Solicitors not sending me the rent charge indemnity

IronMan22

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but it relates to our first mortgage 2 years ago and our current remortgage.

When we bought two years ago, we used a broker we knew and they referred us to a conveyancing solicitors.

House all went through, and as part of that the sellers took out a rent charge indemnity policy against a future claims for rent charge as they’d had no contact.

When we looked at the documents we were sent, title etc, the indemnity policy had just a policy number on but no info like address etc (this will be important later)

We queried this, and they told us it would be sent by the other side, they’d chase but it was lockdown etc and so getting it might take some time. 

We periodically chased, but constant we will chase.

Now we are remortgaging, due in a month. The solicitors for the remortgage (different to the first) asked about the rent charge. We sent the indemnity certificate but they, understandably, wanted one with all the info on. So we chased out solicitors. No replies, so I thought just ring the insurance company direct to see if they can help.

The certificate/policy document we have doesn’t relate to this property. Slight worry, but then relieved to discover after giving the address there is a policy in place. It’s one digit wrong. But they can’t give us the certificate, has to go through the solicitors. So I chased the original ones again, they said they were waiting for the file from archive. That was a week or so ago.

I’ve just emailed them again saying this needs sorting and what do we need to do to escalate it if needs be.  

But what might our options be? We don’t want to end up having to pay out for one when one exists but getting it seems to be the issue. 

Is there a good step to getting the original solicitors to act? Or can the new ones on our behalf?

user1977

What's the cost of a new policy? Insurance company are probably correct in not giving details to a third party - as far as they are concerned, their customer was your vendor. 

IronMan22

user1977 said:

What's the cost of a new policy? Insurance company are probably correct in not giving details to a third party - as far as they are concerned, their customer was your vendor. 

They’ve given me the details, the actual policy number etc, confirmed the names on the certificate - the people who sold it to us etc - they just won’t send us a copy.

Not sure on cost yet. 

K_S

@ironman22 If your request isn't getting any attention, I'd put in a formal complaint (their website should tell you how to raise an online written complaint and whom to send it to) with the solicitor firm as an initial step. It's unfortunate to have to do that but from experience with clients and their solicitors it's sometimes the only way to get your issue in front of someone who will sort it out. 

Reference the original date that you contacted them, that your remortgage is coming up and any long delays will mean that you're out of pocket due to falling on to a horrendous SVR, etc.

In the meantime also check with your current sols about what the alternative is if the old sols fail to provide it in time.

Good luck, I hope it gets sorted out before your fix ends!

IronMan22 said:

I’ve just emailed them again saying this needs sorting and what do we need to do to escalate it if needs be.  

But what might our options be? We don’t want to end up having to pay out for one when one exists but getting it seems to be the issue. 

Is there a good step to getting the original solicitors to act? Or can the new ones on our behalf?

user1977

Also bear in mind the likelihood, once they get the existing policy, of them deciding it doesn't provide sufficient cover (e.g. it should be for the current property value rather than the previous insured amount) and then you'll need a new policy anyway.

IronMan22

user1977 said:

Also bear in mind the likelihood, once they get the existing policy, of them deciding it doesn't provide sufficient cover (e.g. it should be for the current property value rather than the previous insured amount) and then you'll need a new policy anyway.

Yeah, we think this is likely. 

They still haven’t sent it to us, and turns out they have never been sent a copy (they are saying), blaming the sellers. Despite us chasing it all this time!

They’re now, after threats of a complaint, trying to chase again and have emailed out remortgage solicitors with info - but only info we’ve given them like the actual policy number.

And after all this, we’ve now had a letter from the rent charge owner (or apparently the owner) asking for it backdated to 2014 with fees and then offering to buy it all. (Which is likely to be another topic needed as I have read they basically become unlawful in 2036 or something)

Thanks for all the help and advice so far