Charge on Property Preventing Remortgage

hickuain

Hi guys,

I’m not sure what steps to take so thought I’d post here for some advice.

I bought my first home 2 years ago using a Help to Buy ISA with a 2-year fixed mortgage.

Now that I’ve come to remortgage, I’ve been told that the Land Registry was never updated for this property and that it is still registered in the previous owner’s name, this is because Help to Buy never removed a charge on the property, meaning the Land Registry couldn’t update the homeowner when I purchased it.

I’m told that Help to Buy and my solicitor’s have not acted on 2 warnings about this, one in 2024 & one in 2025.

This has completely stopped me from being able to remortgage - since being told about it I have been trying to force them to resolve it non stop, but my current mortgage is due to expire on 30th June and the charge still hasn’t been removed, so the Land Registry still can’t be updated.

This means I’ll be put onto the Variable Rate (£~200/month more than the remortgage I agreed) and if this is eventually resolved, I’ll have to accept another remortgage offer that is ~£100/month more expensive than the remortgage offer I currently have agreed

What steps should I take here?

Is it possible that I can seek compensation for the thousands of pounds this will cost me over the next couple of years?

Thank you

ACG

Solicitors who did the purchase will likely be liable for your costs.

Although I am not sure whether there is an element of you trying to minimise losses which might be a case of you switching to a new product with your current lender to try and limit losses.

Who is your current lender?

hickuain

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82048901#Comment_82048901

Yep that’s what the mortgage advisor I spoke to suggested actually, I’m with Halifax at the moment paying ~£640 per month

She has found a Halifax product that will cost me ~£750/month

I’m not sure whether the land Registry issue still applies if I stay with the same lender though…

But yeah, some cost can be reduced that way but that’ll still be me paying an extra £2,640 over the 2 years + paying less off of the mortgage total due to higher interest, all through no fault of my own

silvercar

your solicitor is responsible for making sure the property is registered in your name, they also act for the lender. It could be some confusion with the help to buy administrators if you and the previous owner both had HTB.