Lost Deeds......Elderly Parents Worried!

Norma_Desmond

My parents are currently in rented accomodation whilst their house sale goes through. All was going swimmingly until about 3 weeks ago when they were contacted by their solicitor to say that there would be a delay as their buyer had lost the deeds to her house and a statutory declaration was needed to, I presume, 'prove' ownership of this woman's house! All has now gone deathly quiet and they feel as though they're in total limbo. Neither are in the best of health, so this is REALLY upsetting them. Surely their buyer's solicitor should have picked up on the deeds issue at the start of the conveyencing process? Has anyone had experience on timescales re this sort of thing? Parents are seriously considering going back to square one and re-marketing their house...

Bossyboots

It will take time to get the declaration drawn up and registered with the Land Registry and I don't think three weeks is really long at all.

You are right that the buyer's solicitor should have picked this up sooner but maybe he/she was fobbed off by their client saying they would bring them in when in reality they were trying to find them.

Also, sometimes when you notify the Land Registry of missing deeds they contact the person/company last known to have had them in their possession to see whether or not in fact they still retain them. You would be surprised how many people forget their deeds are lodged with their mortgagee.

I think it is worth your parents asking their solicitor to check that all is being done that should be done to apply a little pressure to the buyer.

Norma_Desmond

Cheers Bossyboots; I think that they'll just have to hold tight! Only today they saw a property that they may make an offer on, so it's fingers crossed that this deeds business doesn't take TOO long!