House Sold. Full mortgage balance still showing in my mortgage account

B

BODN

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Hi, I was hoping someone could help me please as I cannot get through to my solicitor (as has been the case for the entire selling process).

I found out from my auctioneer in the middle of last week that my property sold. The new purchasers have the keys and moved in at the end of last week. I got an email on Friday from my solicitor to confirm that the property sold. I haven't been able to speak with my solicitor much at all. She has consistently been 'unavailable' to take my calls and hasn't been responding to my emails.

My query is this:
The mortgage account that I had for the property is still showing the full mortgage amount. As in, it's not cleared. It's as though I still have the mortgage. But the property is sold!

Is this normal? Is there a timeframe from the closing of the sale to when the mortgage account gets cleared? I just cannot understand why the mortgage account is showing that I still owe in excess of €350,000 when the property has been sold?

And also, am I going to have to pay the mortgage amount plus interest from the time the purchasers got the keys until my mortgage account gets cleared? Totally confused. Don't want to pay the mortgage on a property I no longer own.

Thanks
 
The keys should not have been given to the new buyer until they had handed over the cash via their solicitor to yours.

So your solicitor should have the cash. She should have paid it immediately to your bank.

They should have updated your account immediately.

It certainly sounds odd.

Did you ring the lender? I suspect that they have the money but haven't updated their records yet.

Brendan
 
Thanks for the response Brendan.

I rang the mortgage bank there now. They said that the €350,000 has not been received by them. According to the bank, my solicitor asked for redemption figures two days before the sale closed. The bank said that it can take 10 working days for the redemption figures to reach my solicitor. This means that I will have to pay interest from the date the sale closed until my solicitor actually pays the balance to the bank! Is this normal?

The purchasers are now living in the property and it seems that I have to pay interest until my solicitor actually pays the bank?

And all the while €350,000 is sitting in my solicitor's account and would be accruing interest for her? Is this right? I'm really upset about this.

Is this the normal procedure?

AIB is the bank and to be fair to them, they have been great. The same cannot be said for my solicitor unfortunately. My solicitor's bank is also AIB, so the transfer of funds would be on the same day. So I don't know why she can't transfer the money and then even credit me back some if the balance has come down a fraction since the property closed to today's date.


***UPDATE since I typed the above****
I just got a response from my solicitor via email to say that the mortgage was paid by solicitor's cheque last week as the bank do not accept electronic transfers? What? Then why would the bank tell me that they do accept them and as per above, that it would transfer on the same date (AIB to AIB)? And if she sent it last week, then why isn't it showing on the bank's system? The skeptic in me is thinking that she sent it via cheque as it would be slower and hence the money could 'rest' in her account for a while extra. The bank have no record of receiving a cheque, but maybe their system is not up to date as yet. Hard to know. In any event, I am not happy paying interest on a property I no longer own.
 
You are not paying interest on a property you no longer own. You pay interest in money you borrowed and hasn't been paid back yet.

For the bank to take 10 days to furnish redemption figures is ridiculous. They should be able to do that within hours at the most and fax / send the details to the solicitor.
Also, I find it hard to believe that the bank doesn't accept electronic transfer.

I recommend to have a serious word with your solicitor - if delays caused by the solicitor means interest costs have accrued than I would certainly try to get this reimbursed.
Talk to the solicitor, get details of all dates, calls, paperwork, etc., that might show why things have not moved quickly. If you are still concerned that the solicitor cost you money, then make a complaint.
 
It can take the lender a long time to furnish redemption figures, but this is not an excuse for the solicitor not to pay down the mortgage. She would have had an idea of the balance and should have paid this amount off immediately even if there was a 10 day delay in getting the final figure.

Brendan
 
When I sold earlier this year AIB would not accept an EFT from my solicitor to clear the account so this seems like its the norm OP.

However my solicitor issued a cheque to AIB the day after it closed based on redemption figures he got previously and then the minor difference was sorted out after that. The sale closed on 24 March and my mortgage account online showed receipt of the payment on 31 March.
 
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