solicitor/ Building company did not register property

hungryhippo02

I bought a newbuild house from Bellway End of Jan 2020. Mortgage renewal was End of Jan 2022. Upon applying for a remortgage, was informed by the independant mortgage advisor that Bellway had not transferred deeds to solicitor/Land registry and were still the registered owners. Turns out the original Solicitors were aware, but had not informed us at all until I chased them about it. Land registry only rectified this in November 2022, by which we had multiple months paying the variable rate mortgage until the deeds transferred over and we coul remortgage elsewhere at a lower rate. What would be the best course of action against Bellway/The Solicitor/Both?

lincroft1710

Best course of action for what? Can you quantify any actual loss?

user1977

What was the cause of the delay? It can often take quite a while for newbuild properties to complete registration - doesn't necessarily mean your solicitors did anything wrong. The fact an application is still being processed doesn't mean you weren't the legal owners from day one.

silvercar

You could have applied to Land Registry to have your registration expedited due to the mortgage requirements. This would have meant they dealt with it within another 2 weeks, provided they were no issues.

It may not have been Bellway or your solicitors fault, but due to a backlog of work at the Land Registry.

hungryhippo02

user1977 said:

What was the cause of the delay? It can often take quite a while for newbuild properties to complete registration - doesn't necessarily mean your solicitors did anything wrong. The fact an application is still being processed doesn't mean you weren't the legal owners from day one.

No reason given. Just that Bellway hadn't transferred any deeds, and the solicitor was aware for 2 years that they hadn't

hungryhippo02

silvercar said:

You could have applied to Land Registry to have your registration expedited due to the mortgage requirements. This would have meant they dealt with it within another 2 weeks, provided they were no issues.

It may not have been Bellway or your solicitors fault, but due to a backlog of work at the Land Registry.

Unfortunately Bellway had not even gone to the Land Registry. And the solicitor was aware of this.

TBG01

hungryhippo02 said:

user1977 said:

What was the cause of the delay? It can often take quite a while for newbuild properties to complete registration - doesn't necessarily mean your solicitors did anything wrong. The fact an application is still being processed doesn't mean you weren't the legal owners from day one.

Just that Bellway hadn't transferred any deeds,

There is no transferring of deeds.

As already stated, transfer of parts tend to take 12 to 18 months to register. 

Your Solicitor knows this. Your mortgage advisor likely doesn't. Listen to those who know what they're doing. Not those who tell you what you want to hear.

hungryhippo02

Unfortunately thats only if the Land registry had the information in the first place. Here,  bellway had not even submitted the information to Land Registry after 2 years+

hungryhippo02

TBG01 said:

hungryhippo02 said:

user1977 said:

What was the cause of the delay? It can often take quite a while for newbuild properties to complete registration - doesn't necessarily mean your solicitors did anything wrong. The fact an application is still being processed doesn't mean you weren't the legal owners from day one.

Just that Bellway hadn't transferred any deeds,

There is no transferring of deeds.

As already stated, transfer of parts tend to take 12 to 18 months to register. 

Your Solicitor knows this. Your mortgage advisor likely doesn't. Listen to those who know what they're doing. Not those who tell you what you want to hear.

Unfortunately thats only if the Land registry had the information in the first place. Here,  bellway had not even submitted the information to Land Registry after 2 years+

MultiFuelBurner

What rate could you have got in Jan 2022, what rate did you have to settle for in Nov 22?

What's the difference between Jan-Nov during the waiting time and then the balance Nov22- (xxx) between the rates in monetary terms.

Then add in if you could.have unde.the Jan 22 rate overplayed but couldn't on variable/Nov 22 rate.

Then you have the loss that aggrieved you.

Ask your solicitor who is responsible for that loss to at least let them know you are agrieved.

peter3hg

MultiFuelBurner said:

What rate could you have got in Jan 2022, what rate did you have to settle for in Nov 22?

What's the difference between Jan-Nov during the waiting time and then the balance Nov22- (xxx) between the rates in monetary terms.

Then add in if you could.have unde.the Jan 22 rate overplayed but couldn't on variable/Nov 22 rate.

Then you have the loss that aggrieved you.

Ask your solicitor who is responsible for that loss to at least let them know you are agrieved.

Any loss would be the difference between the best rate available in January 2022 and the best available deal as an existing customer from their lender in January.

The lack of registration would be no problem to taking a new deal with the preexisting lender so any losses above that is the OP's responsibility.

Obviously any liability presupposes negligence by one of the parties which isn't clear at the moment.