Holding the house deeds

McThingy

I've just found out that my 79 year old mother is paying her bank, Nationwide, £30 PER MONTH, for them to hold her deeds and they've done this since her mortgage was paid. It seems an awful lot to me. I'd welcome any advice

triggerhappy_2

Can't help you with your exact problem but I took out a mortgage with Nationwide in April and they point blank refused to hold my deeds, stating that they no longer do this for customers. I've also read elsewhere on this site that Nationwide customers have had their previously held deeds posted back to them with no warning, so I wonder how she might have come to this arrangement in the first place?

chriskross

triggerhappy wrote: »

Can't help you with your exact problem but I took out a mortgage with Nationwide in April and they point blank refused to hold my deeds, stating that they no longer do this for customers. I've also read elsewhere on this site that Nationwide customers have had their previously held deeds posted back to them with no warning, so I wonder how she might have come to this arrangement in the first place?

My BS (not Nationwide for my mortgage) sent my deeds back to me out of the blue a couple of years back. So it means i didn't have to think twice about maintaining a small debt when I was able to redeem the mortgage recently.

catieeb06

Deeds were de-materialised in October 2003 therefore they're no longer required to be taken in by the Bank/BS.

You may find that you want a solicitor to take in the Deeds if your mother no longer wishes to pay Nationwide or want to take care of them herself.

Most solicitors do charge a fee though but it's usually only between £30 and £100 a year.

Thanks

KarenBB

OH took his mortgage with N'wide over 10 years ago and has been overpaying to get it paid off early. We have been told that the account can be kept open on a small balance £1 and they will keep hold of the deeds without any charge. When he wants to close the acct and have the deeds just contact them. He did use to have house insurance as well as a mortgage with N'wide and there was only one DD eg £500 mortgage, £25 home insurance = one DD £525. In this case iof the mortgage was brought down to a balance of £1 we'd still have to pay £25 a month but that would be home insurance. I'm wondering if it might be something like this in your mum's case. It could look like she paying to hold the deeds but it might be insurance. The statements they send at the end of the year shows if you're paying for house insurance.

Mojisola

McThingy wrote: »

I've just found out that my 79 year old mother is paying her bank, Nationwide, £30 PER MONTH, for them to hold her deeds and they've done this since her mortgage was paid. It seems an awful lot to me. I'd welcome any advice

That's outrageous!

If the house has been registered with the Land Registry, the deeds can be kept at home as they're just historical documents. If it isn't registered, help you Mum to do it. If it isn't done now, it will have to be done when she dies which will be a bad time for you to cope with it.

WestonDave

Woah - deeds have been dematerialised but only for registered properties - if the property was purchased before compulsory registration came in in 2003 then they may still be valuable. You can check online for a couple of quid whether the property is registered on the HMLR website. If its not registered then I think HMLR were offering a discount for voluntary registration whilst there are fewer transactions going on. Get a quote from a solicitor to do the legal side - shouldn't cost very much if all the paperwork is in order although there is a registration fee to pay - once that is done you can just keep the documents at home or if they are of historical interest see if the local archive wants them.

barak

Mojisola wrote: »

That's outrageous!

If the house has been registered with the Land Registry, the deeds can be kept at home as they're just historical documents. If it isn't registered, help you Mum to do it. If it isn't done now, it will have to be done when she dies which will be a bad time for you to cope with it.

Agreed! If you phone the Land Registry on 0208 781 9103 and ask them nicely they will confirm whether or not the property is registered, and if not - how to register it voluntarily - which costs less than waiting until you are compelled to, for instance, if the property is sold. I phoned them myself the other day.

If it's not registered you shouldn't need a solicitor to register, but would need to send any documents by Special Delivery as they may be the only evidence of ownership and so are valuable.

As Mojisola says, if or when the property is registered, evidence of ownership is held by the Land Registry and the original documents - most of which may be returned to you - will be worth keeping, but will then be only of historical interest.

jonesMUFCforever

Either there has been a genuine mistake or OP is certainly paying for something else other than deed storage eg home insurance.

triggerhappy_2

Anyone know what the case for this is in Scotland? I'm currently holding my deeds at home and am pretty sure I don't need to store them securely but would be good to know. Obv my solicitor wouldn't ne much help as they wanted £100 a year to look after them to would tell me they had to be. It's a house bought in April 10 and built in October 07.