Help Please ! Possessory Title & Solicitors Duty to inform ?

[waxmytash]

If anyone can Help I'd be eternally grateful - I have tried Google unfortunately I 'got lost' after the first page....................

I Purchased my house through Right to buy 4 years ago (paid cash due to inheritance) so no mortgage was needed.

We have now decided to extend financing via Mortgaging ,the mortgage company's Solicitors have discovered that there is a Possessory Title on the property which I was not made aware of when I originally purchased the house .
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Given that the solicitor I originally used for the house purchase failed to advise me of the above I'm wondering if he has anyway failed in his professional duty ? I did telephone him but he was a bit vague in his response stating that is was something he could do but to contact the mortgage company and 'see what they say'.
Should I reasonably expect him to organise this without extra charges ?

I obviously need to get this insurance in place before the mortgage company will proceed but don't really want the expense of having to engage another solicitor etc and it doesn't look as if I can purchase this independently

You have possessory title rather than title absolute? Are you sure in the report your solicitor gave you it didn't mention this? You should see a solicitor to see if the title can be sorted out and to understand the implications.

Tell the solicitor to notify his insurers that there is a potential claim against him if he failed to advise you of the possessory title when you purchased. If you look through the correspondence he sent you it should either be within a letter or a document entitled Report on Title.

Many solicitors if they have made an error will sort it out free of charge for you but would you trust them.

Personally if you are sure you were not advised I would ask for the old file to be sent to a new solicitor who can act for you now and get this sorted and make the claim against the prior solicitor.

Isn't possessory title usually where there are no deeds (maybe because they are lost)

you can upgrade title:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/upgrading-the-class-of-title/practice-guide-42-upgrading-the-class-of-title

right to buy presumably means you purchased from the local council - perhaps talk to them about their supporting your application to upgrade class of title... as possessory title is usually where you have occupied land and therefore gain ownership - right to buy should be easy to show that you have bought it - so the council could perhaps help you get it sorted out

I think we need more detail. Do you mean someone else a stranger say has rights over your registered title eg they have lived on part of the land for years?

or does it mean you are not the registered owner of the land in some way - have you done a £3 Land registry search to check exactly how it is registered? That might throw some light up on it. On the other hand if you can buy a £200 insurance policy to cover this issue it would be simpler and cheaper just to pay for that.

Do however check the Report on Title document from your solicitor from when you purchased as that is likely to have described all these issues in detail.