Mortgage free but no house deeds

Charis

Sorry if this is the wrong thread but not sure which thread is most relevant.

I finally paid off my mortgage last year in November. I was expecting to be given the title deeds to my house but instead received a letter telling me that all records are now held electronically (somewhere). Given the Government's record with personal details held on file (mine were involved in both the Child Benefit records fiasco and the Pensions 'here's a letter with someone else's bank details' farce) I am dubious about the arrangement. What happens if their computer system fails or is sabotaged, or if the information they hold is incorrect? Fortunately I have a photocopied set from when I bought the place in case I ever need to confirm responsibility for a boundary or some other thing. I still feel uneasy not knowing what has happened to the real thing. Does anyone know what happens to the original set of house deeds? How do I even know that the details they have put on their records are correct, since I have not been shown any evidence that they know I hold the title?

StuartGMC

Charis
It is all held on the Land Registry system. By all means keep historic items, but, the "legal" version I would guess is that held by the Land Registry see
http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

Wookey

I paid mine of last April, i was given the option of having deeds sent out to me or them being retained on a £1 mortgage by Nationwide, i choose to have them sent out and then placed them into solicitors for safe keeping. The £1 mortgage was useful if i had been looking to obtain a loan or another mortgage as it saves on fee's.

Charis

Apparently the Land Registry are destroying all the paper copies they hold and if you want to see them it will cost you £8 per document. The copy they sent me of my entitlement document refers to 'the attached plan' and is pretty useless without it. I thought perhaps there was a second copy somewhere of the original deeds which the Building Society would have held? Maybe not. At least I have the photocopy, for what it's worth.

studiorex

I bought my latest house in 2004 and my building society (standard life) sent me my deeds straightaway as they said they no longer need to hold them for mortgages. I assumed it is because the original set is digitally stored elsewhere. Apparently so.

SmlSave

Most lenders have dematerlised which means that they no longer hold original deeds. Either the solicitors holds them, they get sent to the Land Registry or sent to the owner of the property.

The Title Doc costs £3 from the Land Registry (don't get a Registered view) and the Title Plan costs £3 as well.

Other documents i.e Transfer Deeds, Conveyances etc cost depending on the documents normally £5-£10.

If you are worried Charis I would suggest ringing up the Land Registry and asking for a set of "Office Copy" Title Deeds. It should include:

a copy of the title plan showing edged red the boundaries of the property. Please satisfy yourself that the boundaries “on the ground” are a true reflection of those appearing on this plan

an extract from the title deeds. This sets out the restrictions and other matters that affect the property. Also shows the registered owner of the property.

StuartGMC

studiorex wrote: »

I bought my latest house in 2004 and my building society (standard life) sent me my deeds straightaway as they said they no longer need to hold them for mortgages. I assumed it is because the original set is digitally stored elsewhere. Apparently so.

Likewise when we moved lender in 2006 we received a large bundle of "historic" documents which we've then placed in the bank and pay the annual fee to store, which is ironic as the bank is our mortgage lender! So, we keep these as our own items but rely on Land Registry for the legal side; hopefully this will be entirely in our name quite soon