notice of home rights

We are attempting to sell our property. It currently has a notice of home rights associated with it dated more than 10 years ago. However the notice of home rights is old - we, the current owners, are not the subject of the notice. It seems it was erroneously left on the title from the previous sale. We have not been able to contact the subject of the notice of home rights, so how do we, the current owners, get this notice removed? We need to remove this notice in order to sell the property. The HR4 form does not seem to be equipped to deal with our circumstances. 

R Smith - if you think it was left on the register in error then you can use our contact form to report it
I should stress that the Notice would only have been removed on receipt of an application to cancel same along with usually a signed release by the spouse or a copy of the decree absolute. It might be worth checking with the conveyancer who acted for you as you would not have normally completed without that being done so they may have something on file to assist

Thank you for responding Adam. Unfortunately, our former conveyancer has retired and we have not been able to find any way to contact them. We are also not able to contact the previous owners. Under this set of circumstances, how can we proceed. Is it possible for us to complete the HR4 form in these circumstances, or remove the notice of home rights in another way. 

R Smith - I suspect your only option is to apply and provide a certified copy of the decree absolute 
If unavailable for some reason then tracing the previous owner remains an option - I appreciate you state that you are not able to contact them but it's unclear as to why not - have you tried to trace them perhaps but with no luck or have they passed away for example?
If it's the latter then a copy of one of their death certificates is an alternative to submit with form HR4 as well

Hi Adam,

They moved on from their last known addresses and changed phone numbers. I've tried very hard to trace them but haven't been able to. As far as I know they aren't dead. To confirm, if I can provide a decree absolute - it's fine for me to submit the HR4 form? 

Thanks

Hi R Smith - we won't decide until we get your application and supporting evidence but it seems a sensible way to go.
The alternative is to use a professional tracing agency to locate them and go from there if you wish to

Thanks for this advice Adam. Having obtained the decree absolute, what are the timescales for processing an HR4 form? And is there any way to expedite this process?

R Smith - lengthy ait time at present so you submit first and then request expedition separately