Halifax and wanting more info

[jimmyeatworld]

Trying to cut a long sorry short, the house we’re buying the original deeds have been lost (vendors 90 been there since the 50’s) Land registry granted a possessory title due to lost deeds. Declaration of truth etc all submitted. Thought this part was over.
Now the land registry has come back requesting more information (proof of the mortgage being paid off, which the vendors do have)
It also states and I quote - The Lender has also requested that I contact the Lender in order to establish whether they hold the missing Deeds in their historical archives. I have requested the name of the Lender, mortgage account number and contact details from the Clients so that I can contact the Lender directly to establish if the missing Deeds are indeed held with them still.

Is this our lender requesting this or a typo from the vendors solicitors and it should say “The land registry has also…”

This shit is driving me insane now !!!

Sorry that last paragraph shouldn’t be in bold, that isn’t quotes that’s me asking a question

I don’t understand why the land registry would grant the title but then come back and ask for more information. So the only thing I can think is that my lender is actually requiring this information before lending on the house. So it’s Halifax that has contacted the LR?

I read that as Halifax have asked them to get details from the vendor's lender before paying it off to see whether they have yhe deeds...if that helps at all!

I'd assume it would help them (Halifax) work out the balance of risk- if they have the deeds, then it's less risky for them as lenders.

This is exactly how my dh read it too. But I read it as a typo and it meant the LR. It would make so much more sense though the way you’re seeing it

Yeah, it could be a lot clearer. There are essentially 2 'lenders'. It would make sense that the previous lender would possibly hold the deeds in their archives.

So I’ve spoken to the land registry - they’ve said nothing is showing on their system that they’ve asked for more information 🤔 I just want the bloody draft contracts !!!

"The Lender (1) has also requested that I contact the Lender (2) in order to establish whether they hold the missing Deeds in their historical archives. I have requested the name of the Lender, mortgage account number and contact details from the Clients so that I can contact the Lender directly to establish if the missing Deeds are indeed held with them still (3)
Is this our lender requesting this or a typo from the vendors solicitors and it should say “The land registry has also…”

(1) I assume you're relying on a mortgage to buy this property, so this reference is to your mortgage provider/lender)

(2) this is the vendor's lender - your solicitor wants proof that the vendor's mortgage has been paid off. Your solicitor is enquiring if the lender still holds all the original deeds. Years ago it was common for the mortgage provider to hold the deeds until the mortgage had been repaid, at which point the deeds would be sent to the owner for safe keeping but maybe that didn't happen here).

(3) Your solicitor doesn't know who the vendor's lender was, or the account number/contact details, so he's asking the vendor's solicitor to provide it so your solicitor can make enquiries directly with the lender, rather than waiting for the vendor's solicitor to do the enquiring.

It's not worded very well. It might have been better to start with "Your lender" rather than "The lender" and the "Seller's lender" rather than "Your lender".

Hi

This wasn’t my solicitor as I’ve spoken to them yesterday and they haven’t heard from the vendors solicitors since July ! They didn’t even know the property had been registered 🤷‍♀️

If there are no deeds and the owners haven't got the deeds, how is the property registered? If the property was registered you wouldn't need the old deeds.

So it was registered with some kind of dated conveyancing note, evidence of living there so long and declaration of truth x2. They awarded possessory title and it states on the title this is due to lost deeds.

The estate agent then pushed for the draft contracts to be sent to my solicitor and that’s when the vendors solicitor came back with what I’ve copied into my original post.

It just makes no sense why they would grant a title and then go, actually we want this and that now.

I actually spoke to the land registry myself after this but they said there was nothing on the system saying they’d asked for anything else since granting the title. I am so so stressed with it all now

It isn't the Land Registry you should be talking to, it's the solicitors dealing with the legal work. Specifically your own solicitor - you cannot talk to the seller's solicitor. Solicitors submit the application to the Land Registry for registration. Land Registry may raise requisitions with the solicitor (enquiries), but Land Registry don't investigate the application themselves.

You really need to speak to your own solicitor for their advice on how to proceed (or not). What you've quoted is from the seller's solicitor, so yes probably it should have said The Land Registry rather than The Lender. The Land Registry would expect the seller's solicitor to make enquiries with the seller's original lender, simply to confirm the absence of any current mortgage and to confirm whether or not they still hold the original deeds. If these have never been supplied to the Land Registry, then the Land Registry simply don't have them and can't help further.

So it turns out the email that was sent that I quoted in the post was an OLD email from before the registration and the secretary for some random reason sent it to the estate agent. wtf? This is just another thing in a long list of fuck ups the vendors solicitors have made. It has caused me so much stress and confusion since Friday. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad it was a mistake but it needn’t of happened! So that’s why the land registry said they hadn’t sent nothing else, because they hadn’t !