HELP! Mortgage not been discharged

[pigsinmud]

Having a nightmare. We paid off our mortgage about 6 years and received a letter saying it would be discharged at the Land Registry. Forgot all about it. We are now in the middle of building an extension and have (well are trying to) remortgage the house. Everything was fine until Santander said our mortgage was never discharged by Abbey (Ha how funny it's the same bloody bank) and nothing can happen until it is.

Santander's solicitor firstly said she couldn't do anything. We phoned up Santander and were told that Santander's solicitor needed to sort it out. She finally did something and said it might take 4 weeks. Well 3 weeks later, nothing has happened. She said she sent off the request and has chased it up, but has come up against blank walls?? I don't know what to do. We really really need the money now. Is there anything we can do? Why are people so bloody incompetent!

Could you see if a conveyancing lawyer could deal with it? Perhaps know how to get around the blank walls. OR do you have the discharge letter - that surely demonstrates that the mortgage was paid off.

We have a letter saying it is in the process of being discharged and would receive notification when it was fully discharged. We obviously completely forgot about it until now.

I have just been on the phone to my dad as he works one day a week at a solicitors (in the accounts department) and he's going to have a word with someone and see if they have any advice.

Did you use a solicitor when you paid the mortgage off? Its not my area but generally speaking, a solicitor forwards the monies to the lender who then agree that a DS1 form can be submitted to the Land Registry which removes the charge from the register. The Land Registry is quite slow reacting to paperwork so it may be taking a while. You need to get the solicitor who dealt with it to get it sorted. If you didn't use a solicitor then your current solicitor should be able to liaise with the lender, get the DS1 sent off and the charge removed.

No we didn't use a solicitor 6 years ago. To be honest I was completely naive and looking back I should have chased it up. I simply have a letter stating the charge was in the process of being removed. The solicitor appointed by Santander seems to just be saying they're not getting anywhere and I can't understand why not?