Once upon a time when redeeming a mortgage, one prepared a form DS1, submitted this to the mortgagees and requested them to sign and return it. This meant that you knew what was happening.

We now send funds by CHAPS with a follow-up letter, which is the last we hear of matters until we receive a complaint from the buyer’s solicitors a few weeks later stating that the Land Registry is reporting that no discharge has been received.

Occasionally, mortgagees send acknowledgements advising us that they have transmitted a discharge to the Registry, but this seems to be regarded very much as an optional extra on the part of many mortgagees.

Is there anything that can be done to sort matters out?

My memory extends back to the problems with Julian S Hodge & Co, some 40 years ago, but we feel that we are drifting into the same position.

In particular on the purchasing end, we are not able to honour our undertaking to the mortgage lender to achieve the registration of their mortgage within the period specified in their instructions, even though the application nowadays is frequently submitted perhaps a week after completion (we allow this period for the mortgage to be discharged since it ought to be quite enough).

Can anything be done to persuade mortgage lenders to transmit discharges promptly?

RM Napier, Albinson Napier & Co, Warrington

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