Help - Settlement tomorrow without a title?

[zayne]

Hi all,

Im due to settle on a property tomorrow at 11:30 but apparently the vendors are not ready as the bank has lost the title. Since their bank and my bank are both the same bank, Ive been told that I can settle without the title and that the bank can put something in writing agreeing to locate the title or obtain a new one after settlement. Is this true? Has anyone had any experience with this? Is there any other options besides waiting till the bank locate the title? My conveyencer said that they had the same issue a few months ago with the same bank and it took 5 weeks for them to locate the title and settle. Any downsides to settling without the title?

All input appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Raddles]

Hi there
have had titles go astray and had to go through a process to have a new title issued - was a different situation to yours though as the vendor had the title - but left it in a refrigerator which had been sold at a garage sale!
The fact that it is your bank that has misplaced the title - is entirely different - provided they don't charge you for a replacement title - it shouldn't be an issue for the settlement tomorrow. You may want to keep on their back though to make sure ultimately your ownership is registered on the title.
thanks

 

[boomtown]

Uh.

I would be spending some money on seeing a lawyer. You are paying all this money - how do you know that you actually will own the property?

Or just delay settlement until they can get a replacement title issued - it shouldnt be too hard.

 

[Raddles]

Hi there
one option to protect yourself whilst the title is being located could be to place a Caveat on the title - setting out your claim to ownership - that way no one else can deal with the property until the title is located
thanks

 

[boomtown]

Not a bad idea although you would want to check how long the caveat is valid for and be confident that it can be sorted out within that time period.

 

[zayne]

Thanks for the input guys. Im going to call the conveyancer now since settlement is supposed to be in an hour. Hopefully the bank has managed to find the title late yesterday or this morning.

 

[zayne]

Well luckily I got a call not so long ago saying that the vendors bank has located the titles and settlement will go ahead today.

Thanks again for all the input guys. Much appreciated.

 

[boomtown]

Definitely the best result - grats on the new purchase.

Care to share details now that it has gone through?

 

[zayne]

Yep all went well with settlement. Picked up the keys and dropped them off with the new PM. Its a 2 bedder in Hawthorn. Got passed in at auction so I put in a late offer after the auction for 10% below the reserve. Didnt hear back for 2 weeks so forgot about it until one day the agent called me and asked if I was still willing with the offer. I said yes and offer was accepted. Now to find a tenant.

 

[boomtown]

Nice strategy ill have to remember that

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Yep all went well with settlement. Picked up the keys and dropped them off with the new PM. Its a 2 bedder in Hawthorn. Got passed in at auction so I put in a late offer after the auction for 10% below the reserve. Didnt hear back for 2 weeks so forgot about it until one day the agent called me and asked if I was still willing with the offer. I said yes and offer was accepted. Now to find a tenant.

Hi thats great it all turned out well for you I've been following this story.


I have a question in regards to auctions. If the property is passed in at auction, how do you go about finding out what the reserve is? Will the agent just tell you. Are they allowed to? I'm going to see an auction and just wandered how it worked. There is a 2 bedder mortgagee auction coming up.
Maybe i could get lucky. I'll see.

 

[zayne]

Sometimes the agent will disclose the reserve if your extremely nice to them at the end of the auction. They wont tell you before auction for obvious reasons. Not sure about other states but some vendors/agents in Vic will disclose the reserve if it is passed in and is usually in the next days newspaper with the weeks auction results.

Good luck with the auction.

 

[Modal Harmony]

Is it common for banks to lose documents such as titles? It seems outrageous that important documents such as these would not be scanned and filed eletronically as PDF renditions to mitigate siuations such as this.

 

[the_captain]

Unfortunately yes, it is common for banks to lose "stuff" like titles, loan documentation, pages from contracts, etc..etc...

I once had a bank lose loan docs not once, not twice, but 3 times even. This was one of the big four.