When you buy a house how do you ensure you own it and you have the correct legal rights, eg tenants in common

[Dickybow321]

Just that, really.
We've just bought a house. The conveyancer was extremely incompetent ( overcharging us by 1.5k is just the tip of the iceberg) so now we're in the new house and I've seen the mortgage statements so that's the only reason why I know for sure that I have a humungous mortgage. But how do I know for sure I actually own the house? I have never seen any documents from the solicitor his self. For example, I know I sent lots of documents like warranties to the solicitor of the person buying my house. I have received nothing from the people I bought off. No certificates or anything. How do you know for sure that you own the house? How do you know you are 'tenants in common ' as you requested ? How do you know if your trust deed is operational?

Ie.on the paperwork my house was sold and the proceeds were sent to the bank that is administering the mortgage. So on paper it looks like the proceeds from my house sale, ie my equity, went into the deposit for the house. But the situation is that he has paid stamp duty and a lot of other costs.

Today 02:06 Jack65

No, the trust already exists. The trust is what you have already agreed. The deed of trust document simply evidences what has been agreed. There is already some evidence of what you have agreed as you have already asked the for the document to be drawn up. That is evidence of your intentions. So legally you are fine, but it should be done at their earliest c

But if we agreed verbally that I would he would get everything, that would surely mean nothing if I changed my mind and wanted 50/50?!

Get in touch with the law society and consider making a complaint

Some of the advice posted on this thread is incorrect: you need to exhaust the conveyancer's complaints procedure and not be satisfied by the outcome before you can go to the ombudsman. It usually takes around three months for the publicly available title register document showing your ownership to be uploaded to the gov.uk Land Registry website. A copy costs £3 to download.

The fact you have a mortgage secured on the house you've bought is evidence that you and the mortgage company have an interest in that property (an interest here means ownership rights).

You must have signed the contract to buy the house and the TR1 Land Registry form (this is the transfer of ownership form that the sellers and buyers sign) - both of you should have signed and your signatures would have needed to be witnessed on the contract. Do you remember that? It's normal to be sent a report by the conveyancer before exchange which sets out what you are buying and anything you need to be aware of. Were you sent anything? Our solicitors used a secure website we logged into but they posted us a copy of their report and various documents. Most conveyancers do this because they need to cover themselves in the event a client goes back to them in the future and says they didn't know about X or didn't agree to Y.

Are you absolutely certain you didn't get something like this? What about your partner - did he? Buying and selling is stressful and it can be easy to forget things (or put them out of your mind afterwards once the trauma is over ).

Hi there

I have a damp patch on our wall in our first floor bedroom. The patch is directly behind the bathroom and the toilet.

The floor is not wet, the wall is not saturated and the paint is coming off.

We stuck a flat object under our toilet up to the wall and there was no moisture on this.

Us there a wau to find out if it's a leak or condensation without breaking up my bathroom unit? First photo is the damp wall, second is the toilet in the bathroom sharing the wall, you can see the little gap on the floor where were inserted the object looking for wetness. Your help appreciated as always!

@Ladywarrior - did you mean to start your own thread rather than posting on this one?

Haha wowfudge, I remember signing the contract and the mortgage deed. But there was definitely no report apart from the searches. Thanks for the info, I will be putting in a complaint. At one point our solicitor even forwarded us an email that had the addresses of everybody in the chain on! GDPR, what GDPR ?!

Yes the fact that I am paying a mortgage every month makes me confident that I could sue them if it turns out they didn't do things correctly but I would sleep better at night if I just had confirmation of the things I've asked about up thread. I will check the land registry in three months if I haven't had anything back when I email the conveyancer.

Thanks purpkeflower, I didn't know who to go to if I don't get a satisfactory response from a complaint.

Hi, ladywarrior, do you think your convenancer caused this? I'm off to check my bathroom to see if I can add this to the list .....

OP, the Land Registry can take ages to deal with registrations especially if there is anything remotely complicated or that it needs to check (called "requisitions"). Just drop the conveyancer an e-mail and ask when the application was lodged and do they have any idea when it will be completed. If they can't tell you when it was lodged, that's a different (and worrying) matter but otherwise it's likely to be a case just of a slow process going at its usual speed. You can ask as well if you will be sent all the other papers (copy SDLT return, any warranties etc) when the registration is complete or separately. TBH, I'd anticipate that most solicitors would send things in one go once the property has been registered to you.

Thanks GU24Mum, I didn't even think about SDLT! Would you believe that on the day of completion they forgot to add this to our bill? We got an email saying 'we have completed on your sale' then a frantic phone call half an hour later saying they had forgotten to charge us for stamp duty.

I know this makes it sound like I'm making it all up

But all this is why I'm suddenly thinking, hang on, how do I know I actually own this bloody house? It was like a bunch of 12 year olds handled the conveyancing for me

Omg I am so sorry! How does anyone know how to delete?

@Ladywarrior report the post and they'll move it for you. It's probable water is getting behind the tiles from either the shower or a small leak from the toilet. Plumber time?

@wowfudge I didnt say go to the ombudsman, i said write a letter of complaint to the conveyancer mentioning the legal ombudsman in order to focus their mind on completing the job.

Op see my previous post.

@Jack65 - someone else suggested the OP complain to the Law Society. She still needs to exhaust the conveyancer's complaints procedure.

Can you just clarify, in your first post you talk about a conveyancer, then the rest of your posts you talk about solicitor. They are two different animals which did you employ?

sbplanet sorry I thought it was the same thing. A solicitor was overseeing the whole thing.

Jack do you know where I can check if its been done as Tenants in Common or not? We did tick a box on a form that said that was our intention, but I have no idea who holds these forms now.

The land registry entry of a tenants in common will say RESTRICTION: No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the Registrar or the court

I honestly don't know how we can answer this for you. Ask your conveyancer to confirm if it has been registered.

Thanks Jack

Scoogle

I honestly don't know how we can answer this for you. Ask your conveyancer to confirm if it has been registered.

Well obviously I am going to the conveyancer but I didn't know what I was asking to see. If you don't know why did you answer? Other people have told me what I need to know!

The conveyancer will have completed a TR1 which is the document needed by the land registry to carry out the transfer of ownership. The conveyancer completes the form and sends it to the land registry. There is a section on the form to be completed re joint tenancy or t in c. The land registry completes the entry on the official register. This is done within 3 months, or should be.

Thank you, Jack. This is exactly what I needed to know.

They should have sent you a copy of the title deeds but it can take a while, I think it was about 8 weeks before our solicitor sent ours. They were mega incompetent too, I had to check everything. When I received said new title deeds in my husband's and my name believe it or not our mortgage was the SECOND charge against the property, the first charge was the previous owners mortgage still sitting there, I'm sure that could have caused an issue if we sell! It was another 3 months before I received corrected title deeds. I'd get a copy if I were you they are available online