Solicitor failed to register property

laddie1963

My son is selling his house and was notified by his solicitor that he was never registered as new owner and legally the previous owner is still the owner of the property. The bank issued a mortgage on a property that my son doesn't own. His solicitor says they can't sell the house as they are not the legal owners so they may lose the buyer. Who is liable? 

user1977

The solicitor who acted for him in the purchase. Presumably his current solicitor can advise him about that? (unless it's the same one!)

housebuyer143

laddie1963 said:

My son is selling his house and was notified by his solicitor that he was never registered as new owner and legally the previous owner is still the owner of the property. The bank issued a mortgage on a property that my son doesn't own. His solicitor says they can't sell the house as they are not the legal owners so they may lose the buyer. Who is liable? 

Wow! That's legal negligence if I ever heard it. Go back to the solicitor who did the legal work and put in a complaint.

How long ago did he buy it?

laddie1963

he "bought" the property a year ago surely the building society are negligent as well?

housebuyer143

laddie1963 said:

he "bought" the property a year ago surely the building society are negligent as well?

Was it a new build? New builds are taking in excess of a year to register. Is there definitely not an application with the land registry?

He legally bought the property, so that won't be in dispute. You just need to get the papers to the land registry to change the title if they are not lodged already. 

No, not anything to do with lender. The lawyer will have applied to register a legal change on the title for the mortgage company, they will assume it's been done as they have no hand in it. 

laddie1963

Not a new build 8 years old.

housebuyer143

laddie1963 said:

Not a new build 8 years old.

Ok, that's a really long time for registration. First thing would be to call the land registry and see if there is a pending application for your registration. If not, then you need to go back to the solicitor who did the sale and raise it with them. 
They will be the only ones who can sort this at this stage 

user1977

laddie1963 said:

he "bought" the property a year ago surely the building society are negligent as well?

The building society are no more negligent than he is - they both rely on the solicitor to deal with registration.

Tiglet2

Your son needs to chase the solicitor who acted for him when he purchased. 

Sometimes the application to update the title is done some time after the completion date and if there is something missing from the application, the Land Registry raises questions (requisitions) with the solicitor before they will update the title.  This can easily mean delays.

As your son is now selling the property, his solicitor can ask Land Registry to expedite the application, which would mean that Land Registry will look at the application within 10 working days, though it does have to be in order!

flashg67

Mine took a just over a year to show as registered so check with the land registry - there's a rep on here I think

user1977

flashg67 said:

Mine took a just over a year to show as registered so check with the land registry - there's a rep on here I think

I presume the current solicitor will already have thought of that rather than start scaremongering.