To be absolutely furious with house seller

[ChagSameachDoreen]

Our house sale/purchase has been limping along for a fucking eternity (November 2020, to be precise).

We offered on a property in February 2022 which was finally accepted. Took the seller an age to find an onward purchase, but luckily our buyer (young, first-time) was willing to wait.

We had a completion date set for September 12th - perfect, as our buyer's mortgage offer expires end of Sep, and we have religious holidays starting on Sep 24. I was just waiting for confirmation to book a removal company.

Today my solicitor calls and says there's a hold up. The title of the house can't be transferred to me yet, as the seller's ex-husband's name is still on it. Since she doesn't speak to him anymore, it has to go through the courts, and nobody has even the vaguest clue when it might be completed.

ONLY NOW THIS HAS COME UP?

I am fucking raging.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, and if so, how long did the courts take to remove the other person off the title?

Jeeze, @FatAnneTheDealer - that was a MONUMENTAL fuck up by your lawyer!!! Just thinking about the unwitting ongoing exposure makes me feel a bit faint.

I suppose the only silver lining you could take from that cloud is that your ex didn't know, so couldn't get opportunistically arsey about his 'legal proof' to rights to a 'share'. If he was that type ...

Is it possible at the start of proceedings that there was nonissue and the split happened since, rather than incompetence?

Buying and selling houses in England is a nightmare, it takes so long, and because you still have feudal tenure, if a landlord is involved for any consents etc, it just adds to the pain. The whole thing needs a major overhaul. It’s ludicrous.

I work in a civil court in the south east, sorry OP but this is going to take ages to sort out. These sorts of issues are low priority for the Courts that still haven't caught up with delays due to COVID. I know a housing case issued at the beginning of this year has just been listed for December for an adjourned hearing.

How long did all that take though?

Absolutely pull out. I'm sorry OP.

It took 13 months to transfer the title deeds between my ex and me last year... granted he had to reapply for the mortgage but that only took about 3 weeks. Once we actually received the TR1 it took about 4 months for it all to be completed once it was signed and returned by me. It's an extremely long process and we were both in agreement and hurrying it along as much as we could.

It would seem strange that they have already arranged the mortgage (him off it but the deeds hadn't been transferred). As I was under the impression that the new mortgage required a copy of the new transferred deeds? Speculating on their situation of course.

Yes - we don't want to be moving on shabbos!

I'm going to speak to a legal ombudsman.

If it's true that it can take years for title deeds to be changed through the courts, we will pull out and try and find somewhere else as quickly as possible. That is, if the buyer of our flat is willing to hang in a few more months. Which she very understandably might not be!

Has the solicitor given further clarification - is it a paperwork issue or is the other party completely unaware?

My solicitor apparently only heard about the title deed issue and the court case YESTERDAY. Searches were raised on July 13th.

But she must know what the title deed issue actually is?

I wish PP would stop blaming OP’s solicitor.

I'm sure they would have:
a. Checked they had a letter from the sellers’ solicitor saying they are instructed by the sellers
b That the names on the contract and title match.
c. Asked for an undertaking to have the restriction removed on completion- presumably it’s just come to light that the other seller won’t sign the necessary form now.
There’s nothing more that we would normally do.

Of course it's the solicitor's fault - they haven't checked who owns the property.

If they had, they would have told the OP that the seller's ex was also on the deeds so they needed clarity on that issue.

Come on, it's basic stuff.

I would try to find out from your solicitor what 'going through the courts' means. If the seller is in the process of financial separation from their ex via the courts it could take ages. In that case I would find a new house. If there is some small administrative issue that needs fixing and your solicitor can give you a timescale you're happy with, you may want to hang on. The LR are taking ages but my understanding is that they will expedite where there is urgency (check with your solicitor though). Saying that, one of the checks a solicitor should do is to check the title for ownership; sounds like they didn't do this as quickly as they could have done.

Yeah, but surely this kind of shit is what we pay Solucitors to do!?!?!

Is this really worth all the hassle? So let's say the seller skipped an estate agent and went independently..she could have got away with not showing title deeds. I really can't believe you have allowed this to drag on for nearly two years without constantly chasing. Im sure you have chased but all the time the basics werent established? Why do you want to bother with the Legal Ombudsman? They aren't going to get you your house any quicker. This smacks to me of a process being done 'on the cheap'. You've paid the price. If I am wrong, fair enough but something isn't sitting right.

Ok ignore all the noise on mumsnet. People are all very outraged but they don’t know the facts. In fact neither do I as you have suggested two different and incompatible things are going on.

First you have said the ex-H remains an owner ‘ on the title’ and nobody noticed and he isn’t available to sign the transfer documents. I think that is extremely unlikely especially given what you said next. If he was a joint owner that should have been spotted at the start of the process not the end. Alternatively he is a joint owner but as part of the divorce there was an order for sale and she was given conduct of sale. That would require his signature on transfer docs and if he is not in contact, a judge might have to sign. Might take a week to get that before a judge. Doesn’t need a hearing, just a letter explaining and the transfer form sent to him/her. So a weeks delay if your solicitor makes an urgent application to the local court.

Second you have said your solicitor told you he has a ‘restriction on the title’ which has not been removed. Now that is extremely likely. That is a restriction that one spouse can put on title to a property which is a marital home owned by the other spouse, but of which they are NOT a legal owner. That says it can’t be sold by the legal owner (the other spouse). Very common for those to be put on as a divorce is going through.

Normally the person who puts the restriction on has to remove it. She isn’t in touch with him, and he hasn’t removed it so again a judge will have to sign the paperwork on his behalf. They will only do so if they think it is the right thing to do but it is very likely that the divorce has been sorted, a final order made allowing her to sell - and if that is the case it just needs to be put before a judge and signed as before. Maybe a week. Ignore Alice the court worker up above and her 6 weeks misinformation - she is giving you how long it takes for a first possession hearing to be listed which is irrelevant - this doesn’t require a hearing (Urgent boxwork Alice!). It then will take the land registry 2 weeks to remove the restriction (or less if you ask nicely). But realistically you are looking at 2-3 weeks delay.

If the divorce has not been made final and the restriction is there, then yes that is game over. Could take years. But very unlikely that she would try that as it would never have succeeded..

so speak to your solicitor and ask her to explain it clearly. Don’t sack her. That is not going to speed anything up.

They did check who owns the property. If the ex is still on the title and there’s no Transfer waiting to be registered, they are still an owner.
What should they have done beyond what I said then @gatehouseoffleet ?

Just reading what you say your solicitor told you again - it sounds as though you have exchanged? If so this can only be an MHA restriction we are talking about (can’t exchange contracts with a signature of all legal owners, and you say he can’t be found) and it also sounds as though it is “going through the courts” ie that they have already applied to get a judge to sign to lift the restriction. Which means you probably will get that this week, depending on your local court (which is it?) and then have to get the LR to lift the restriction. Again, I’d say you would be unlucky for this to take more than 3 weeks and a proactive solicitor actively chasing should get it done in 10-14 days.

Can’t exchange contracts without signature….

You must have got it wrong with 'all that noise" you are making on Mumsnet 🤔

We have just been on this exact situation, except the the ex partners were amicable
By law it takes 14 working days to remove a name from land registry- providing of course it’s legal to do so. I’ve got it in black and white right in front of me so I don’t know why you are commenting on something you know nothing about!

@culldesack yes, ignore the helpful info and focus on the corrected typo, that’s the ticket <<pats head>>

YOU insulted everyone thus far, who had given advice. I'm sure, with your superior knowledge, no external patting is required.