Recent Feedback
My brothers and i are executors of my fathers will. We could not find the deeds and we had them reconstructed. when i arrived at the solicitors to sign the final papers, and collect my cheque, the solicitor said that the buyer of the house had asked for indemnity insurance and it was agreed upon ( at this stage i was told my brother had handed the key to the buyer already because the estate agent had said the solicitor had said the money had come through). the solicitor stressed it was a formality and we had a quote from an insurance company and they just needed a letter from my fathers bank saying no loan had been taken out against the original deeds of the house. this letter was already drawn up by the bank and just had to be signed. I thought all was well, but two weeks later the solicitor still has the cash and says he is having great difficulty getting the letter from the bank. He wont release funds until he has the letter. are his actions regular and legally sound
Optional Information: Province/Country relating to question : northern ireland Already Tried: asked for details of who the solicitor is communicating with at the bank, so that maybe i could contact them also. But he hasnt supplied any.
Hi
When deeds have been reconstructed although a search would have been done by the buyers to see if any charges had been registered against the property because it is unregistered land it may be that there are loans/charges against the property that they are not aware, that it why in this instance it is usual for a buyers solicitors to request an indemnity policy to protect the buyer against any future claim and your solicitor is correct in saying that this is a formality.
If the bank are delaying sending the letter of confirmation regarding there being no loans on their behalf against the property then your solicitor is within his right to hold on to the funds until this confirmation is received as if they do have a loan against the property then it is his responsibility to ensure that any loans against the property are discharged before funds are released. However, you are well within your right to chase the bank for this document yourselves.
Experience: Barrister with 10 years experience in property law and some family law.