Showing there is no outstanding charge

Good afternoon.  I am selling the former family home belonging to my parents, for whom I have LPA.  The property was previously unregistered and registration is going through at the moment.  In 1990 my parents took out a home improvement mortgage with National and Provincial Building Society.  This mortgage was paid off by January 2004 and the deeds sent to a solicitor, who advised that the mortgage document held with the deeds would be formally vacated.  This did not happen, unbeknown to my parents.  The mortgage still shows as a charge on the title deeds.  The mortgage building society no longer exists and the current takeover bank is Santander.  The bank has advised that it is likely that the mortgage was paid off because the charge would have travelled through the takeovers to be pursued by Santander.  The sale is now being delayed by this issue alone and I need to sell the house urgently to pay for my parents' care home fees.  I would appreciate any help you are able to provide about this and thank you in advance. 

Good Afternoon Louise - have you submitted your own application for first registration or used a conveyancer? If the latter have they not sought to deal with the issue?
And has a request been raised by our casework team re the mortgage issue?
I assume the home improvement mortgage was registered as a Land Charge since the property was unregistered at the time. If so then you need to get the land charge cancelled - The land charges registers and agricultural credits register: registration, official search, office copy and cancellation (PG63) - GOV.UK 
You state that the mortgage still shows as a charge on the title deeds and I assume that means that the mortgage deed itself forms part of the deeds/documents now submitted to support the first registration. And that the mortgage deed has not been endorsed in any way to confirm it was redeemed (known as an endorsed receipt) and the lender did not provide any other evidence to confirm it has been repaid (discharged)
If that's the case then you will need to pursue the matter with Santander who used to be Abbey National who in turn took over National and Provincial BS and secure a suitable discharge/release and then cancel the land charge
If the application has been partially processed already, I would have expected our casework team to have requested same?

Land registration is complex, designed to protect legal and financial interests in property. There can be significant consequences for any error. Please consider seeking legal representation. Before making an application without legal representation, it is important to consider the benefits of using a conveyancer.
 

Good morning Adam,

Many thanks for your comprehensive and quick reply.  You are correct in your description of what has happened with the lender and the deeds.  I have a solicitor's letter from 2024 stating that they would arrange for the mortgage document to be formally vacated by Abbey National, but this did not happen.  I have a conveyancing solicitor who has raised a request with the Land Registry to cancel the charge, I think (but I'm not sure) on the basis that as attorney I am very limited in what evidence I am able to provide. 

The solicitor has been trying for several months to obtain the assistance of Santander but there are simply no replies to emails and letters, and call handlers advise that they are unable to assist except to written requests.  I have visited a branch of Santander twice to see if anyone can speed things up, but they too were unable to help me and I am unable to lodge the LPA as there is no account to lodge it against.  I was told that there is no evidence of an outstanding mortgage but the person I spoke to would not put that in writing, instead referring me to the mortgage team, which is where the solicitor has had no response.  

I think the sale is likely to fall through as the buyer is fed up with waiting for this to be resolved, which is understandable. It's so stressful as I am selling the home to cover my parents' care home fees.

I am really grateful for your help.

Sorry, the letter from the solicitor was 2004, not 2024. 

Louise - I can appreciate and understand how stressful this is for you. I am also aware of how difficult it can be for lenders where the original lender has changed over the years so that the charge is in essence with a new lender who has no clear records to track back through to confirm paid off or otherwise.
Local branches and first line of contact are very rarely able to do anything as the systems used simply don't match information/records. I'm not being harsh or wanting to be horrid but it can be a 'computer says No' scenario and they can go no further as a result. The people all want to help but without hard facts then that match the information they can access from their end there's nowhere for them to go
The only way, in my experience, is to escalate matters with the current lender either through their complaints procedure or social media. Using the latter to explain the issues/stress etc being caused but not throwing barbs/stones, can trigger action but the complaints process is generally the one to follow and to stay on it - I am sure you have but it's finding the way in and pursuing matters through that single channel that can work
The key will be confirming the account details/information re the original charge and follow that through with hard evidence - it's all about provable facts in most cases where lending is involved and once you have that foot in the lender door keep pressing

Good afternoon Adam,

Thank you for your guidance.  I'll continue to press Santander; everyone involved has been so kind but as you say, it's been a 'computer says no' situation and a continuous loop.

I'll start on the complaint process with Santander and hope for the best.

Many thanks again.

Louise - best of luck and please do post again if something crops up that you feel you want to share or that I might be able to offer a view on that could help