Fortis Lease - Old Debt - Land Registry Restriction

gavin2121

Hello All,

Many Many moons ago, i had a company car provided by Fortis Lease, unbeknown to me (didn't check) although a company car, the lease was in my name. So, when i quit my job and handed back the car, Fortis Lease came after me for the difference between Value and the Loan.... circa £5000. It was around 2010 so i had other debts, and like many, Fortis Lease was never paid and after a while they disappeared from my life.

Cut to last week... i was advised by our Mortgage Lender that there is a Restriction lodged within the Land Registry against our property dated 26.09.11 by Shoosmiths on behalf of Fortis Lease.

I have contacted Shoosmiths, they sold all of their debt collection to another company years ago and have no information regarding this debt, so i called the new company, they too have no information. I have tried to call fortis lease, however they don't appear to have a lease dept anymore and are struggling to direct me to the correct dept. I have emailed with details, but both Shoosmiths and Fortis Lease have failed to respond.

So i know what the debt is and who i owe, i am happy to clear the debt if provided with a balance, but i cant seem to find anyone responsible for the debt.

In light of the above, Is there a natural expiry date for Land Registry Restrictions placed against a property in relation to a debt? 

  

electriccactus

Why not ask your conveyancer these questions?

They hold insurance in case they give incorrect advice. Random people on a forum do not.

silvercar

I doubt there is an expiry date. The whole point of securing a charge against a property is to have a hold until it is cleared.

Now your problem will be to find someone prepared to remove the charge. Either you find whoever now owns the charge and they agree to remove it, no doubt once it has been paid or you prove that there is no one who holds the charge.

Paging @Land_Registry for further advice.

As an aside it is worth using the Land Registry (free) notification service so you are aware if anyone puts a charge on your property. In your case I don’t know if you could argue to the courts that correct procedures weren’t followed, if you were unaware the charging order was made.

Land_Registry

silvercar said:

I doubt there is an expiry date. The whole point of securing a charge against a property is to have a hold until it is cleared.

Now your problem will be to find someone prepared to remove the charge. Either you find whoever now owns the charge and they agree to remove it, no doubt once it has been paid or you prove that there is no one who holds the charge.

Paging @Land_Registry for further advice.

As an aside it is worth using the Land Registry (free) notification service so you are aware if anyone puts a charge on your property. In your case I don’t know if you could argue to the courts that correct procedures weren’t followed, if you were unaware the charging order was made.

Such restrictions don;t 'expire' as they are not time sensitive. An application to cancel/withdraw the restriction is usually needed to secure it's removal - see PG 19 section 3 Notices, restrictions and protection of third-party interests (PG19) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Debts can be protected by way of a restriction. They can also be sold on but the creditor rarely then applies to update the register as the interest (the debt) is already protected. If you wish to repay the debt then you would need to identify who the creditor is now and find out how much is owed and how to pay. We would not have such information - sorry