Deed store halifax

I have my deeds in the Halifax deed store, they required me to put £125 in my mortgage account to cover the storage fees.

I have had these deeds in the store for eleven years now. and would like to know if my friends information is correct. He says that all deeds are now all held digitally by the Land Registry and the Halifax hold nothing. will I now require the Halifax to return my £125 as I have no intention of ever getting a future mortgage with them at any stage in the future..
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  • harvey115
    harvey115 Posts: 691 Forumite
    There are a couple of questions here.

    Is your mortgage with Halifax been paid off?
    - It could be that as part of the condition to the mortgage Halifax required the deeds to be stored by them.

    If you have already paid off the mortgage, you can certainly ask them to return the deed to you.
  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 38,691
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    Registered land is transferred using the simple Land Registry forms. Your deeds pack may contain useful data from past conveyances and information about the property, so it's still potentially valuable.

    I keep mine in the house, TBH. I wouldn't pay to store them nowadays.

    All stems from a fire at the B&B deed store in Edgbaston a few years ago. From then, most lenders stopped storing them, without making higher charges for the privilege.
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • Hotto
    Hotto Posts: 27 Forumite
    harvey115 wrote: »
    There are a couple of questions here.

    Is your mortgage with Halifax been paid off?
    - It could be that as part of the condition to the mortgage Halifax required the deeds to be stored by them.

    If you have already paid off the mortgage, you can certainly ask them to return the deed to you.

    Yes the mortgage was paid up in full with them eleven years ago. I assume that if I ask for my deeds back and I keep them at home the Dig copy at the Land Reg is the one thats important or are the originals I will have at home once returned ( just thinking about Fire. Etc)
  • Hotto
    Hotto Posts: 27 Forumite
    kingstreet wrote: »
    Registered land is transferred using the simple Land Registry forms. Your deeds pack may contain useful data from past conveyances and information about the property, so it's still potentially valuable.

    I keep mine in the house, TBH. I wouldn't pay to store them nowadays.

    All stems from a fire at the B&B deed store in Edgbaston a few years ago. From then, most lenders stopped storing them, without making higher charges for the privilege.

    When you asked them to be returned to you, I would assume Halifax would want a fee, as always for nothing ?
  • catieeb06
    catieeb06 Posts: 576 Forumite
    The deed store account asks you to pay off all bar £125 from your mortgage balance, if you had paid it into credit by £125 this wouldn't be deed store. Therefore you owe them £125.
    I am a Mortgage Adviser
    You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it.
    This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser code of conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice.
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    You paid no fees for this.

    You left a £125 mortgage outstanding.

    So to get the deeds returned you have to repay the £125 you owe them.

    Think of the interest you've not paid on it!
  • frankie
    frankie Posts: 845
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    I have just paid off my £125 to get my deeds back from the Halifax. I had them there ever since I had the mortgage, paid off the mortgage about 12 years ago and just used the facility as a deed storage.

    Initially I kept them with the Halifax as if I were ever to need a mortgage from them again all my details would be held and there'd be less fences to jump.

    However, in this day and age I don't think that is so much the case, people are much more likely to shop around.

    Reason I'm getting the deeds back is that my house is on the market and I feel it would be handy to have the deeds even though they are also held electronically with LR.
  • kingstreet
    kingstreet Posts: 38,691
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    Frankie - your solicitor will get them from Halifax during the sale process anyway. It's one of the things he needs to be able to prepare a draft contract. You might as well leave him to repay the mortgage and get the charge removed, as it may cost you more to have that done now.

    o4u might be able to shed light on this. Will there be a fee for releasing the charge? If so, is he better off letting his conveyancer take care of it as part of the usual sales process?
    I am a mortgage broker. You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a Mortgage Adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. Please do not send PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    kingstreet wrote: »
    Frankie - your solicitor will get them from Halifax during the sale process anyway. It's one of the things he needs to be able to prepare a draft contract. You might as well leave him to repay the mortgage and get the charge removed, as it may cost you more to have that done now.

    o4u might be able to shed light on this. Will there be a fee for releasing the charge? If so, is he better off letting his conveyancer take care of it as part of the usual sales process?
    They have messed about with the fees they charge over the years, but it was usually better to DIY it unless in a hurry.

    No charge for DIY out of Deedstore. £50 to dispatch to solicitor.

    http://www.halifax.co.uk/mortgages/mortgagefees.asp
    *Deeds Despatch fee £50

    We charge this fee when we send the title documents to a conveyancer acting for you, or to a branch office to enable you to inspect the title documents. We also charge this fee if we send the title documents to you or a third party following full repayment of the mortgage.
  • frankie
    frankie Posts: 845
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    kingstreet wrote: »
    Frankie - your solicitor will get them from Halifax during the sale process anyway. It's one of the things he needs to be able to prepare a draft contract. You might as well leave him to repay the mortgage and get the charge removed, as it may cost you more to have that done now.

    o4u might be able to shed light on this. Will there be a fee for releasing the charge? If so, is he better off letting his conveyancer take care of it as part of the usual sales process?


    No charge was incurred by me. It was simply a case of paying the final £125 of the original mortgage.

    If I have the deeds, I will not have to pay the Halifax £50 for them to send to my conveyancer. I guess in any case the conveyancer would get the electronic version from the LR. Also having the deeds means I will have the deed 'number' so should speed up any 'searches' required.

    As it happens, housing market here in Cornwall is flat as a pancake at my asking price (£350k) so no mad rush anyway!
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