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Unenforceable charge on deceased mother's house preventing completion of sale - help!
My mother passed away summer 2020 with no will. I am the administrator of her estate. She has a property that sold in the spring and is currently very close to completion of sale. There have been delays due to a dispute of the property boundary which had to go through the land registry, but that is now all resolved.
At the 11th hour it has come to light that there are three charges against the property totaling just over £30k that require resolving prior to sale competion. All three involve CCJ's being issued against my mother for unpaid debts. In the year since I have been dealing with her estate there has been nothing to indicate that these existed and I had zero knowledge, until my Conveyancer alerted me. As far as I had been aware, I had already dealt with her finances and all that was left to do was to sell the property. My Conveyancer was also surprised that these charges should be unearthed at such a late stage in the sales proceedings.
The charges are with Cabot and PRA group. Cabot were open about discussing them but said that it is what it is, the amount owing is fixed and that's that. PRA group would not disclose any information to my Conveyancer, so I have had to deal with them personally myself. After much too-ing and fro-ing they have now informed me of the background of the charges.
During our discussions, they also told me that the largest charge (almost £20k) was unenforceable. However, they will not remove the charge from the property and we cannot complete the sale until the charge is removed. My conveyancer suggested that I speak with a litigation solicitor to get advice as to whether it was worth pursuing to try to get the charge(s) removed.
However, it is now the long bank holiday weekend and I have this sitting in my mind without really understanding any potential options (I am in no way, shape or form eau fait with the legal system, I have no previous dealings with debt collection companies and I wouldn't know where to start looking for advice (except on this forum of course)).
Added to this that my mother passed away suddenly and without warning over a year ago and I have not yet been able to grieve for her as I am dealing with all this first, the estate is far more complicated and taking far longer than anticipated, and I have antsy siblings who are desperate for the money (that they don't deserve but Law dictates they will get) and who are pressurising me from several directions, and I do feel under considerable stress to do the right thing.
Would anyone be able to advise whether I may have a case in getting the charges removed from the title without having to pay them, what this may involve, the approximate charges and timescale?
Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to offer any advice.
At the 11th hour it has come to light that there are three charges against the property totaling just over £30k that require resolving prior to sale competion. All three involve CCJ's being issued against my mother for unpaid debts. In the year since I have been dealing with her estate there has been nothing to indicate that these existed and I had zero knowledge, until my Conveyancer alerted me. As far as I had been aware, I had already dealt with her finances and all that was left to do was to sell the property. My Conveyancer was also surprised that these charges should be unearthed at such a late stage in the sales proceedings.
The charges are with Cabot and PRA group. Cabot were open about discussing them but said that it is what it is, the amount owing is fixed and that's that. PRA group would not disclose any information to my Conveyancer, so I have had to deal with them personally myself. After much too-ing and fro-ing they have now informed me of the background of the charges.
During our discussions, they also told me that the largest charge (almost £20k) was unenforceable. However, they will not remove the charge from the property and we cannot complete the sale until the charge is removed. My conveyancer suggested that I speak with a litigation solicitor to get advice as to whether it was worth pursuing to try to get the charge(s) removed.
However, it is now the long bank holiday weekend and I have this sitting in my mind without really understanding any potential options (I am in no way, shape or form eau fait with the legal system, I have no previous dealings with debt collection companies and I wouldn't know where to start looking for advice (except on this forum of course)).
Added to this that my mother passed away suddenly and without warning over a year ago and I have not yet been able to grieve for her as I am dealing with all this first, the estate is far more complicated and taking far longer than anticipated, and I have antsy siblings who are desperate for the money (that they don't deserve but Law dictates they will get) and who are pressurising me from several directions, and I do feel under considerable stress to do the right thing.
Would anyone be able to advise whether I may have a case in getting the charges removed from the title without having to pay them, what this may involve, the approximate charges and timescale?
Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to offer any advice.
