Lien placed on property without owner's knowledge

[GreySkiesAndBirds]

This is my friend's situation, they have asked me to see if I can help them understand the process. They do not have funds for legal advice just now.
They own a property that was rented out. On going to sell they discovered the property has a lien against it. The owner was unaware of the lien and it seems odd to us that they were not made aware of it before it was set in place. The lien has been placed by a tenant who has since left. The home owner does not owe any money to the tenant.
Can anyone help us understand how the lien can be set up without the homeowner being notified? Many thanks for any information.

Where does she live? I've ne er heard of this term but it sounds si.ilar to a charge. In England, she would have been sent a summon to attend court, but it might have been sent at the property and the tenants ignored it. The judge could have reached a judgement in her absence.

It's quite difficult to put a lien on a property and am surprised they didn't know. If they are currently selling can their solicitors not get to the bottom of this.
Also, do they know where the old tenant is and then just ask them what's going on?

I do recall a thing from around 10 years ago when a tenant actually sold the landlord's flat without her knowledge. A lien is usually used to secure something against a debt being paid so yes like a charge placed on a morgaged property. If the tenant did this and the landlord was unaware, this sounds definitely dodgy to me. They really do need to start by hunting down the tenant if they can. There is also a free monitoring service offered by the Land Registry which they can sign up to to be told if someone is trying to sell the house or change the registration details. If it was me though, I'd scrape to get some proper legal advice on this. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Definitely sounds dodgy. A lien has to go through a court process I believe.

hi thank you for the replies. They don't know where the tenant is now. No paperwork was received, they don't even know what the lien is for. The sale has been abandoned and they are renting it out again. There is no cash for solicitors as they have been paying the mortgage on this property plus their own home. Is there a way to find out what the lien is for and how much? I will tell them to add their details to the land registry alert service, that is a great shout, thank you

The property is in England

If there was a summons, and the tenant provided their own address for this paperwork, knowing that the property owner would never then see it, is that fraud? Is that a criminal or civil offence?

She first needs info re the lien - who put it there and for what reason. If she knows that she can demand they remove the lien. If they don't she may be able to ask the land registry to correct the error - they will need evidence that the tenant does not and did not have an interest in the property. But honestly this may be one of those situations where your friend can't really afford not to get a solicitor.

@GreySkiesAndBirds I think that Ophy83 has actually nailed it. In circumstances like this they cannot afford not to get proper legal advice. My other comment is a long shot but it might be worth simply googling the ex tenants name to try to track them down. Couple with an image search to try to eliminate as many people with the same names as possible.

if there was a summons ie if the tenant owed money, it wouldn't be their name on the lien, it would be the creditor.

Do they have legal cover as part of the house insurance policy? The mortgage company may also be a source of information?

Great idea thanks - I will say to them to look at the revserse search to locate the ex tenant. Not sure my friend will want to ever contact them again, but it doesn't hurt to have that information if needed.

I had assumed the lien was from the tenant but discussing today they don't know that for sure, its just an assumption so the first step has to be finding out who the lien is in favour of.

Now that information will definitely be on the Land Registry.

can anyone with legal knowledge advise what the full lien process ought to be, so we can work out what steps have been omitted?
many thanks

until a legal beagle turns up. Does your friend owe anything to anybody, or have they ever? Have they checked on who placed the lien and when? We actually weren't aware that our mortgage charge (lien) hadn't been removed by the bank when we paid off our mortgage until we went to look at detail about a covenant on the property some 3 years after we had paid off the mortgage. https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-a-lien/

Hi @godmum56 we have worked out who the lien is for, and is is someone that isn't, and hasn't ever been, owed any money. Still very interested to understand how the lien was set in place without my friend being notified.

if you know who placed the lien then surely the next step is to contact them? It might be a simple as a letter going astray or it being sent to the property and the tenant destroying it out of malice or for another reason. The person who places the lien should have informed you but does not need your agreement or confirmation that you have received notice of the lien.

A lien as a legal concept usually applies to chattels, which are held pending settlement of a debt. I have never heard it used relating to land.

If a creditor wants security for a debt that is normally because they have judgment and thereafter apply for a charging order. The debtor is served with the court papers but many amateur landlords fail to tell the Land Registry they no longer live at the address and so they fail to receive the papers when they are properly served at the address indicated at the Land Registry.

So assuming this is an actual charging order the entry in the register will explain briefly what it is all about and your friend will be entitled to see a copy of the paperwork submitted when the charging order was applied for.

If it's not a charging order your friend is going to have to explain what in fact is registered, and perhaps you can post the precise wording here, suitably anonymised.

It may also be a Notice, either unilateral or agreed. If agreed the creditor has given the Land Registry proof of entitlement. If unilateral then no proof is needed but your friend can apply to have it removed at any time.

Hi perhaps we are using the wrong word, we thought it ws a lien.
There is a charge at land registry. It is against the property, that my friend has not lived in for a long time.

".. RESTRICTION: No disposition of the registered estate, other than a disposition by the proprietor of any registered charge registered before the entry of this restriciton, is to be registered without a certificate signed by the applicant for registration or their conveyancer that written notice of the disposition was given to xxxx..."

Has your friend got the paperwork that the third party lodged when applying for the restriction?

You can access documents from the Land Registry website for a few pounds. Make sure you use the official site. That will show you what is on file. Google the form name that was used and remove and it should bring up what the form for removal is.

Realistically the owner cannot afford not to get legal advice here. It you need a highly experienced property lawyer, someone very junior won’t do. That doesn’t mean expensive but you need to find the right person.