Got a letter today, previous owner has a mortgage secured on our house! We've owned it 13 years!

Sahmsaver

Just that really!
We received post today for someone who owned this house 13 years ago.
Didn't spot the name before opening it along with our own post, (lived here 13 years) so didn't realise it wasn't for us till after opening!
No idea where the previous owner is today, or how to contact them. 
It's a letter from a mortgage company for a mortgage that looks like it is secured on our house! 

I think this is fraud, who do I contact? The police? FSA?  

fatbelly

Send it back marked 'not at this address'

Probably just a mortgage shortfall debt but check you Land Registry entry anyway to put your mind at rest

Sahmsaver

Thanks, I have requested our land registry entry.
Hopefully that will come through on Monday and I can breathe again!
I'll google mortgage shortfall debt as I hadn't come across that before.

Thanks for the advice.

nenepp

You can just look up the land registry entry online for £3 and get it instantly if you want to put your mind at rest now.

silvercar

It could be that the solicitor for the seller, when you bought, didn’t ensure that the charge was removed.

Unless the property was bought as a repossession it is unlikely the sale would have proceeded if there was a shortfall. The lender wouldn’t have released their charge on the property without being repaid.

silvercar

nenepp said:

You can just look up the land registry entry online for £3 and get it instantly if you want to put your mind at rest now.

This ^^^^. Make sure you are on the genuine Land registry site, not some cowboy outfit that will charge you more then do the download for you and pocket the difference!

Sahmsaver

Thank you all, I had fallen to the cowboys! I have requested a refund from them (thankfully on £20 if I don't get it back) and have downloaded the documents from the land registry. 
All looks to be in order from that side of things.
I'll send the letters back as advised and I don't expect to ever hear the outcome (kind of hope not to anyway!).
Thank you all for your advice.

london21

This is the government website its £3

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

user1977

What exactly does the letter say? Just because it’s about a mortgage, and sent to your house, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a mortgage currently registered over your house.

If there were a live, standard residential mortgage, I’d expect post at least annually with statements etc, not something suddenly appearing after 13 years of silence.

silvercar

I suspect the debt has changed hands many times and some company has recently bought it for a very low (think pennies) rate per £ of debt. They then write to whoever owned the debt at whatever addresses they can dig out in the hope that some have some money and will pay off their previous debts. 

ACG

Speak to your solicitor who dealt with the conveyancing.