Title Deeds

WZD52

Having paid off a mortgage in 2001, I decided at the time to keep the Title Deeds in the in the Deed store of the building society
and asked for a copy of the deeds. I noticed they were still in
the name of the previous owner, but thought it would be changed
at a later date.

This week, I've looked my property up on the Land Registry site
and noticed the ownership details have never been changed.

How do I go about getting them changed. ?

Should I just ask the building society to send me my deeds ?

I would like to put my life in order just in case anything happens to me, and so my wife doesn't get all the hassle.

timmyt

your post is confused.

why would your deeds be in the name of your seller?

what you porbably mean is that your mortgage does not show as repaid and is still on the deeds?

please clarify

G_M

I noticed they were still in the name of the previous owner,

How long ago did you buy the property? You've lived there 25 years (mortgage paid off) and never had the property in your name?

Or is it even longer? Perhaps back in the days before Land Registry registration was compulsory?

Did you use a solicitor when you bought? He should have registered the property in your name within weeks (usually days) of your purchase. Sounds like he forgot..........

Or do you mean, as Timmy suggests, that the mortgage lender's charge on the property has not been removed? (this is not the same as ownership). If so, you need to chase the bank to remove the charge since you've paid off the mortgage.

zzzLazyDaisy

G_M wrote: »

Did you use a solicitor when you bought? He should have registered the property in your name within weeks (usually days) of your purchase. Sounds like he forgot..........

And he also forgot to register the lender's charge over the property, since the two are done at the same time, and if the change of ownership was not registered, the land registry would be unable to register the charge because the loan would be to someone other than the person named on the title deeds.

And the lender also didn't notice the error.

And even when the application was made to the land registry to have the lender's charge removed when the mortgage was repaid, the land registry didn't notice that the name of the person applying to have the charge removed was not in fact the same as the name on the title register, nor did anyone notice at that stage that the original mortgage had never in fact been registered.

Sorry, but I think this is a wind up - apologies if I'm wrong.

WZD52

This NOT a wind up.

When I bought this house in 1982, it was with a mortage from the Property Owners building society, they were in turn taken over by the Woolwich. In 2001, I decided to pay off the mortgage in full, so popped into the local Woolwwich branch and handed them a cheque. Whilst in the Woolwich, I was asked did I want my
Deeds sending to me, or would I like them to store them for an annual fee of £15. I said "I would like them to keep them safe and would pay the £15". I also asked for them to send me a copy of the deeds they were storing for me. When they arrived I noticed my name wasn't on them.

Call me nieve, but I thought the name would be changed by the building society because I had paid the mortgage off in full.

Now the Woolwich has been taken over by Barclay's.

The solictor who originally delt with the sale is no longer in business in the town as I think he may have retired.

Please help, this is the only house I've ever bought and I'm getting worried about this, what SHOULD I do to resolve this matter and safegaurd my wife's entitlement to the property after my death.

zzzLazyDaisy

You would have to make an application to the land registry for rectification of title, which means producing as much evidence of the original purchase as possible, and swearing an affidavit.

You will need to see a solicitor.

Richard_Webster

We still haven't really got to the bottom of this. Firstly in what local authority area is the property?

Secondly have you established that there is registered title for the property?

Never mind about any copies sent you by Barclays/Woolwich, when you got a copy from the Land Registry did it still show Barclays or Woolwich as the proprietor of a charge over the property - as usually two items - the first one saying something like "Charge dated dd/mm/yyyy and registered on dd/mm/yyyy" and then underneath another numbered entry with Barclays/Woolwich details and address?

If Barclays have kept the deeds in their "Deeds Store" then their mortgage will still show because you will have paid off everything bar maybe the last £1. That's quite normal and not a problem. You can pay them the £1 or whatever and get the "deeds" whenever you want.


Above the Charges Register there should be a Proprietorship Register and that should show your name as registered proprietor. If it doesn't there is a serious problem. I would make sure that you have the right set of entries. For instance, if your house is leasehold and your area wasn't an area of compulsory registration in 1982 it may be that only the freehold title is registered, which belongs to someone else.

Nosht

I bought a property 2 years ago & my solicitor told me that Title Deeds were no longer necessary.

N.

SmlSave

I bought a property 2 years ago & my solicitor told me that Title Deeds were no longer necessary

I think your solicitor either explained it badly to you or you've misunderstood. You cannot sell a house without Title Deeds. Many are now stored electronically at the Land Registry but you still need them!

Johnhowell

WZD52 wrote: »

This NOT a wind up.

When I bought this house in 1982, it was with a mortage from the Property Owners building society, they were in turn taken over by the Woolwich. In 2001, I decided to pay off the mortgage in full, so popped into the local Woolwwich branch and handed them a cheque. Whilst in the Woolwich, I was asked did I want my
Deeds sending to me, or would I like them to store them for an annual fee of £15. I said "I would like them to keep them safe and would pay the £15". I also asked for them to send me a copy of the deeds they were storing for me. When they arrived I noticed my name wasn't on them.

Call me nieve, but I thought the name would be changed by the building society because I had paid the mortgage off in full.

Now the Woolwich has been taken over by Barclay's.

The solictor who originally delt with the sale is no longer in business in the town as I think he may have retired.

Please help, this is the only house I've ever bought and I'm getting worried about this, what SHOULD I do to resolve this matter and safegaurd my wife's entitlement to the property after my death.

Title Deed and Mortgage are two separate items.
Your Title Deeds must be changed to your name when you purchase the property. Your solicitor at that time would do this - NOT the mortgage company. As a condition of receiving the mortgage, the deeds are usually deposited with the lender.

Your recourse would have been with your original solicitor - not the mortgage company. Once your mortgage is paid off, the "regisitered charge" on your property should be removed, usually the mortgage company do this as part of the admin fees for closing the mortgage account. I suggest you find a new local solicitor experienced in conveyancing and discuss the situation - it should not cost too much to vary the Title records. There may be some industry insurance cover for poor performing solicitors?

It is sad to say that people think they do not need Title Deeds "as they are electronic now-a-days". The copy of titles from Land Registry can omit some important information that original deeds contain.

Good luck,
John

zzzLazyDaisy

SmlSave wrote: »

I think your solicitor either explained it badly to you or you've misunderstood. You cannot sell a house without Title Deeds. Many are now stored electronically at the Land Registry but you still need them!

You are both right.

The term 'title deeds' historically refers to the papers that verified the owner of unregistered land. So before there was such a thing as the Land Registry, the full pack of papers for every conveyance from the first owner had to be kept safe, and passed on to the next owner. You can imagine the problems when these papers got lost/stolen/destroyed by fire etc!

Nowadays all house sales/purchases are recorded at the land registry, and it is the proprietorship register that records who has title to the property. There is also a charges register and a plan. Copies of those documents can be obtained easily from the land registry, so the old title documents are no longer needed.

But, confusingly, the term 'title deeds' has stuck and is now often used as shorthand for the land registry documents, although the term is not strictly accurate.

The solicitor would have been referring to the old pre-registration papers.