When it’s time to move house
into a lovely new home. A few pots of chalk paint may be in order to render the old furniture funky enough for its new abode.
On the day of settlement, any mortgage that is held over your house will be discharged from your Certificate of Title.
The bank will only discharge your mortgage if you pay it off in full which may include the house loan and the interest plus any bank fees, overdraft or other banking accommodation the bank has made to you.
Sometimes the early repayment of your mortgage may incur additional interest. A simple inquiry will confirm what you are up for.
Hopefully rolling the mortgage over on to a new house has made the process a simple one.
It’s very important to know exactly what you owe to the bank before you sign a sales agreement of your own, to be sure the sale ( minus real estate fees) will cover the mortgage owed on the present house as well as any planned mortgage on the new house.
Who needs the embarrassment of being placed in default under the agreement?
Repayment of the mortgage is undertaken by your solicitor. The bank will send the discharged mortgage to your solicitor a few days before the settlement at the solicitor’s request, to be held on the bank’s behalf until repayment of the loan.
Once they have received the settlement money your solicitor will repay your loan and send the discharged mortgage and the transfer of the property to the purchaser’s solicitor, then the change of ownership is registered.
On settlement day the solicitor takes care of payment of rates and water rates and notifies the council of change of ownership so the rates are addressed to the new owners.
It’s your own responsibility to have the power disconnected and if you still have a landline, to cancel it.
The power and phone people should send out a final account before you leave. They may charge a fee for discharging or reconnecting you to another address.
If you are moving to another property you will have to promptly ensure your next home has immediate insurance cover.
If there is a bank mortgage especially, they will insist on immediate insurance, for obvious reasons.