One of the questions that comes up in many cases including my own is whether it is important for both parties to sign the mortgage deed. It has been suggested to me that "The paperwork changed from September 27th, 1989, as per section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 whereby it was required by statute that there must be a contract detailinng all the terms in one document or referring to another, and a mortgage deed. If the 'contract' was not signed by both parties then they could be in some difficulty." Apparently the relevant case is Eagle Star v Green & Challis, Court of Appeal, August 2001. Can anybody find the report of this case for me? Thanks in advance,

-- Melody (mbc109@york.ac.uk), April 08, 2002

Answers

Hi Melody, I have a hard copy of the case you require. It was used in the case against me late last year, which incidentley I lost!If you can wait a few hours i will phone around to see if any friends have a scanner i can use. I will then mail you a copy.

Regards Daren.

-- Daren Otsay (daernotsay@blueyonder.co.uk), April 08, 2002.

Sorry, mis-spelt my email address it should have been darenotsay@blueyonder.co.uk regards Daren

-- Daren Otsay (darenotsay@blueyonder.co.uk), April 08, 2002.

Thanks - I've now read through the report. In case anyone else is interested, the gist of it is that the failure of either party to sign the mortgage deed is irrelevant, and you don't need a separate mortgage contract either. So if I've understood it correctly, you (and your friendly lender) don't actually have to sign anything at all legally to have a mortgage in place against your home. Can this be right? (It certainly seems to have been the case for me.)

-- Melody (mbc109@york.ac.uk), April 09, 2002.

Daren,

Could you give us further details of how the Eagle Star v Green & Challis case was used in the case against you? I am very interested.

You can check out my credentials with Lee if you have any doubts.

Stephen

-- (stephen.pooley@ntlworld.com), April 13, 2002.

It has not been used against me - it's just that I was discussing with somebody the pros and cons of using the argument that an unsigned mortgage deed constituted an unenforceable contract, and they kindly pointed me in the direction of that case. I have a long list of points to raise with citibank, and needed to know if the unsigned deed should be added to the list. Unlike (it appears to me) the other parties to my case, I am endeavouring to comply fully with the CPR, so have been putting in a lot of work to research this kind of thing in advance of any possible legal proceedings.

-- Melody (mbc109@york.ac.uk), April 15, 2002.

Hi Melody,

My question is not aimed at you Melody but to Daren (darenotsay). I know this is your thread Melody and I appologise for that, but if you're out there somewhere Daren an answer would be much appreciated, thanks.

Stephen

-- (stephen.pooley@ntlworld.com), April 15, 2002.