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Unilateral Notice - lawyer advice please

12 replies

TheHappyShark · 15/05/2024 14:12

Bit of a strange one. Trying to sort out my parents finances as they have had some difficulties. Basically my parents had a retail shop that was repossessed, the lender sold the property to recover their mortgage but they sold it for under the mortgage value. Shocking and outrageous but they weren’t in the financial or mental position to object.

they therefore held my parents responsible for this shortfall (very large amount). I am not sure what legal steps were taken etc as I was a kid during this. Anyway we are in the process of selling their family home and have seen a unilateral notice in the benefit of the mortgage company on their title register - there are no other charges just a UN.

Plot twist - the original mortgage company was dissolved pre pandemic. The last correspondence I can find in my parents records is from 2017 from their lawyers giving us a balance of the debt ( I took over their affairs in 2018 so fairly certain nothing has come since) no other 3rd parties have written to us taking ownership of the debt etc. had a look at the final gazette and it says the company had no assets so no dividends were paid to creditors. What makes this a weirder one is that the reason the company went bankrupt was they had been sued by another mortgagee saying their mortgage was breached due to the T&Cs, so I question the validity of this “debt”

anyway we have submitted a UN4 to HM Land Registry and they have written to the beneficiary but they won’t tell me where / who ? Is it the original lawyers or the last registered address as per companies house ? And what is normal in this situation and what is the likely outcome ? And advice or insight would be much appreciated

OP posts:
LandRegRep1862 · 17/05/2024 15:28

TheHappyShark · 15/05/2024 14:12

Bit of a strange one. Trying to sort out my parents finances as they have had some difficulties. Basically my parents had a retail shop that was repossessed, the lender sold the property to recover their mortgage but they sold it for under the mortgage value. Shocking and outrageous but they weren’t in the financial or mental position to object.

they therefore held my parents responsible for this shortfall (very large amount). I am not sure what legal steps were taken etc as I was a kid during this. Anyway we are in the process of selling their family home and have seen a unilateral notice in the benefit of the mortgage company on their title register - there are no other charges just a UN.

Plot twist - the original mortgage company was dissolved pre pandemic. The last correspondence I can find in my parents records is from 2017 from their lawyers giving us a balance of the debt ( I took over their affairs in 2018 so fairly certain nothing has come since) no other 3rd parties have written to us taking ownership of the debt etc. had a look at the final gazette and it says the company had no assets so no dividends were paid to creditors. What makes this a weirder one is that the reason the company went bankrupt was they had been sued by another mortgagee saying their mortgage was breached due to the T&Cs, so I question the validity of this “debt”

anyway we have submitted a UN4 to HM Land Registry and they have written to the beneficiary but they won’t tell me where / who ? Is it the original lawyers or the last registered address as per companies house ? And what is normal in this situation and what is the likely outcome ? And advice or insight would be much appreciated

Notification is issued to the named beneficiary and the address shown on the register itself. We don’t generally contact the solicitor who acted at the time

TheHappyShark · 18/05/2024 22:13

LandRegRep1862 · 17/05/2024 15:28

Notification is issued to the named beneficiary and the address shown on the register itself. We don’t generally contact the solicitor who acted at the time

Ahh thanks for the insight. The address on the register is for their solicitor but they have since moved and also changed names. As the beneficiary is now bankrupt I’m not sure what interest their old solicitor would have.

what would happen in this scenario?

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Noras · 18/05/2024 22:16

Doesn’t the benefit of the charge ultimately go to the crown?

Just a thought

Noras · 18/05/2024 22:18

Bona Vacanti

TheHappyShark · 18/05/2024 22:18

There’s no charge just a Unilateral Notice

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RicePuddingWithCinnamon · 18/05/2024 22:23

I just had this happen to me with the house I am selling. We were told the previous solicitor didn’t do anything to remove the names of the company that built the house. We had to fill in the UN4 form and send it to land registry. If the company named on it didn’t come forward to claim any interest after two weeks their name was removed.

TheHappyShark · 18/05/2024 22:32

Yeah we are in the process now. 15 day window passed on Friday so fingers crossed that we are close to getting rid of it.

☺️

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RicePuddingWithCinnamon · 18/05/2024 22:35

Land registry are very efficient. I phoned them to ask what was going on and they were great.

TheHappyShark · 18/05/2024 22:42

They have been great. When I rang and asked for an update they mentioned a 10 week processing time (excluding the 15 day notice period) as they have a massive backlog. They asked if I had a reason to expedite and very easily did this. They have been great - it’s just an odd situation with little guidance.

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RicePuddingWithCinnamon · 19/05/2024 07:25

Our didn’t take it 10 weeks, after the notice period it was done within a week.I hope that it works out for you and your parents.

LandRegRep1862 · 19/05/2024 09:30

TheHappyShark · 18/05/2024 22:13

Ahh thanks for the insight. The address on the register is for their solicitor but they have since moved and also changed names. As the beneficiary is now bankrupt I’m not sure what interest their old solicitor would have.

what would happen in this scenario?

The Notice has a 15 day lifespan so if it’s not returned/responded to within that period we would normally remove the entry and complete the application

TheHappyShark · 19/05/2024 22:20

RicePuddingWithCinnamon · 19/05/2024 07:25

Our didn’t take it 10 weeks, after the notice period it was done within a week.I hope that it works out for you and your parents.

i think they are very backlogged so they are dealing with a large volume of applications. I only rang up to check the progress and they said it would be reviewed in 10 weeks (ie their backlog) but could expedite it as it would delay any potential house sale. They were great - very proactive.

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