No mortgage charge on my property

P

Pudding

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Hi all

I got married in 2005 and my father gave me 1.5 acres of ground to build a house on which I duly did. I took out a tracker mortgage from Ulster Bank for €250,000 over 35 years and pay back about €720 per month at the moment.

Last year the architect who dealt with my planning etc rang me to say that he was looking through the land registry maps and it appeared that my site wasn't registered. I went to a new solicitor to see what the story was and he told me that the land is still in my fathers name and that the previous solicitor never finished the transfer properly. The reason I had to get a new solicitor was because the first one who dealt with me when I built the house had swindled someone out of a few hundred grand and high tailed it to Australia. Anyway my new solicitor was able to claim off the law society's insurance to get the transfer finished do it didn't cost me a penny.

The transfer took the best part of 8 months with all of the red tape and he finally received the maps yesterday with my property marked on it, but he did say that Ulster bank never put a charge on the property and he has the deeds in the office. He said that both my old solicitor and Ulster bank are at fault as they never ensured the transfer was completed properly.

My question is can the bank make me hand over the deeds now eight years later. Also what would happen if I stopped paying the mortgage. ? If anyone has an opinion or knowledge about these type of things then please let me know. Thanks
 
My non-expert opinion is that I assume it doesn't matter if the bank has the deeds or not. Unless the bank really did a bad job, they registered the mortgage charge in the land registry. You can check that easily (well €5 or so) on the landregistry.ie website.
So in terms of you stopping paying the mortgage it makes no difference where the deeds are.
 
"My question is can the bank make me hand over the deeds now eight years later. Also what would happen if I stopped paying the mortgage. ? If anyone has an opinion or knowledge about these type of things then please let me know. Thanks"

You did get the money though? So, you owe them it? And why did the new solicitor not register the Ulster Bank charge on the property?

Sort it out. Its a mess. Technically, you could sell the property but it would be a fraud on Ulster Bank - and I imagine it could carry jail time.

mf
 
To be fair the last post is somewhat misleading. A charge cannot be registered against the land unless it was in your name. However your previous solicitor is likely to have given UB a Letter of Undertaken to register the charge. This would have been on foot of your own instructions and in line with your written agreement with the Bank. In that respect there is no "get out of jail free option" in respect of your mortgage. UB are entitled to register their charge and while your lack of co-operation could cause them difficulties, it will not result in you having a free title over the property.
 
Firstly I would like to say that I am not out to con anybody. As I said I only found out this yesterday. If I wanted to I presume I could have left the land in my fathers name and stopped paying the mortgage and I would have made it difficult for the bank to repossess ie. I own the house but not the land.

All I am saying is that it is a big mistake for the bank to make. Technically I could sell up and move to Australia with the proceeds. I could also maybe transfer it into my sons name and file for bankruptcy. But I won't do any of these things, I am just saying it is a big error for bank to make and tbh I won't be telling them anytime soon about their mistake.
 
who has responsibility for registering the charge is it the bank or is this something that is undertaken by your solicitor, just wondering.
 
I don't think the new solicitor ( and indeed the original poster) was correct to complete the Transfer without also completing the mortgage documentation.

The original mortgage funds would have been channelled through the original solicitor on their undertaking to register the mortgage. Clearly the original poster got the funds- that does not appear to be in dispute and s/he agreed that Ulster Bank should have a mortgage on the property. So, Ulster Bank are entitled to their charge and, if that is not freely given, they can call in the mortgage and seek to enforce their debt.

It is only a matter of time before UB come looking for their charge and the poster would be better advised dealing with it now before it becomes a very significant issue.

mf
 
And what;s most important, is the mortgage is in your own name, so if you don't pay they know where you are.

The UB have sharpened their pencil and are not interested in carrying prisoners, no matter how big or who made the mistake. MF1 is correct, get your house in order now.
 
Pudding said:
The transfer took the best part of 8 months with all of the red tape and he finally received the maps yesterday with my property marked on it, but he did say that Ulster bank never put a charge on the property and he has the deeds in the office. He said that both my old solicitor and Ulster bank are at fault as they never ensured the transfer was completed properly.
Click to expand...

This is exceedingly odd behavour by your current solicitor, and he's now telling you it'sthe old solicitors and Ulster banks fault the mortgage is not registered. Nonsense. He surely knew not only was the property not registered but that you had a mortgage on it, it would be a very unusual young person who didn't have a mortgage, and presumable you had told him this, and he would have had the file I presume from the old solicitor, via the Law Society, or he would have discussed it with you.

I would think it's your current solicitors fault that he somehow forgot or omitted to register the mortgage at the same time he registered the property. He was after all hired to sort out the mess that your previous solicitor left you in. Excellent news that the solicitors insurance has paid for sorting out the error, if your current solicitor now wants to be paid 'extra' for the 'new' work of registering the mortgage, well I wouldn't like to be him dealing with the Law Society. He'll have some explaining to do. And he's going to be out of pocket I think as it's his own fault, and while he can do his own work, 'for free,' he'll have to pay the Land Registry fees which I think went up a lot in the last year or so.

In relation to your question about not paying the mortgage, why would you even ask this. You borrowed the money, you owe it, and if you don't pay it you can be sure they will go after you for it, and they will either go for an instalment order against you, or a judgement mortgage on the property etc. Just because they don't have a mortgage on your title/deeds doesn't mean you don't have to pay it. It's just currently unsecured debt.
 
Property registration

Hi Pudding,

Saw your post last week but only gettin opportunity to post now. Just wondering if you can PM me as I have just realised my property has not been properly registered and I am a little concerned!

Thx
Virgo
 
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