Removal of Matrimonal Home Rights - timescale help

Hello & thank you in advance.

I placed a Matrimonal Home Rights restriction on the house that my ex continued living in to ensure no sale or further loans were taken out while our divorce & financial order were being worked out. This has now been done & my solicitor has submitted an HR4 for the removal so that the house can now be sold.

The house is on the market but I was only told recently that the expected date of the removal is April '25. My ex & his solicitors are not happy and want to take the house of the market until the restriction has gone through leading to delays & financial implications.

I understand that we can expedite it from this forum, but my solicitor said that relies on an actual offer being made. His solicitors are saying that offers are being affected by the knowledge of the order. A real chicken & egg situation.

Please could you help confirm what the situation is in terms of:

• Confirmation that the HR4 has been submitted
• length of time
• whether this affects an offer being made
• whether the rights removal should go through before placing the house on the market
• any way that we can speed up the process without the expedite
• if expedited, how long this actually takes. Again, reading some of the threads, it appears to suggest that 10 days is for it only to be looked at & not necessarily for it to go through. 

Title is K648391.

Thank you, I really appreciate any help on this.

Hello T C - I'll do my best to cover your bulleted Qs

• Confirmation that the HR4 has been submitted - received 24th Jan and waiting to be processed
• length of time - could be a while yet
• whether this affects an offer being made - not usually as any 'offer' would rarely be made having checked the register details. That comes next but if they have and they see the Notice they can also check to confirm the application to remove it. Best to ask your conveyancer/buyer if it affects
• whether the rights removal should go through before placing the house on the market - no reason to wait to market it
• any way that we can speed up the process without the expedite - no but once you have a confirmed buyer you can request expedition
• if expedited, how long this actually takes. Again, reading some of the threads, it appears to suggest that 10 days is for it only to be looked at & not necessarily for it to go through. - generally speaking 10 days although it's often much quicker. Everything then depends on it being in order and nothing more is needed and no wider checks instigated eg contacting the beneficiary of the Notice to confirm

So I would suggest marketing the property and once you have found a buyer check to see if the application has been completed and if not request expedition
K648391

Thanks Adam, that was really helpful.

T C - glad it helps and your Qs will aid others using the forum and wondering what the 'process' is and where 'speed' might be warranted and requested