Land Registry - Charge on Register

Petrannella

My mother has recently gone into residential care which i am currently paying for from her savings. I planned to sell my house and buy her out as it was my understanding that on my fathers death in 2014 i had inherited his half of their property. When she downsized in 2016 i had to sign a form to say i agreed with the sale. I also was paid half the profit from the sale. I now have my house up for sale as my mothers savings are not going to last forever but my solicitor has told me that there is a Charge on the land register and i am not registered as part owner. Can anyone explain to me what this means?

user1977

Your solicitor is best placed (and presumably being paid!) to explain to you what they’re looking at.

Petrannella

They are not open at the weekend. I hoped someone on here would be able to explain what is meant by a Charge? When she downsized I received a letter from her solicitor confirming we were both on the register to protect my interest in the property but that’s all I know.

Tiglet2

Petrannella said:

My mother has recently gone into residential care which i am currently paying for from her savings. I planned to sell my house and buy her out as it was my understanding that on my fathers death in 2014 i had inherited his half of their property. When she downsized in 2016 i had to sign a form to say i agreed with the sale. I also was paid half the profit from the sale. I now have my house up for sale as my mothers savings are not going to last forever but my solicitor has told me that there is a Charge on the land register and i am not registered as part owner. Can anyone explain to me what this means?

It reads to me that you were paid your half of the property when your mother downsized, i.e. you received your inheritance from your father then. 

Your mother bought a smaller property, but sounds as though she bought it as a sole proprietor.  

When you say there is a charge on the title register, are you talking about your own property you are selling, or your mother's?  

Can you order a copy of the title register from Land Registry (£3) to see who is registered as the proprietor(s) and then copy here the relevant paragraphs about the charge, redacting any identifying names/addresses?

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds    

A charge is usually a mortgage or loan by either a bank/building society or could be a personal loan by an individual.  It could also be an unpaid debt from a company who is owed money and has put the charge on the property so that they get their money back when the property is sold.

Petrannella

The land registry has a restriction? “ RESTRICTION: No disposition of the registered estate by the proprietor of the registered estate is to be registered without a written consent signed by” and then my names and address etc

YBR

Petrannella said:

My mother has recently gone into residential care which i am currently paying for from her savings. I planned to sell my house and buy her out as it was my understanding that on my fathers death in 2014 i had inherited his half of their property. When she downsized in 2016 i had to sign a form to say i agreed with the sale. I also was paid half the profit from the sale. I now have my house up for sale as my mothers savings are not going to last forever but my solicitor has told me that there is a Charge on the land register and i am not registered as part owner. Can anyone explain to me what this means?

Need to be clear first about exactly what is "half the profit from the sale" which you already received.
Roughly, as I understand it:
* If this means that, after any outstanding mortgage was paid, you received half the house value, then you already have what you inheritied.
* If that is half of (the difference in value between the two properties), then I would expect half of the value of mothers current house to be yours. In this scenario it would be worth asking the solicitor for the purchase why it's not been registered with you as joint owner. There may be a reason why your interest is a charge/restriction instead.

Petrannella

It was the difference between the 2 properties. There was no mortgage in either. 

Land_Registry

Petrannella said:

My mother has recently gone into residential care which i am currently paying for from her savings. I planned to sell my house and buy her out as it was my understanding that on my fathers death in 2014 i had inherited his half of their property. When she downsized in 2016 i had to sign a form to say i agreed with the sale. I also was paid half the profit from the sale. I now have my house up for sale as my mothers savings are not going to last forever but my solicitor has told me that there is a Charge on the land register and i am not registered as part owner. Can anyone explain to me what this means?

When a property is jointly owned, and one of them dies, the legal ownership passes to the surviving owner. Your interest is in your late Father’s half share of the beneficial ownership. 

So when the property was sold you got a share of the profit as you mention, so a share of the beneficial ownership, and were asked it seems to agree to it in writing. 

When Mum bought the new property your beneficial interest presumably still existed as in effect you still had a half share in the new property purchase price/value. To protect that a restriction was applied for as mentioned. And the solicitor confirmed the position at the time although you might have thought they meant as a joint owner rather than Mum as sole owner and you as a named restrictioner.

NB - a restriction, just like a notice or legal charge, can be referred to as a ‘charge’ although most would refer to it by its name or as an ‘interest’ normally. 

So where does that leave you now re buying her out? The impact is minimal from a registration perspective as Mum can transfer the legal ownership to you and you can withdraw the restriction. 

If you’d both been joint owners you’d have still needed a transfer but from both of you to just you. 

The real issue is what’s now the best option going forward and will ‘buying her out’ now, and presumably by that you mean you become the sole legal and beneficial owner, change the circumstances re her care costs/arrangements. 

As she’s already in care, is the legal owner of a property, albeit with your protected interest, how is that viewed by the care provider? Others will be better placed to advise on that here