Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

[Nelix]

Hi All

I have an issue with Acenden, basically my mortgage was taken out in 2005 with my then wife. Since this time I have divorced from my former wife but her name is still on the mortgage, as you can imagine this can only cause issues in the future should I choose to sell, I do however have a court order that she has signed saying that she has surrendered all rights to the property.

From reading other threads on here I believe I already know the answer to this question but thought I would ask anyway.

Is there any way that I can get her name removed? Acenden informed me that they are not able to amend the mortgage so there is nothing that they can do even with a court order in place.

Kind Regards

Nelix

[nemesis45]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

Hello Nelix,
What reason has Acendon given for their refusal to amend the mortgage? Is it purely because of loss of security?

nem

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

Hello Nelix,
What reason has Acenden given for their refusal to amend the mortgage? Is it purely because of loss of security?

nem

They said, and I quote

"We have only been given power of attorney to service the account/agreement"

Apparently this does not give them the ability to amend the account in any way.

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

What exactly does the (Consent?) order say?

A Court Order is not the same as a PoA - have they misunderstood the situation?

[nemesis45]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

They said, and I quote

"We have only been given power of attorney to service the account/agreement"

Apparently this does not give them the ability to amend the account in any way.

Who has given this " power of attorney" ? Are they referring to your ex wife declaration that she has no further interest in the property?

nem

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

What exactly does the (Consent?) order say?

A Court Order is not the same as a PoA - have they misunderstood the situation?

Order states the following:

Upon hearing Counsel for the Applicant and Solicitor for the Respondent

And By Consent
(a} UPON it being agreed that the contents of the former matrimonial home
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX previously divided by agreement
shall remain the absolute property of the party in whose possession they are
now.
(b} AND UPON the respondent agrees to use his best endeavours to secure the
applicant's release from the mortgage with Ascenden Limited/ Southern
Pacific Mortgage Ltd account number XXXXXXXX and in any event to pay
the said mortgage and keep the Applicant indemnified against all such
liability.
(c} AND UPON the Applicant and Respondent acknowledging that the provisions
of this order shall be in full and final satisfaction of all claims which either party
may have against the other as to capital or income arising under the
Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 or the Married Women' s Property Act 1882 or
other statue or howsoever arising.
(d} AND UPON the Applicant and Respondent agreeing that neither of them
have any legal or equitable interest in property or assets owned by the other
save as provided for in this Order.
IT IS ORDERED THAT:-
l . The Applicant do transfer within 28 days her interest in the property XXXXXXXXXX to the Respondent subject to the outstanding mortgage.
2. Ali claims by either party for financial provision and property adjustment
orders under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 do stand dismissed. In
particular, any claims for periodical payments and secured provision are
hereby dismissed, neither party shall be entitled to make any further
application in relation to this marriage for orders under section 23(1} (a} or (b}
of the said Act.
3. Neither party shall be entitled to claim against the others estate upon the
death of the other under the inheritance (Provision for family and
Dependants) Act 1975.
4. There shall be no order as to costs.
5. There shall be liberty to apply to the Court in respect of any of the clauses
within this order.

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

That seems pretty straightforward.

Have you dealt with the lender yourself or has your solicitor done it for you? Has her name been removed at the LR?

It does seem a bit of an odd position for the lender to take, to start banging on about PoAs?

I don't think there is anything further the court can do and the "liberty to apply" (which is standard) applies only to the order itself and not the recitals.

I suppose the fact that you are required to use your "best endeavours" to secure her release is a measure of recognition that there may be some obstacle, however, the fact that you are to keep her indemnified in respect of the mortgage means that having her name on it gives them absolutely no additional security.

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

The Mortgage was originally with SPML, which then became Capstone and who are now Acenden.

They just keep saying that they are not able to amend the Mortgage because they are not administrating the Mortgage, just Servicing it.

The "Best Endeavours" was put in there as I was left with all the debt during the divorce so my credit score was poor and to be honest is still not that strong so getting another mortgage would not be easy.

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

I don't know what the difference between "administering" and "servicing"

If they are saying that they are merely the payment processor, they need to tell you who is the mortgagee.

You could try doing a search at the Land Registry and seeing who is the registered owner of the charge - will cost £3 for a copy of the LR entries.

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

The registered owner of the charge is Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited as per the below:

(20.02.2006) REGISTERED CHARGE dated 6 January 2006.3 (20.02.2006) Proprietor: SOUTHERN PACIFIC MORTGAGE LIMITED (Co. Regn.No. 3266119) of Deeds Admin Team, St. Johns Place, Easton Street, HighWycombe, Bucks HP11 1NL and of{DeedsAdmin@capstonemortgageservices.co.uk{.

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

Hmm - you need to get Acenden to state precisely what their role is - are they simply a payment processor?

Have you tried writing to Southern Pacific?

I asked earlier, did you get your solicitor at the time to try to do anything?

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

I will call Acenden to get clarification on their role.

I have not tried writing to Souther Pacific as I was under the impression that they were no longer trading.

I believe my solicitor wrote to them and they responded informing him that they were unable to remove her name from the mortgage but they could remove her name from the deeds, which opens another can of worms in that they sent a form for me and the former wife to sign, which we did, however my former wife had remarried and when she signed she used her new name, Acenden said they would need her to sign another form which contained both her old and new signature (even though they have a copy of the wedding certificate) which she is now dragging her feet in signing and I am having to go to court to get a judge to sign on her behalf, at my expense.

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

Bloody hell, nightmare.

I have no idea whether Southern Pacific are trading, I'm just trying to think how you can get it sorted - obviously if they aren't then they ave just failed to update the LR records.

I am clutching at straws now, there are other LB's who know much more about property than do I, maybe they'll have other ideas. The LR themselves do have a reputation for being helpful, you could try contacting them and just asking if they have any suggestions in these circumstances.

Both Acenden and your ex sound as though they are being totally unreasonable, which of course will not assist.

Are you using a solicitor for the current court application? Might be worth paying for a bit of advice (and, technically. "best endeavours" would oblige you to pay for advice if you couldn't otherwise secure that it was achieved).

I'm sorry - I haven't been much use!

[Nelix]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

I'm sorry - I haven't been much use!

On the contrary, I have just done a search on company house and Southern Pacific's status is showing as active so looks like they are still around. I do recall the advisor for Acenden saying that they were no longer in the lending market.

I think a letter to SP is in order.

I am using the same solicitor who got the court order to get the judge to sign on her behalf but he was the one who agreed that if they have said they can't remove her name then there is not much that can be done and did not proceed any further with enquiries down that route.

Thanks

[stevemLS]

Re: Another Dreaded Acenden Thread

Is it a solicitor specialising in family law that you are presently using, if so it might be worth seeking (possibly through the same firm if they have one) a property specialist's view.

I can't believe there is no way of doing this, particularly when, as I said earlier, the fact that you have given an indemnity means that it offers them no more security than the mortgage being in your name alone. When it has transferred between the 3 lenders, were you told that it had been assigned or simply given instructions about who to make future payments to?

Others may know, a mortgage is a specialty, that is a deed or contract under seal, rather than a simple contract. Can the mortgagees interest be transferred by assignment or would a Deed of Novation be required?

Let us know what SP say, it is conceivable that they are no longer in the market but have retained their existing loan book and outsourced the administration.