Halifax Wants £50 For My House Deeds

Mrs_Money

We are just about to settle our mortgage (not as good as it sounds - we desperately need to move to a bigger house - when we can!) and the Halifax has told us they want £50 off us for our deeds - I understand that this may only be a "print-off" from the Land registry database anyway - who knows where our original (dated around 1902 I think) deeds are- our mortgage went through so many building society take-overs, but the gist of it from the Halifax is that there was no point in having them anyway as they are all held electronically - firstly, I'm not all that comfortable with that in the long term, and secondly - isn't £50 a bit steep?
Any thoughts?

Trying_to_be_good

It's sometimes called a 'deeds release fee' - it's the admin fee for closing down the mortgage account, and was the subject of much complaining when lenders hiked it during the term of a mortgage. Some lenders started charging well over £200 for this, and were forced to go back to the charge that was in the original terms and conditions.

Last I heard, there was ongoing debate about what was reasonable, but £50 sounds OK - the Ts and Cs for my mortgage state £275!

Most deeds are now held electronically by the Land Registry.

dimbo61

The deeds to your old ! house could be a large file going back to the first owner and all owners since plus the price paid and mortgages taken out on the property.
£50 is a reasonable charge so I afraid you will need to pay up.

Kazza62

Negotiate on this fee. If your property is registered, all that will consist of the deeds will be Land Certificate (once the Charge is paid off, until then it is called a Charge Certificate). My parents' fee from the Halifax was originally £200. I took over the negotiation with their authority and got it down to just £10. I work within the legal profession so know that it is just a way for banks and buildings societies to rake in more money.