Legal Charge

• A legal charge is the legal right over property given to a lender by a borrower to secure payment of a Mortgage or Secured loan. It enables the lender to repossess and sell the property to recover their money if the borrower does not keep up the repayments on the loan.

The lender who provides the first mortgage (or the only mortgage in the case of a remortgage) is said to have the first charge over the property. Lenders who provide top up loans or second mortgages on the same property are said to have second (or third, fourth, etc.) charges.