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Solicitors Failure to Remove Restriction on Title Deed

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neslein
neslein Posts: 5 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Evening all,

Hopefully someone will be able to offer some advice on the situation my wife & I currently find ourselves in.
We are currently in the process of buying our second home, so have now entered the even more stressful world of buying & selling a house rather than just buying. We are due to exchange contracts imminently subject to a title restriction being resolved. I've bullet pointed a few points below for the main details:

02/2012 second charge applied for by existing owners
07/2013 existing owners sell property with solicitors A to my wife & I using solicitor B
upon completing second charge & mortgage paid off existing owners move on.
11/2013 title deeds received from solicitor B
05/2017 we decide to sell house after spotting another and use solicitor B to handle out sale & purchase
06/17 our buyers solicitor C notices that restriction still exists on title deeds for the second charge
Solicitor B is already on the case getting in touch with both the land registry and solicitor A.
Solicitor B has filled out RX4 form & RX3 form I believe to try and resolve urgently.

What I would like some help with is
Whos responsibility is it to remove the second charge company from the deeds
Who should have picked it up when we received out deeds back in 11/2013 (if it is us then we will accept the blame)
What can now be done as a matter or urgency to rectify this so that no one pulls out from the sale?
I have also tried to contact the second charge company directly but think they have moved offices

Thanks

Comments

  • da_rule
    da_rule Posts: 3,618 Forumite
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    What does the second charge actually say?
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
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    Responsibility for removing the Charge ies with whoever placed the charge on the property. ie if the Charge relates to a secured loan/mortgage, then the lender should remove the charge when the loan is paid off.

    The process is usually that the buyer's solicitor (ie your solicitor in 2013) asks the seller's solicitor for a 'solicitor's undertaking' (ie a promise between professionals) that the loan will be paid off and the Charge removed using the sales proceeds once the buyer has paid.

    On Completion, the seller's solicitor receives the buyer's money and sends the appropriate amount to the bank, who remove the charge.

    So if the charge was not removed, it could be
    a) the seller's solicitor failed tto live up to his 'undertaking' by not giving the bank the money or
    b) the bank received the money but failed to remove the charge.
  • da_rule
    da_rule Posts: 3,618 Forumite
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    Also OP, you fluctuate between referring to a charge and a restriction, which can be completely different things, so please clarify.
  • Land_Registry
    Land_Registry Posts: 5,782 Organisation Representative
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    Your thread implies that the restriction is linked to the second charge. If so and the second charge was paid off then the lender would supply a form DS1 and someone would apply to have the charge removed. On removal the linked restriction would go too.

    However if you are referring to RX3 and RX4 that is presumably not the case here. So as da_rule posts you need to add some clarity as to what is actually registered and whether the restriction is specifically linked to the charge e.g the wording refers to the legal charge referred to in the C Charges Register
    “Official Company Representative
    I am the official company representative of Land Registry. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
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