Read the latest offering from the ‘Diary of the High Street Conveyancer‘
Monday 1 June 2020
I was somewhat alarmed to read this morning that out of the approximate 58,000 applications that have been lodged with the Land Registry since March, only 440 have been completed. That is a significant backlog of work. I have had some applications completed, but a word of warning – if you get those letters from the lenders, stating that they need evidence of registration, send them the evidence – perhaps a copy of the application list or acknowledgement from the Registry. And with the lenders which are on the various Portals, just update the Portals to say that the registration is with the Registry. The Registry have confirmed that priority remains in place and the Land Registry stated that Conveyancers do not need to take any further action to protect the transaction once the application has been lodged.
Other than keep the lender updated. There must be nothing worse for a conveyancer than to be removed from a panel of lenders; it affects the work you can do for a client, it has to be disclosed on your PII application and CQS application. Make a standard letter to send to the lenders with evidence and saying that you are aware that the registration is protected but cannot do anything to make it happen! My firm received a letter from a lender in which they threatened to take me off their panel because I had not sent them a copy of the completed Title Information document when completion had taken place eight weeks ago. I hate those types of letters which are made all the worse by not being able to do anything about it. So have that letter drafted to send to show that there is nothing you can do about the fact that a registration has not been completed due to a global pandemic and be prepared to send the completed documents to the lender as soon as you receive them!
Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard
One Response
A few years ago, I helped a friend whose solicitor had falsely certified title and used the money to redeem a mortgage on the matrimonial home. A stuation made made worse by the lender’s legal department’s reluctance to take action against a soilicitor. In fact it issued what was tantamount to a letter before action to her when she warned them of a lack of registration
A bad case of a matrimonial lawyer attempting conveyancing thanks to the slackness of reserved matters
Is the mortgage sector working with the Land Registry to give them automatic notice of the position post completion to protect their investors ?
It could then provide awards to conveyancers for the promptness of applications