We paid off the mortgage but our bank won’t let go

WE REDEEMED our mortgage with Lloyds in 2013, but recently discovered that the bank did not remove its legal charge.

My wife and I took the mortgage with TSB in 1985. This became a Lloyds TSB mortgage when the banks merged.

Following Money Mail’s advice, whenever the interest rate decreased we kept our repayments at the same level to pay off the mortgage sooner, and it was redeemed in 2013.

Now we are buying a new property and want to raise a mortgage against our home. But our lender’s solicitor discovered a legal charge in favour of ‘the Custodian Trustees of Trustee Savings Bank England & Wales’ dated March 12, 1985.

I have been chasing this since September. I was told it should take three to five working days, but it is still not resolved.

When we take out a mortgage, banks and building societies take a legal charge against our property. This stops us selling without their permission and means they have first call on the money if we do sell.

You paid off your mortgage, so the legal charge should have been removed. however, it seems that when you phoned the bank on september 16, the request was passed to the relevant department but was not processed properly.

Lloyds has apologised and sent you £450 as a goodwill gesture, in addition to the £300 already paid in October in recognition of the poor service and the delays caused to your property purchase.

A spokesman says: ‘ We’re extremely sorry for the inconvenience and have now sent the relevant information to the Land Registry so this can be resolved as quickly as possible.

‘We have provided feedback to the department that incorrectly processed their request to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

For just a few pounds you can check your own property details at hM Land Registry via the gov.uk website. BRITISH Gas has taken £286.65 from my grandparents, instead of £101, for the past six months. Their usage has not increased and they are horrified. As both are nearly 90 and preoccupied with trying to remain safe, they didn’t notice this change, and say the firm did not write to notify them.

I rang British Gas several times and it offered no help or apology. It says the increased charges were ‘just in case’ they went over their usage and it refuses to offer a refund.

It claimed it sent a letter, and said it would send another to prove this. Nothing has come.

P. D., Liverpool. The problem stems from estimated readings. British gas didn’t receive readings and, as we know, energy companies can no longer be bothered to send out meter readers.

Instead, they invent consumption figures and customers suffer the consequences.

Using guestimates, British gas raised the monthly payment by around 184 pc in April, supposedly to avoid your grandparents falling into arrears. This was at the beginning of the summer, when usage might be expected to fall. It’s possible your grandparents were behind after the winter months, but a far smaller increase would have made up the difference.

British gas has now refunded the £325.90 it owed them. You are far from happy with its conduct, especially the failure to apologise in a way you felt appropriate.

A British gas spokesman says: ‘We strongly advise customers who pay by direct debit to review their statements regularly and provide regular meter readings to ensure their payment plans are accurately reassessed.’

I strongly suggest that the regulator insists energy firms actually read customers’ meters before they are allowed to reassess direct debits. MY MOTHER, 77, wrote to TV Licensing in August after discovering that she had been paying for a TV licence when she didn’t have to.

I had already told them that Dad had passed away with dementia in 2015, but they still sent letters addressed to him.

On August 17, we completed a refund form. I’ve also twice sent proof of address and a consultant’s letter regarding Mum’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Mum has since been admitted to hospital. I would like to get this sorted before she comes home.

V. P., Essex. TV LIcensIng is hell-bent on taking money from the over-75s, but seems rather more reluctant to refund it. It has apologised and paid the refund of just over £300. My best wishes to you and your mother. ÷ WE LOVE hearing from our loyal readers, so ask that during this challenging time you write to us by email where possible, as we will not pick up letters sent to our postal address as regularly as usual. You can write to: asktony@dailymail.co.uk or, if you prefer, Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT — please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell. We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.