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Original poster

Anyone know what to do if previous owner of house had secured loans on it and is now defaulting on payments ?

109 replies

scatterbrain · 16/06/2008 09:50

We bought this house last summer and still get loads of post for the previous owners - my solicitor friend suggested we opened the post to see what was going on and anyway - it appears that he has several loans secured on this house, hasn't changed his address with them and is now defaulting on the payments !

I have written to one of the loan companies and just phoned another one now and gave them his new address - but I am really worried now that our house is going to get credit blacklisted or something because of his secured loans .

Anyone know what we should do to make sure his debts stay with him ??

OP posts:
Original poster
scatterbrain · 17/06/2008 11:12

Thanks MrsPuddleduck - we are listed as a "Unilateral Notice" which the mortgage company registered in February - but presumabley because this one loan is still in existence the land registry cannot transfer the ownership to us. Not listed as having priority though ! Suppose I should be glad the previous seller hasn't taken any new loans/mortgages since we bought it !!!

OP posts:
AitchTwoCiao · 17/06/2008 11:18

i must say i'd be onto the Law Society in a flash, here. if what your solicitor is saying is true, then they won't be in that much trouble. if not, then you have the LS on your case.

MrsPuddleduck · 17/06/2008 11:24

I have just looked up Unilateral Notice - check that you are a beneficiary as well as your lender.

If the sellers solicitor provided an undertaking to pay off the third mortgage then they will have to pay it themselves if they cannot get it off the seller.

If the sellers solicitors never promised to pay if off and your solicitor didn't check properly then your will have to pay it off.

Solicitors pay through the nose for insurance to cover these eventualities but probably only claim as a last resort as with all policies it will increase their premiums. I once worked in a practice where the insurance bill was 20k per year.

Either way it will not be your responsibility so try not to worry on that front.

YeahBut · 17/06/2008 11:24

Stop being nice to crap solicitors! Of course he wants you to leave it with him, he's trying to cover his arse! Get on to the Law Society ASAP...

MrsPuddleduck · 17/06/2008 11:25

Meant to say "your solicitor will have to pay it off"

Original poster
scatterbrain · 17/06/2008 13:15

So do you think I should tell Law Society now or give him a chance to sort it out ?

I am a bit of a sucker really and just think he is actually a real person, someone's husband, someone's dad etc not a faceless bureaucrat and to err is human etc blah blah !

Oh dear - I used to be indecisive - now I'm not so sure !!

PS. Yes MrsPuddleduck we are jointly listed on the unilateral notice thingummy

OP posts:
RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 13:27

I understand what everyone is saying about the Law Society, but they won't get involved in fixing this for you. They can deal with complaints about solicitors, but it's like complaining about a bank or whatever, it is a slow process and it's time consuming.

You can obviously do that if you want to, but personally I would concentrate on getting this mess sorted out first.

I would be inclined to ring back the partner and explain that you would like to arrange a face to face meeting (I don't care if they're internet, he can travel to you and book one of those 'by the hour' meeting rooms) to go through everything and discuss what they are going to do to fix it.

I would also echo what others have said, solicitors have massive insurance for cock ups like this. They will be insured. It might take a while, but this will get sorted...

RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 13:28

Oh, and if you're not happy, get back on the phone to your bank and try to get escalated as senior as possible. Then ask if their lawyers are on the case.

If all else fails, go to a new solicitor yourself. As others have said, if worst comes to worst you may need to sue the last lot.

RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 13:29

Oh, and if you're not happy, get back on the phone to your bank and try to get escalated as senior as possible. Then ask if their lawyers are on the case.

If all else fails, go to a new solicitor yourself. As others have said, if worst comes to worst you may need to sue the last lot.

RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 13:29

Oh, and if you're not happy, get back on the phone to your bank and try to get escalated as senior as possible. Then ask if their lawyers are on the case.

If all else fails, go to a new solicitor yourself. As others have said, if worst comes to worst you may need to sue the last lot.

MrsPuddleduck · 17/06/2008 13:29

It depends how badly you feel about it really.

We all make mistakes and it is easily done if you are busy and under pressure.

