Soon to be Mortgage Free - What to do with Deeds?

fefesaver

Having worked for a solicitors for many years, I would advise never to throw old deeds away, nor to store them at your house (in case of a fire etc when it would be theoretically possible for your house and the deeds to be destroyed in one hit). Deeds contain a whole host of information (especially old deeds) such as certificates, covenants, guarantees etc which may not be shown on the Land Registry entries as they are not required by them but may be needed by the owner in the case of a sale or a dispute. Some properties are still not registered at the Land Registry and destroying the deeds in this situation may cause tremendous problems. I know that my solicitors actually offers to store them for free indefinately and many do likewise (on the basis that if you want to sell the property, you would have to go to them to collect the deeds and they could give you a quote for the sale!) In may cases where there are disputes concerning the land that can come up years later, the deeds are the only documents that can settle these issues. Personally I would keep them safe somewhere other than you home but make sure no charge is made for this.
Hope this helps
Fe

Meeten

how about you scan them, and then e-mail them to the OH, or yourself.This way, you have a copy of the originals in cyberspace ..... then you can keep the originals in the house ...

Snaggles

We had our mortgage with the Halifax - when we moved the mortgage elsewhere, they told us they had destroyed the deeds to save us the £50 deeds release fee. I know they're not really needed any more, because our property is freehold and registered, but it was still annoying - I would have liked to have had them back if they didn't need them.