Rooftop MortgagesPublic Complaints & Decisions Archive

Practical

Court and disclosure

Most borrowers who feel stonewalled have used the wrong tool. These three do different things, and only one of them carries costs risk.

Take advice before any court step

Pre-action disclosure is a court application with costs consequences. Do not send a pre-action letter unless you are prepared to follow through, and take advice from a solicitor or regulated adviser first.

Subject access request

What it gets you
Your personal information: account notes, call recordings, internal notes about you, complaint files, recipients of your data.
What it does not do
Does not entitle you to the mortgage deed, the assignment, the receiver's appointment or an invoice. The ICO says an organisation may supply extracts or edited documents containing your personal information rather than whole original documents.
Timing
Normally one month to respond, extendable where the request is complex.
Risk
None. Free.

Ordinary document request

What it gets you
Named documents: mortgage deed and conditions, transfer or assignment, notice of assignment, appointment of receiver, solicitor's invoice, tariff in force on a date.
What it does not do
No statutory deadline and no automatic right of production. Its value is the dated record of what was asked and what was refused.
Timing
No fixed period. Set your own reasonable deadline in the letter.
Risk
None. Free.

Pre-action disclosure (CPR 31.16)

What it gets you
Documents that would fall within standard disclosure in anticipated proceedings, where disclosure now is desirable to dispose fairly of the dispute, to assist resolution, or to save costs.
What it does not do
Not a general information right. It requires anticipated proceedings between the parties and it is decided by a judge.
Timing
Normally made on notice. The court may determine it on the papers or list a hearing.
Risk
Real costs consequences, including the risk of paying the other side's costs.

The order that works

  1. Obtain what you can yourself: register, filed charge, FCA Register, Companies House.
  2. Make the ordinary document request, naming each document and date.
  3. Make the subject access request separately, on the same day, for personal data.
  4. Ask for preservation of call recordings and account notes if a dispute is live.
  5. Complain, and refer to the Ombudsman where the complaint is in jurisdiction.
  6. Only then, if the dispute genuinely turns on a refused document, consider CPR 31.16.

The relevant letters are the named-document request, the preservation request and the pre-action disclosure notice.

Court material in this archive

Published judgments and court records concerning Rooftop Mortgages or parties acting on its behalf.

Official findingOfficial source – court judgment12 January 2023

Intensity Holdings S.A. v Stratton Mortgage Funding 2019-1 Plc & Ors [2023] EWHC 104 (Ch) – Rooftop named as fifth defendant and as legal title holder

Proceedings in the High Court concerning two securitisations of mortgages and loans known as the Stratton Securitisation and the Clavis Securitisation, and an August 2022 transaction under which the securitised assets were transferred to a new issuing vehicle, Stratton Hawksmoor 2022-1 Plc. Rooftop Mortgages Limited was the fifth defendant. The claim was brought in the name of Intensity Holdings S.A., which did not appear and was not represented at the hearing. The defendants applied to strike the claim out.

[2023] EWHC 104 (Ch); claim no. BL-2022-001355SecuritisationMortgage ownershipAssignmentStandingAuthorityCompany structure