2nd phantom mortgage on my house

[jay108]

Hi Guys,

 

Would be grateful if anyone could shed light on this.

 

I bought my house in May 2010 with a First Direct mortgage from Halifax (previous owner was repossesed).

 

I then got a letter in June from Nationwide for a Mr xxxxxxxxxx I opened the letter and found a mortgage for 250,000 punds on the property. The person was not the previous owner as far as I know. And from the statement he hasn't ever paid the mortage so looks like some sort of fraud.

 

Nationwide refuse to discuss it with me. They tried to put a charge on the property with land registry in Auguast but I filed against it so they would have to provide evidence which they didn't. I was then told they are investigating it and it's with the fraus department (my conveyancing solictor spoke to the nationwide solicitor filing the charge). However I am still getting these arrears letters, and worried they will try and reposses.

 

The land registry has my name on it so I'm not sure wheteher they have any claim on the property or whetehr they can reposses me?

 

Any one heard of this before? I don't understand how a second mortgage could of ever been made ont the house with out a land registry charge made - if I knew I would never have bought it.

 

Thanks

 

Jay

Edited January 13, 2011 by jay108

[rebel11]

Hi Jay

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

[jansus]

Have you actually tried asking your present lender - the Halifax? They may be able to help with what you should do to find out what is happening. Dont forget they would not like another mortgage or charge being placed on their security?Try speaking to their legal department I am sure they will put your mind at rest.

 

Also I would send a recorded delivery letter to Nationwide insisting that they stop sending the letters to your property with immediate affect . Make it clear in writing that you know nothing about the mortgage and you want them to get their paperwork in order immediately.

 

also have you done a credit check on yourself to see what has been registered against the property and whther it is affecting your credit rating ? If it has I would be insisting on compensation.

[jay108]

Thanks Jansus.

 

I don't think my credit would be affected as no charge has been put on the house (as I blocked it)

 

However I don't want to let m current mortgage lender know in case it affects me getting a remortgage later with them. I may fix for 5 years first then let them know as I'm on variable now and if i get stuck in a legal dispute I wont be able to sell adn don't want to be at risk with avariable rate unable to remortgage.

 

In terms of legally I'm not sure whether Nationwide can do anything as I bought the property after the phanto second mortage had been placed against the house.

 

My lawers never picked it up as it wasn't registered on land registry. I'm not sure who is at fault here and whetehr I should be worried or not.

 

I've sent nationwide a few letters asking them to stop sending me the letters but the said they have to as thats the only address registered with them for that person (although at first they said they would stop)

 

It's quite worring and frustrating for us as there doesn't seem to be anything we can do until Nationwide takes action to repossess.

 

Thanks again.

 

Jay

[Killerschick]

Hi Jay,

 

I'm making some assumptions but it sounds like the previous owner of your property (as you say the Nationwide charge pre-dates your purchase) took out a mortgage with Nationwide but for some reason it was not registered with the Land Registry (HMLR). If you purchased the property innocently i.e. not in collusion with this previous owner (and purchasing a property in possession would certainly sound above board) to transfer the property before the charge could be registered you should be fine. The only part which doesn't make sense is how Nationwide could even have attempted to register the charge if the person who granted it is no longer a proprietor.

 

I would check with your conveyancer that they have correctly registered you (and any joint owners) as proprietor(s) although it's fairly standard practice for them to send you a copy of the registration documents when they have dealt with this. As long as the registration has been done you shouldn't have any problems and it will be down to Nationwide to pursue the former owner, or the lawyers who failed to register their charge. If you continue to receive correspondence for the person who took the mortgage out with Nationwide I would suggest returning it unopened marked 'Not known at this address' technically it is an offence to open mail addressed to someone else and it may help get the message through that correspondence to your address is not reaching the addressee.

 

If the mortgage is in a third party's name, and it sounds as though it is, it should not appear on your credit file unless you were financially linked with them in some way or they happen to share a surname with you as that may cause a credit reference agency to assume you are related.

 

As for possession proceedings, that can't happen if Nationwide do not have a registered charge as it's one of the most basic pieces of evidence needed to bring a possession claim. As their borrower is no longer even the proprietor of the property they have no chance of registering a charge and then proceeding to take possession.

 

Don't worry about the correspondence from Nationwide, it doesn't affect you and may just be stuff they need to send by law but they can't trace the former owner (it's not uncommon for someone who's been repo'd to go under the radar for a while). Assuming your lawyer has done their conveyancing job properly (worth checking just to make sure) you've got absolutely nothing to worry about, Nationwide cannot touch you or your property and you should either return any correspondence from them or bin it.

 

KC

[jay108]

Thanks killerschick.

 

The previous owner that I bouth the property off was repossed so I bought from halifax (the reposser bank). I bought with a first direct mortgage. In April 2010. The phantom mortage letters are from nationwide for someone I don't know who alledgedly bough the place in 2009 (Seems like some kind of fraud, the name is not the previous owners). I'm not sure why they would try to put an equitable charge on the property when my name is clearly on the land register now. I was thinking they tried so they would have more leverage if it went to court or something like that?

 

Thanks yes you right if nationwide didn't register thier ineterst in the property they should not technially be able to reclaim the house (Fingers crossed hope that is the case)

You're right I better start sending the letters back the only reason I open them is that the previous owner had a lot of debt and so phone the debt companies to tell them that this person is no longer here. I'm afraid there might be baliffs coming and I wont know about it! So not sure what is the correct action?

 

Again thanks for you're answer it helps to ease my mind a little.

 

Kindest regards,

 

Jay