I inherited an outstanding mortgage

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Eccentric

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Hi, my mother recently passed away suddenly with no will.. my siblings and I are trying to sort out her estate, just a house really and we recieved a letter from PTSB for an outstanding mortgage for 30k.. my mother had no life cover.
I spoke to PTSBs solicitor and he advised ideally we should just pay up... but mentioned there was an issue with missing title deeds that would have to be rectified. I vaguely remember my mother mentioning this when my father passed over 15 yrs ago.
The house was built pre 1800’s... worth way more than the 30k outstanding, I’ll like to sort out PTSB so we can get on with things.. but do I need to reconstitute the deeds first, ptsb’s solicitor vaguely mentioned they would sort the deeds but that was before I mentioned we would like to settle.. I suppose I’m asking am I looking at thousands to sort this.. landdeeds.ie is still showing the house as being in my fathers sole name with a charge for ptsb on it.. mortgage was joint borrowings with my mother but she is not mentioned on the folio.
I’m afraid to approach a solicitor in case I end up adding thousands to what is already a spiraling bill, any advise here. Should I just pay PTSB and work out the deeds in my own time.. I assume we can’t sell the house until deeds are found but then I assume neither can ptsb so that would give me breathing space.
Apologies for the long post, knocked for six with this and unsure where all this money is going to come from without selling the house.. which I’m
Unsure I can do anyway without the deeds.. any help greatly appreciated..

Ps I have no idea who lost the deeds.. my mother old solicitor was disbarred .. he was trying to put the house into his own name after my father died.. she was one of 7 cases against him for similar acts.. hence why she left it on the long finger.. she tried to sort it after my dad died but ended up with a legal shark.. so I have little or no traceability
 
ptsb should have the deeds if your father had a mortgage.

So you should ask a solicitor to formally request them from ptsb. If ptsb has lost them, then they should pay to have them reconstituted.

Brendan
 
There are two issues here, one concerning the mortgage and a second concerning the deeds. Concerning the mortgage, you should write to the Bereavement Unit of the PTSB asking them what mortgage protection insurance was in place with this mortgage. If the PTSB allowed your father / parents to take out a mortgage without a protection policy you should ask them to supply you with the basis for this decision. Mortgage protection insurance is covered by section 126 of the Consumer Protection Act 1995. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1995/act/24/section/126/enacted/en/html#sec126
 
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You've 2 seperate issues here, the outstanding deeds which you will have to resolve and the outstanding mortgage. I would not pay the mortgage until the deeds issue is sorted and indeed the first port of call should be in asking PTSB if they have the deeds and if not, why not?. Maybe they lost them in which case I'd be expecting them to pay some of the costs at least of reconstituting them.

Possibly you could consider an alternative solicitor on the deeds issue and also you perhaps should contact the Law Society to see if they will assist in any way. They have a compensation fund which you may be entitled to claim against depending on the overall facts of the case
 
Thanks a million for the replies, PTSBs
Solicitor advised he would formally write to me with the next week with their requests.. I’ll respond querying location of the deeds and last known whereabouts. I will also go to my own solicitor. With regard to life assurance, my father was the sole earner.. his policy lasped before he died, they weren’t exactly financially astute, they would have always been comfortable and just never planned for a worst case scenario. My mother had a history of cancer so could never get cover.
 
Just wondering if your mum had taken out probate before she passed away and was the place in her name at all?
 
I think it's beginning to sound like that PTSB never got the deeds at all off your mothers/fathers solicitor especially if he was up to some funny business with them! No help with how to fix that but in theory PTSB should have them as security but they may never have got them.
 
Very sorry for your loss

This isn't as difficult as it might sound.

Deeds can be reconstituted, costs a few bob; but it can be done. If PTSB lost them, they can foot that cost.

Mortgage of 30k is pretty small really; if you don't want to sell there's a good chance you could raise that from your own bank.

You most likely have at least a year from your Mum's death to settle, as long as progress with probate is being made & you keep PTSB informed.

Take it one step at a time & it won't seem so overwhelming.
 
Thanks a million, your right I’ll go one step at a time.. I can cover mortgage outstanding myself, I suppose it’s just the added cost of solicitors and deeds reconstitution that has me alarmed I guess. I though it would be pretty straight forward but the deeds thing threw me on top of an outstanding mortgage.
Appreciate all the responses and help x
 
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