The terms of my new mortgage allows the Building Society to take possession of or sell my house. Is this normal?
10d 17h ago by lemmy.ml/u/BuyEU in legaladviceuk@feddit.uk from lemmy.ml
I'm applying to remortgage my flat, and I was reading through the conditions. It says the following:
We have all the rights and powers, including to delegate to others, that we could exercise if we were the absolute owner of the Property, including the following: - 39.4.1 to take possession of the Property 39.4.3 to sell or let or otherwise dispose of the Property;
However, it also says:
we will not exercise them until the end of the Term or if the Debt has become repayable under Condition 31, whichever is the sooner
Condition 31, is the part about "On Default or in Certain Other Events", so I'm not worried about that since it seems standard, but the "end of the Term" just means after the fixed term right? Even if I'm up to date on payments.
So does this mean the mortgage provider has the right to take possession of my house, or sell it, even if I've made all payments? That doesn't seem right.
Is this a typical term on a mortgage that I shouldn't be concerned about, or is this be something I should be concerned about?
I haven't hired a lawyer for the remortgage as it's inclusive of all fees, and it didn't seem necessary. But maybe I should get a lawyer to look over the terms before remortgaging my flat?
It honestly seems about right. It's just plain language rather than legalese. I remember signing my first mortgage and my lawyer summed it up as "The bank owns your house and will let you live there as long as you pay them."
I'd run it by a lawyer. I can't imagine it will take a lawyer long to settle this since it's probably some standard language that just sounds confusing, so you're looking at a nominal fee. You're basically just paying money to feel at ease.
Generally speaking, having a secret trapdoor buried in a legal contract is Hollywood thing, because an actual court would be like, "This person agreed to a mortgage, paid the entire thing plus interest for years, and now you are entitled to their house why? Why would a reasonable person agree to this unless they were tricked?"
But that said, I pretty much always hire a lawyer for important stuff like property. Also then someone else's license is on the line should this ever actually become an issue.
Yeah I didn't think a regulated Building Society would pull some crazy shit like this. It would be extremely unbelievable. So I wasn't worried really. But I just like to understand what I'm signing and make sure it's all reasonable.
Thanks for your input!
Definitely talk to a lawyer.