What taxes and levies apply to the establishment of such securities and to their cancellation?

There is no mortgage tax payable under English law when taking security over property in England and Wales. The chargor is required to pay nominal registration fees at Companies House and the Land Registry when registering their interest in the asset but these fees are not substantial and are not related to the value of the real estate.

In the case of default, how will the securities in rem be enforced?

Receivership Fixed charge holders may appoint a receiver.

A receiver of mortgaged property can typically be appointed either as an “LPA receiver” pursuant to the LPA 1925, or a “fixed charge receivef” pursuant to the terms of the mortgage document. Sometimes the terms are used inter-changeably but the circumstances under which an LPA receiver can be appointed are restricted under the LPA 1925. Therefore, in modem security documents, it is typical for the lender to grant itself the right to appoint a fixed charge receiver in less restricted circumstances, thereby affording the receiver all of the powers of an LPA receiver under the LPA 1925 plus the additional powers expressly set out in the security document.

The receiver's primary function is to ensure payment of the debt owed to the mortgagee, usually by way of sale of the charged property. The process is not for the benefit of creditors as a whole and there is no statutory moratorium during this process.

Administration In addition, a qualifying floating charge holder may appoint an administrator who has a duty to act in the best interests of the borrower's creditors as a whole.

The essential characteristics of a qualifying floating charge are:

(a) that the charge must by its terms give the holder power to appoint an administrator; and

(b) the charge (or that and other charges taken together) must relate to the whole or substantially the whole of the company's property.