Transfer of deeds with a registered charge

Chellylouise

That part of it is okay because mum paid off  the mortgage she had on her share of the house a few years ago. That was with Halifax and is settled. 

RAS

Chellylouise said:

That part of it is okay because mum paid off  the mortgage she had on her share of the house a few years ago. That was with Halifax and is settled. 

Good. So the executor(s) need to work out how to clear the charge ASAP as the longer that takes, the longer it will take to transfer the property to your brother.

Once the paperwork goes in you can ask for the transfer to be expedited, but they will need evidence that the restriction is cleared. There's another poster here trying to clear a restriction resulting from a charge issued to a defunct company, with solicitors that no longer operate.

There are also very useful Land Registry staff who monitor these boards and can help if you think expedition is taking too long, or advise generally what sort of documents are required before you apply.

Chellylouise

Thank you RAS. I think first thing is apply for a loan to clear this debt with Restons. I am of the understanding it's Restons themselves that would inform land registry that the debt is now cleared and removed the charge . But I will have to check this with them as to not cause further delays.

Once that's settled I am going to keep my fingers crossed the rest of it is quite straight forward. 

Hoenir

The choice is to settle the debt ( remortgage or find the cash) or sell the property. 

GDB2222

Sorry to disagree, but surely it is possible to transfer the property without clearing the charge? 

Can you please post the exact wording of the charge, please? 

user1977

GDB2222 said:

Sorry to disagree, but surely it is possible to transfer the property without clearing the charge? 

I think people are talking at cross-purposes. Yes, it may be possible from a conveyancing point of view to effect the transfer without clearing charges. But that doesn't affect the executor's duty to settle the deceased's debts.

sheramber

Chellylouise said:

We may have made mistakes as executor as well unfortunately because my mum left the 25% of the house. Just over 2k in her bank account and her personal belongings all to my brother. This was agreed as my brother had lived with mum and became her carer when she was  diagnosed with a brain tumour which sadly resulted in her death. 

As it turned out the money hasn't gone to benefactor because 2 small debts we knew about were settled. The rest of the money has covered the past few months rent to the housing association and around 300 towards funeral costs. So by time restons solicitors contacted us saying they were owed money (they didn't inform us at first about the registered charge) the estate was close to bring broke. I'm not sure if we were  were supposed to not put 300 towards funeral costs and not pay any rent while we waited to see if any other credits came forward first. 

The value of your mother's share of the house is  estate value so it is not broke. 

It does not become ring fenced because it was willed to your brother.

Chellylouise

I and my brother fully understand this is a debt that HAS to be settled one way or another. The issue really was whether we could transfer deeds and then settle the debt slowly with a repayment plan. Or whether the debt had to be settled immediately before we are legally able to transfer deeds.

It's not about trying to find a way out of paying or anything like. 

And of course we are trying to avoid having to sell up if possible. But if selling turns out to be the only way to settle the debt (if we cannot get a loan) then that s what we will do. 

Chellylouise

GDB2222 the wording of the charge is as follows.

2007-07-20

Equitable charge created by an interim charging order of the county court dated 4th July 2007 in favour of HSBC plc NOTE:copy filed. 

At some point though this debt was taken over by restons solicitors. They're the ones who sent us a letter a few weeks ago informing us of this debt. 

FreeBear

Chellylouise said:

I and my brother fully understand this is a debt that HAS to be settled one way or another. The issue really was whether we could transfer deeds and then settle the debt slowly with a repayment plan. Or whether the debt had to be settled immediately before we are legally able to transfer deeds.

You would need to speak to Restons if you wanted to set up some sort of payment plan with them. Quite probable that they would refuse and demand repayment in full without any further delay. But there is also an outside chance that they may agree.