An unusual charge on a title

Good evening. I'd really like to ask for some advice please.&#160;&#160;<br> <br> My mother passed away and I am selling her house as the executor and have been awarded probate. We are at the questions stage of the sale.&#160;<br> <br> I have been made aware of an unexpected Charge on the title that I am being asked to pay 2 indemnity policies for.<br> <br> The Title had no charge from 1981 (house was first built) to 2002 when my mother bought the property. It seems that when my mother bought the property in 2002, a charge was added to the title that mentions a rental charge that was agreed between a charity and 3 parties back in 1945. This is a complete surprise to us and my mother has of course never had to pay any rental charges on her freehold property since 2002. The previous owners from new (her daughter) had never heard of this charge and of course never paid any. They also point out that the charge was not on the original title in 1981. They dont recall being told about the charge being added when they sold the property and we cant of course ask my mother but she we know she has never been charged a penny.<br> <br> The solicitors say I need to pay 2 indemnity policies, 1 for the rental risk and another for a &quot;missing deed&quot; charge as they are unable to &quot;find the deed&quot; mentions in this 1945 charge. They are referred to as: &quot;mentioned in a Conveyance of the land in this title and other land dated 29 August 1945&quot;. There is no reference at all.<br> <br> I have looked up the so called Charities and they are not currently registered in the Charity register so could never have taken the rental payments even if they had been requested.<br> <br> I have asked the solicitors to remove the charge as it is clearly in error but they say that this legal task is complex and costly (due to not having the missing deed) and we should just pay the indemnity policies to push the sale forward.<br> <br> How can we &quot;find&quot; the deed referred to in the title? Is this even possible?<br> Is this really a valid request for us to pay an indemnity on a supposed conveyance they occurred 75 years ago but has no records of? Or evidence of any rental collections for the whole time the property has been built?<br> Do you have any advice for me in how I should proceed.? I dont want to hold up the sale or nit picking small issues but this feel wrong to me.<br> <br> Thank you so much in advance.<br> Darren<br> <br> <br> <br> Our title number is&#160;BM275243 if that helps.&#160;

Good Morning Darren - finding the old deed may well prove to be impossible but that would depend on your own detective work with those named and previous owners etc. You have already tried that of course to some degree.<br> Indemnity policies are commonplace re such matters where you are unable to remove such an entry.<br> Non collection of such a charge does not mean it does not exist<br> The details of the charge will have been provided as part of the application to register the property for the first time in 2002 when your late Mother bought the property. If you wish to pursue the matter I would suggest using our Contact form to submit the specific details re title and entry involved. The support team will retrieve the paper records and respond to advise how the entry came about -&#160;<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-guidance-dealing-with-land-and-property#contact-form">Public guidance: dealing with land and property - GOV.UK</a>&#160;<br> That may or may not assist but will at least confirm why the entry was made and on what basis.

Thank you Adam for your very prompt reply.&#160;It really helps to see that these indemnity policies are common at least.<br> <br> I have already submitted a request for help via the contact form so I will await their findings. As you say, that may not stop the need for the indemnities but it would be interesting to see where the entry came from.<br> <br> So I take it that it is not unusual that an original entry on the title from new might not have the Charges but they might be added when next sold? Why is that please?<br> <br> Lastly, I'd just like to say a big thanks to you. Reading this forum had been very interesting and your responses really help us public folks get help quickly. Thank you!

Darren - there's nothing that's routine when it comes to properties and registration. Every title is different in it's own way<br> I suspect, but won't know, that it was either a 'rent charge' revealed in the land searches made at the time of the registration of your late Mother's purchase or revealed in one of the deeds submitted on first registration<br> You will note reference to the 'rector of Great Linford' as one of the parties and I suspect, but again won't know, that the rent charge is one linked to an area of land that included your late Mother's property and a n umber of other properties in the area, inc her neighbours.<br> This is very much something your legal rep should be explaining to you and they may well have done hence the indemnity policy recommendation - I suspect, but don't know, that their advice is based on the above and trying to find out more is very unlikely to bear fruit and the policy is your best way forward BUT again very much up to you, your legal rep and of course any buyer

Thank you. It does read that way, yes.&#160;<br> I'm not receiving the best advice/explanation from the legal folks but reading your reply has at least helped me get an understanding of the situation and how it &quot;may&quot; be explained.<br> Thank you again.