Help regarding error from solcitor 20+ years ago not updating deeds

Hi

i was wondering if someone can help please. to put it in short terms..


20+ years ago I owned a house. Number 2
our neighbour at number 4 wanted to straighten his garden off so he sold us the smallest bit of land for 1p. We went through a solicitors and did it legally to put the small parcel of land in our name 

fastforward several years
we then bought number 4. We sold number 2 ( next door to eAchother to our son) 

fast forward another several years we have now decided to sell number 4
and it’s come to light when we sold number 2. They did not transfer the parcel of land we bought all them years ago into my sons name so the smallest bit of land is still in mine and my husbands name.

they have some how attached his mortgage to the small peice of land which is an error in itself. But the land should actually be in his name. So it’s errors all round but one thing I know is the bank should never of attached the mortgage to the small piece of land that wasn’t in his name although it should of been. It wasn’t.

my question is what’s the best way to go about this

the bank seem to think they can rectify this by doing a charge recall on the land so the mortgage is effectively removed from mine and my husbands name and then we can update land registery of the small peice of land to my sons name

is this the best way or can it all be done by someone at once as in just keep the mortgage charge on it but transfer it to my son. Becuase technically the mortgage should be on the small peice of land but it should all be one title in number 2 and in my sons name.
but instead it’s 2 titles, one in my sons name, one in my and my husband name with my sons mortgage attached to them both.

a solcitor seems to think it’s not an easy thing if the mortgage is attached but if it’s removed it’s an easy solve( the bank are willing to put this request in) 

either way we want the land in my sons name but the mortgage not to be against us( on paper with the bank we’re not down as having a mortgage but it is still some how linked to us as we are on the deeds of what has been missed at time of purchase)

hope this makes sense any help will be appreciated.
 

The land we’re talking about is literally 2 foot by 3 foot so very small.

The size of the land is irrelevant here as it has already been registered under it's own title. So if the ownership needs to be changed it needs to be transferred.
And if it's subject to a legal charge (mortgage) then that needs to be dealt with too. The lender will usually dictate what happens next to protect their charge and will also most likely insist on a conveyancer acting.
It can all be done at once but there's no quick fix and I doubt if the lender will let you for example try to separate the tasks to enable you for example to do the transfer part yourselves. They need to remove their charge and then add it again elsewhere and the 'risk' of that gap between the two whilst you transfer may not be one they wish to take.

Hi adam

thanksfor the reply

Lloyds seem to be happy to do this as they should never of put there mortgage against the small peice as my sons mortgage as he doesn’t own that peace of land( although he should of) it was missed so therefore they should never of put there mortgage over a peice. of land that was not in my sons name as we do not have a mortgage 

lloyds have said it will be sorted in 5-10 days but did seem a bit to easy but obviously they have made a massive mistake with what they have done.

what I wanted to know could Lloyds of done the transfer of deeds to or once they have removed there charge we can then get a solcitor to deal with the transfer 

if the mortgage charge is removed is a simple transfer? 

Hi - it can be easy if they're happy to remove their charge (electronically) and can be done in days as they suggest.
Any transfer can be done quite separately to put things right re who owns what. If you need to do the transfer before selling for example then you can crack on with doing that whilst waiting for the charge to be removed.

Or was it best we contact the land registry and let them know the mistake. Keep the mortgage charge on it ( as it should be but in my sons name we should not be named on the land ) and hopefully they transfer it over to him due to errors on all parties when my son bought the house.

am just not sure what is the best way round to do it. 
 

or would they not do this due to the mortgage being on it?

Sorry for the double post.

if the best way is for Lloyds to remove charge ( which there happy to do) 

can I transfer the land myself or do I need to pay solictor to do it.

just seems unfair for us to be paying out when it was due to errors at the time of the sale to my son and why should we take the expense

so if there is a way I can do it myself if you can point me in the right direction that would be amazing

thanks for your help so far.

L Holmes - whilst it reads like a mistake was made it was with the conveyancing and not the actual registration. We di as applied for at the time hence the need to now transfer the ownership to correct the mistake
You don't have to use a solicitor and if you can prove the conveyancer erred at the time then that's something to take up with them as appropriate such as them bearing any costs to put it right
I linked you to our guidance on how to transfer ownership and register that with us - here it is as a full web-link
Registering land or property with HM Land Registry: Change the registered owner name - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)