurance against the council interest if I don't get much luck with council to remove the notice. Ideally this notice should not been there in the first place. 

Marky4040

Davina_Hart said:

Thanks Marky4040, appreciate you have taken time to respond. So, as you have suggested, I get an indemnity insurance against the council interest if I don't get much luck with council to remove the notice. Ideally this notice should not been there in the first place. 

You'll be waiting forever for the council legal team to action this, it's not as important a priority as defending claims for pot holes smashing up car suspensions I'm afraid. Indemnity is the quickest way to resolve. 

Land_Registry

Davina_Hart said:

Thanks Marky4040, appreciate you have taken time to respond. So, as you have suggested, I get an indemnity insurance against the council interest if I don't get much luck with council to remove the notice. Ideally this notice should not been there in the first place. 

An indemnity policy won’t help you get the mortgage in my experience as the lender simply won’t lend whilst the Council’s interest exists. 

Yes you/your conveyancer should have spotted the UN on purchase but the same still applies re getting it removed. You either get the Council to remove it, which maybe the next step after they reply Or you apply to cancel it 
See section 2.7.2 of our PG on how to apply 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notices-restrictions-and-the-protection-of-third-party-interests-in-the-register

Davina_Hart

Thank for taking time to respond.  The council has responded stating “S106 agreement dated 21st October 2014 is for a development for 1200 dwellings, this is still under construction and has a significant number of outstanding financial and nonfinancial obligations so we would not want to remove the notice”

 The notice is currently applied to 1200 properties, most of the properties are completed, some are still under construction to finish in the next couple of years. The council is saying that they won't just remove the notice until construction is completed and builder has cleared their dues. They've also said that this is quite a normal situation for lenders and they generally understand why notice of interest is in place.

I haven't yet heard from lender's solicitor so lets what happens.

Just wondering why my current lender did not have any objection to this when we mortgage the property through them back in 2018. 

Can I still apply myself for the Land Registry to remove the notice using UN4 form?

Many thanks

Land_Registry

Davina_Hart said:

Thank for taking time to respond.  The council has responded stating “S106 agreement dated 21st October 2014 is for a development for 1200 dwellings, this is still under construction and has a significant number of outstanding financial and nonfinancial obligations so we would not want to remove the notice”

 The notice is currently applied to 1200 properties, most of the properties are completed, some are still under construction to finish in the next couple of years. The council is saying that they won't just remove the notice until construction is completed and builder has cleared their dues. They've also said that this is quite a normal situation for lenders and they generally understand why notice of interest is in place.

I haven't yet heard from lender's solicitor so lets what happens.

Just wondering why my current lender did not have any objection to this when we mortgage the property through them back in 2018. 

Can I still apply myself for the Land Registry to remove the notice using UN4 form?

Many thanks

I would wait for the lender to respond - they will be familiar with such matters as explained but much depends I suspect on the mortgage product itself. 

In 2018 your current lender may have taken a view and/or their product didn’t say “No”
You can apply to cancel the Notice but based on what the council have said they’re going to object so it seems unlikely you’ll succeed 

Davina_Hart

Thanks again. I'm still awaiting decision.
The mortgage product this time is a little light weight as compared to 2018. At the time LTV was 90%, now with the new lender is 60%, so clearly its less risky if that's what they are looking to gauge.
Yeah make sense, I wouldn't waste my time in filling the form which council will in turn object anyway.