Charge registered on home

[bluestilton]

Looking for some advice please. My father passed away last October without leaving a will and I am helping my 77year old mother to sort through the muddle of paperwork. She is anxious to have everything sorted and to make a will herself. We received a copy of the Property Registration Authority folio for the family home and found that there was a charge of 1500 plus interest registered on it by the local authority in 2000. It appears my father looked for a council grant at the time for roof repairs but did not qualify and the council gave him a loan to have the works done. My mother thinks that he had some argument with the council and may still owe some money to them - I think the last instalment was not paid and this was several years ago. We are trying to sort out title to the various pieces of property that were in my fathers name. Is my mother or whoever will eventually inherit the house liable for this charge? Don't want to ring the local authority and open up a can of worms until I can get an understanding of what this is about. Thank You.

 

[Thirsty]

IANAL

I believe the charge lapses if it has not been collected within 12 years.

 

[cremeegg]

IANALE.

A judgement mortgage lapses after 12 years. That does not appear to be what is involved here.

In your situation I would contact the council and ask to have the charge removed. If some money is asked for either pay it or dispute it. The idea of not opening a can of worms hardly applies. There is already a charge in place.

The house is liable for the charge until it is removed. Which in effect means that it cannot be sold until this is resolved. Better to resolve it now rather than in so many years when no one remembers what it is all about.

 

[Thirsty]

Open to correction, but I rather thought that if the charge is registered against the property it is a Judgement Mortgage? And that being the case if no action has been taken to enforce, it lapses after 12 years.

OP, I'd recommend getting some legal advice here; even with interest €1,500 vs. the property value isn't a huge amount.

 

[RedOnion]

And I'm definitely not a lawyer!

The property can never be sold with the charge in place.

This might help to understand how to get it removed. http://www.prai.ie/burdens-cancellation-of-burdens/

You'd be relying on statute of limitations to have it removed, which requires no written acknowledgment of debt and no payment at all in the 12 year period.

If the charge was made at the time if the original loan, and some payments were made, it's unlikely to be a huge amount to settle it if the original was only 1500 (assuming IEP).