Abbey / Santander Deedsafe

[caveman38]

As Santander woes have reared their ugly head. It has reminded me that I have not had a letter / end of year account from Santander to confirm that they are holding my deeds in the deedsafe scheme.
Since 1994 - when I paid up my mortgage - I have received annually a confirmation letter. It appears that since 2008, I have not received one. I assume that it coincides with the takeover by Santander.
Does anyone know if they still hold my deeds but do not send out annual letters or is someone else now involved with old deeds that I need to contact. Thanks.

[sammyjammy]

There is no longer a requirement to keep paper copies of deeds, they are held on a central computerised database. I would imagine thats why they've stopped sending you confirmation as it costs them money. Ring them up and ask them to let you have your deeds back if you want them. Mine go back to 1898 and of historical interest but nothing else, they were sent to me by my mortgage company years ago.

[Peckle]

Just posting this as a warning to anyone who fully paid their mortgage with Abbey National in the 1980's and opted to have the deeds retained in their Deedsafe scheme.

Earlier this year I moved my elderly mother into a Retirement Flat - I am fortunate that my circumstances are such that I was able to purchase this outright for her, making the downsizing and subsequent sale of her own (empty)house much easier.

With Mum's permission, I handled all the negotiations and paperwork relating to the sale of her old house. Completion was yesterday. Our solicitor rang me first thing, to state that the Buyers' Solicitor had alerted him that Land Registry were stating that there was still a charge on the property. Fortunately as we were the end of the 'chain', completion was allowed to proceed, on the basis that no funds will be released to my mother until the matter is resolved. Our solicitor contacted Santander who cannot find the files or any details and are asking for us to provide account information etc before any action can be taken to remove the charge and release the funds.

Fortunately when clearing Mum's property I discovered vast collections of files - and have found the documentation relating to the final mortgage payments in 1986. Unbeknown to me, my late father took the option to enter the deedsafe scheme - which I now understand, entails leaving the mortage 50p in arrears. As the deeds were retained by Abbey National, we were unaware that this charge remained on the property and the mortgage had not been cleared.

Fortunately, the money from the sale of the property is not needed immediately - however if this situation had occurred in the middle of a chain, I dread to think what could have happened.

I am interested to find out how quickly Santander will resolve this matter, once I send the details to my solicitor on Monday morning.

I am also intrigued to know - given the situation - if our solicitor should have picked this up earlier, and should have double checked that there were no charges on the property. He was informed that the Deeds were in the Deedsafe scheme, as my mother still pays an annual charge for the service.

[Thrugelmir]

Originally Posted by Peckle

I am also intrigued to know - given the situation - if our solicitor should have picked this up earlier, and should have double checked that there were no charges on the property.

You would have thought this to be a basic check as part of the selling process.

[murphydavid]

I also joined there Deedsafe scheme back then and after chasing Santander for some time; their complaints department have just informed me that they have my deeds safe and have given me an account number for them and have said that nothing has changed in the take over except they no longer send out yearly letters. I found this a bit inadequate and somewhat unsettling so I googled "santander deedsafe" and found your post.
I also will have a 50 pence charge outstanding. I have no need for my deeds in the immediate future but I am left wondering if I should take some further action. Peckle I would be grateful if you could post details of the final outcome when resolved and in particular if you discover how significant the outstanding 50p is.

[kingstreet]

If the original mortgage contained a deeds release fee, the charge over the property would not be lifted until the fee was paid when the mortgage is settled in full.

As registered land is now transferred on a simple LandReg form, the deeds pack is only of historical interest, unless the property is leasehold or there is other information retained there, such as guarantees for works carried out on the property.

I have mine and I'd not leave them with a lender these days.

[Peckle]

Originally Posted by murphydavid

.... I googled "santander deedsafe" and found your post.
I also will have a 50 pence charge outstanding. I have no need for my deeds in the immediate future but I am left wondering if I should take some further action. Peckle I would be grateful if you could post details of the final outcome when resolved and in particular if you discover how significant the outstanding 50p is.

So sorry not to have replied earlier.

As I originally posted, the completion was due to take place on the Friday - but due to the Santander problem, the money resulting from the sale could not be released.
During the weekend I emailed the solicitor with the original account/mortgage refs and anything else I could think may be useful for Santander to locate the account.
On the Monday morning I received the following from my solicitor:
'I am pleased to confirm that I have today received confirmation from Santander that there is a nil balance on your Mothers mortgage account'
The proceeds of the sale were immediately paid into my mothers account with no apparent 50p deduction. With hindsight, I got the distinct impression that it was less to do with the '50p' and more to do with Santander having problems in locating old A/National accounts.
In your position I would request return of your deeds. Paper deeds are no longer needed, but if retention of them by Santander means a 50p outstanding charge on the mortgage or alternatively, an inability to locate old files means that Santander (where they have held deeds after redemption)cannot confirm that a mortgage has been redeemed in full - it could cause problems for you, at a later date.

[basill]

When we paid the last of the mortgage off we did not receive our deeds back, when we questioned this we were told the lender had destroyed them as paper copies were no longer required.

Rather sad, it would have been nice to have them anyway.

B

[murphydavid]

Thanks for the reply.
I did requested the return of my deeds and offered them the 50p and they have returned them free of charge and removed all outstanding charges.