Pay it off or not?

Maverick1

I have £16k left on my mortgage and my 3 year deal finishes in a couple of months. I am able to pay it all off and be mortgage free if i want to. I have been advised by a family member to carry on with the mortgage but reduce the amount owed to £1. They said the bank would then keep all paperwork/deeds etc for free for as long as i want them to. First of all, is this correct? Secondly, is this a good idea or should i just pay it all off? If i did pay it off, what happens to paperwork/deeds etc?

Maverick1

Come on guys. Someone must know about this. I really do need some advice.

spuunge

I have family that paid off all but about £10 of their mortgage more than 15 years ago. As you say, the mortage company keep hold of the deeds, saving you from having to store them at your expense and they also did not incur any more interest and could pay off the remainder when and if they felt like it.
Also some solicitors will retain your deeds for you at no expense, as I know my solicitor will do that for me when I eventually pay off my mortgage!

pawlala

deeds are now electronic, sourced at land registry... unless you know something different?

spuunge

apologies,
I only knew what I had been told by both family and my solicitor when I bought my current home in 2007, so then it was true but it obviously doesn't matter anymore.

tracy1_2

pawlala wrote: »

deeds are now electronic, sourced at land registry... unless you know something different?

CORRECT


pay it off - sleep at night - paid ours off last year - we did get our deeds sent, but the entries are held electronically.

adwat

That's good to know. So if you lost your title deeds it doesn't matter and you can get copies from the Land Registry? In fact does this mean that title deeds are now irrelevant?

Edit :

Just checked the all seeing great one (Google) and it says that solicitors check the land registry electronically when establishing who owns what when they're doing their conveyancing. So title deeds are in-deed (see what I did there?) an irrelevance. Mind you, it'll be nice to get it because it will mean I've finally paid off the old mortgage.

http://www.learnmoney.co.uk/mortgages/mort-09.html

Maverick1

Thanks guys. As soon as my discount penalty period finishes in a couple of months, i will pay it off completely.

pawlala

adwat wrote: »

That's good to know. So if you lost your title deeds it doesn't matter and you can get copies from the Land Registry? In fact does this mean that title deeds are now irrelevant? [/url]

good to frame, I suppose.

pammyj74

I have my deeds even though I am still paying my mortgage. I think they were kept by a previous mortgage co (our first was Northern Rock) and I think they sent them to me a couple of years ago from their storage or something. It was really interesting reading it as my house is over 100 years old and I have a bit of history about our house now and reading the old way of writing etc

snowmen

some banks/building societies let you draw back overpayments at a later date and this is why it might be a good idea to leave a nominal balance on the mortgage. If you pay it off completely you won't get the chance to access this overpayment pot if required.
as for doing it just so they keep the deeds, this is now an obsolete argument as stated above.