If they adequately sort it out from now on you could just leave it. If not you will have the Law Society to deal with as well.

RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 13:30

Sorry, frozen keyboard...

AitchTwoCiao · 17/06/2008 14:28

i'd be furious, tbh, and i would want to complain about it full stop. the guy does deserve to be investigated by the LS imo, who knows how many mistakes he's making?

Original poster
scatterbrain · 17/06/2008 14:36

I am too reasonable ! Going to give him a call again tomorrow when he has hopefully received the "evidence" of the loan still existing and ask him what the way forward is ? If he doesn't sound like he is treating it urgently or properly I will progress it !

OP posts:
RibenaBerry · 17/06/2008 17:36

I totally agree with you.

I wasn't trying to put you off complaining before, BTW. I was just saying that you need to think of it as something completely separate to getting this sorted out. Complaining won't progress that bit, so it's just whether you have the energy and time to do both together, or want to go one at a time.

elkiedee · 17/06/2008 17:53

Your solicitors would normally have acted for your mortgage lender as well, even if you chose them separately. I'm shocked tbh that conveyancers or lenders couldn't even get that checked out properly - sounds like negligence from the conveyancers.

annh · 18/06/2008 22:11

Scatterbrain, is there any further update from the solicitor?

Original poster
scatterbrain · 19/06/2008 13:34

Thanks for asking AnnH !!

Yes - he now has the copy of the loan letter that I forwarded to him and has written to the sellers solicitors to ask them how this has happened !

He said he will come back to me as soon as he has news. he has also put a "priority notice" on the land register he says.

He appears to be thinking that the sellers solicitor is at fault here - but surely his processes should have checked her work - not presumed it was OK ?

OP posts:
Freckle · 19/06/2008 16:37

Well, I'd be asking questions about where the title deeds are (and have been for the last 11months) because, if everything had been dealt with as it should, the title deeds (Charge Certificate) should show that all previous charges have been discharged and also show your lenders charge. Somebody somewhere should have been querying this.

Original poster
scatterbrain · 19/06/2008 17:56

Yes sorry - I thought I'd said - the mortgage company have been querying it with my solicitors - but neither bothered to tell me ! I have put a rocket up them both as I discovered last week that there was still a secured loan against the property.

OP posts:
clam · 03/07/2008 21:43

Any news on this one?

Ivegotaheadache · 05/07/2008 23:06

I was wondering what had happened here too. Scatterbrain if you're around let us know

Original poster
scatterbrain · 09/07/2008 12:17

Hi everyone - well nothing at all has happened actually ! I've just been on to the solicitor who has been on holiday for that last week and a half and didn't even bother to either tell us or pass the case on to his partner. His partner has just sent me a bit of an arsey email saying that I should contact the police if I think the previous owner is committing fraud !

So - it's nearly a month on and no progress to speak of.

In the interim we have opened a letter from the solicitor of a car HP company that he has also defaulted on - demanding the return of the car or payment of the balance (£50K) - and in the letter it referred to "Thank you for your letter of 10th June 2008" which suggests to me that he has continues to use this address - I think that I have sorted that out as I emailed the solicitor giving his current rented address and explaining that he no longer owns this house - they replied confirming that they would not write to him again at our address and would use his new address.

Then yesterday DH opened a letter - marketing type thing - from a loan company addressed to the previous owner and it started with "further to loan application of april 5th 2008 - we are now in a position to offer you a loan" - but I'm not sure if we can take that as meaning he applied for a loan against this house - or whether that's a marketing ploy.

So - I remain really worried and not sure what to do. We have been meaning to see another solicitor and kick of a negligence claim against our conveyancing solicitors - but haven't had the time yet.

OP posts:
Original poster
scatterbrain · 09/07/2008 12:29

Oh and - just rereading thread reminded me - someone mentioned that solicitors are insured for this kind of thing - and the other partner just said to me that he sees from the file that their insurers have been notified of the problem - does this mean that they are expecting us to sue them ?

OP posts:
whoops · 09/07/2008 12:42

Scatterbrain - if they have notified their insurers they obviously realise there is a potential problem and could be sued.

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