Obtaining details of charges on a property
Discussion
Bit of an odd one here. We've lived in our house, mortgaged, for 6 years. Prior to that it was owned by the same couple for many years (around 10 years) although in the two years before we bought it, they let it to another family. We know the names of the previous owners, and of the previous occupants, and that takes us back, including our ownership, at least 15 years.
Incidentally, the renting family ran up significant debt and disappeared, and for some time after we were receiving debt letters, bailiff letters, etc. Anything vaguely official-looking was returned, until eventually we contacted the frequent senders, and those letters all stopped a long time ago.
A few years ago, we received a letter addressed to a "Dr D xxxxx and Dr J xxxxx". These names are not those, nor even slightly close to, of any of the known-to-us previous occupants. Through the window on the envelope we could see that it referenced a mortgage application; unclear as to which property this was on. This was from a major, well-known High Street institution. We returned it to the sender.
Around a year later, we received another letter address to the two doctors, and on the outside it said words to the effect of "Important: Insurance renewal Documents enclosed". We RTS that too. I believe we've done that a couple of times until we received another this week. Enough was enough; I opened the letter and contacted the sender by telephone.
Whilst they were (completely understandably) unable to discuss the matter with me, I did say that since they were sending renewal, and not proposal, documents, presumably that infers that a policy has been in place in the meantime. The policy documents clearly reference our home, with no errors in the address at all. The person on the phone said that they couldn't do anything unless the policyholder contacted them, so I suggested that perhaps they should telephone the policyholder to discuss. They said they had no phone number on file for them - odd, surely, isn't that something everyone asks for these days when doing business. He also said that he could see on file that we had been returning letters to them; why then continue to send more?
I'm concerned, but struggling to see what, that there may be some sort of fraud going on; after all, who would keep allowing a premium of some £400 to be automatically taken from their account with no notice nor documentation?
The first thing I would like to check is whether there are any charges on the property, other than our own mortgage. If I apply to the Land Reg, will there be enough detail on that output for me to be able to check this?
Any suggestions as to what else we could/should do? Or not do. Or do we just leave it as it's not an issue?
Incidentally, the renting family ran up significant debt and disappeared, and for some time after we were receiving debt letters, bailiff letters, etc. Anything vaguely official-looking was returned, until eventually we contacted the frequent senders, and those letters all stopped a long time ago.
A few years ago, we received a letter addressed to a "Dr D xxxxx and Dr J xxxxx". These names are not those, nor even slightly close to, of any of the known-to-us previous occupants. Through the window on the envelope we could see that it referenced a mortgage application; unclear as to which property this was on. This was from a major, well-known High Street institution. We returned it to the sender.
Around a year later, we received another letter address to the two doctors, and on the outside it said words to the effect of "Important: Insurance renewal Documents enclosed". We RTS that too. I believe we've done that a couple of times until we received another this week. Enough was enough; I opened the letter and contacted the sender by telephone.
Whilst they were (completely understandably) unable to discuss the matter with me, I did say that since they were sending renewal, and not proposal, documents, presumably that infers that a policy has been in place in the meantime. The policy documents clearly reference our home, with no errors in the address at all. The person on the phone said that they couldn't do anything unless the policyholder contacted them, so I suggested that perhaps they should telephone the policyholder to discuss. They said they had no phone number on file for them - odd, surely, isn't that something everyone asks for these days when doing business. He also said that he could see on file that we had been returning letters to them; why then continue to send more?
I'm concerned, but struggling to see what, that there may be some sort of fraud going on; after all, who would keep allowing a premium of some £400 to be automatically taken from their account with no notice nor documentation?
The first thing I would like to check is whether there are any charges on the property, other than our own mortgage. If I apply to the Land Reg, will there be enough detail on that output for me to be able to check this?
Any suggestions as to what else we could/should do? Or not do. Or do we just leave it as it's not an issue?
TooMany2cvs said:
Is the mortgage/insurance for THAT property, or has your address just been given as a correspondence address for a different property - a BtL, perhaps?
No, the insurance renewal specifically references insuring our house! We didn't open the letter which mentioned Mortgage in the title but the assumption is that it was for our house?Johnd52 said:
I wonder if they have had a policy in the past and it has been automatically renewed. If so I would assume the charge will hit their bank account which will trigger a reaction.
You would think so but as far as I recall this is at least the second renewal, i.e. the third year of insurance!Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff