Selling one, buying another - need the deeds?

sinclasc

Hi,
I am thinking of selling my house, and buying another, with the sole purpose of making some money to pay off a chunk of the mortgage.

When I bought this house (4 yrs ago), the solicitor involved kept the deeds. Do I need to involve him in any new sale?

Final question - I will try to sell private. If this works, what sequence of events must I follow? i.e. 1) Advertise (rightmove, etc) 2) Contact solicitor when buyer interested, etc....

Thanks in advance for any information!

Scott Sinclair.

miaxmia

Were you a cash buyer with your current house, otherwise I think you will find the mortgage company hold the deeds to your house?

sinclasc

Hi,
not a cash buyer...Thanks for the info...
So what steps do I actually need to do with the deeds if I find a buyer?

clutton_2

first off - ask the solicitor if he still has them in his files - if he hasn't then the lender probably has them. If your lender has them, he will transfer them to your solicitor during the sale process. You do not need to use the same solicitor again for this sale.

molotov_3

If your house was bought 4 years ago then the property would have been registered at the Land Registry so you will not need the deeds to sell.

miaxmia

clutton wrote:

first off - ask the solicitor if he still has them in his files - if he hasn't then the lender probably has them. If your lender has them, he will transfer them to your solicitor during the sale process. You do not need to use the same solicitor again for this sale.

The Solicitor won't have them - they will be with your lender. Once you have a buyer, instruct whichever Solicitor you want to use and then they will send all the details to you. They will probably send you a questionnaire to complete which will ask you who your current lender is and then they will request the deeds of your house.

BELOW I HAVE CUT AND PASTED FROM A WEBSITE WHICH EXPLAINS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT "DEEDS", WHICH IS WHY I ASKED IF YOU HAD PAID CASH FOR YOUR CURRENT HOME. AS YOU WILL SEE, YOUR DEEDS WILL BE WITH YOUR MORTGAGE LENDER

Registering/recording ownership
Once the sale is completed, your solicitor will either register or record your ownership of the property in the relevant land register. Your solicitor will also register/record the standard security (mortgage deed) if you have a mortgage. There is a charge for this. You will usually have to pay this money to your solicitor who will pay the charge on your behalf.


What happens to the title deeds?
Once you have paid the money for your new house and you have the keys ('settlement'), your solicitor will register your ownership of the house. To do this, the title deeds have to be registered or recorded and the time this takes depends on various factors. You can read more about this process in our section called registering/recording ownership.

If you don't have a mortgage, your title deeds will be sent to your solicitor when they have been registered or recorded. You can either choose to keep them yourself or ask your solicitor to keep them in their office. Whatever you decide, it' really important to keep them in a very safe place because they will be needed:
if you sell the property, or give it, to someone else in the future, or
if you die.
If you have a mortgage, your mortgage lender will keep the title deeds to your home as security against the loan. If you ever need to see the deeds (for example, to check the boundaries of your property or to find out about shared responsibilities for repairs), ask your solicitor and they will arrange this for you. Once your mortgage is fully paid up, the deeds will be returned to you.
Your solicitor should be able to get copies of your deeds for you at any time. Depending on whether your deeds are old or new, and also where they are kept, you may have to pay a charge to get copies. Your solicitor will be able to give you more details.

clutton_2

This is a complex issue, and the rules have changed in recent years, but,
i think i molotiv is right here - i have now dug out old paperwork and files on when i remortgaged my home last year,. I now have all the deeds to my house - neither the lender nor the solicitor wanted them, as all "deeds" are now held electronically at the Land Registry once a property has been registered for the first time - which mine was last year. My solicitor got the deeds from my lender (to establish that i had title to the house - ie that i owned it) and the land registry registered it in my name and now i have the deeds !! Registration did not come in until the 1960's (i think) and so if a house has not been sold since then, it will not have been registered, and the deeds may well be with the Lender (if mortgaged) or with the solicitor if a cash purchase. Once the house is registered the Land Registry definitely to NOT want to keep any deeds, and i suspect neither do solicitors, (except they might want to charge you for storage these days !) good luck

Debt_Free_Chick

sinclasc wrote:

Hi,
I am thinking of selling my house, and buying another, with the sole purpose of making some money to pay off a chunk of the mortgage.

When I bought this house (4 yrs ago), the solicitor involved kept the deeds. Do I need to involve him in any new sale?.

No, but you need to know where the deeds are (although not strictly necessary, if the title is registered at the Land Registry).

Once you have a buyer, you instruct your solicitor - any one you choose. The whole "conveyancing" process involves transferring the title (ownership) of a property from one person to another. So, in short, the solicitor you appoint to do the conveyancing for the sale will deal with this - and get the deeds, if they need to. Just make sure you know who has them, in case they're needed.

Once title is registered with the Land Registry, the deeds are obsolete and really only for historical interest. But it does no harm to find out where they are - it might cut out a lot of issues later on.

miaxmia

Hi Clutton,
Are you absolutely sure you have the "actual deeds" to your property. When we remortgaged, the Solicitor didn't want to keep the copies of all the paperwork with plans etc. but I believe these to be copies and not the actual deeds to the property. Furthermore, my daughter has just purchased a house - there was no mention of electronic transfer of deeds with Land Registry and I believe that her mortgage lender will be holding the deeds to the house since they own most of it!