What to do with deeds

jennynoo

Hello

I bought a flat last year and my solicitor has told me that my mortgage provider (Nationwide) won't look after my deeds for me. They are currently sitting on my kitchen table. My solicitor said I should put them in my bank. Does anyone know how to do this or have any other advice?

Thanks in advance

flossy_h

I work for a bank and you can keep them in your banks safe custody. They do charge yearly for this service although im not sure how much, and also it depends on if there is any space left in the holding room.

wobbley

Deeds are not as important as they used to be thanks to the Land Registry. The days when whoever possessed the deeds could claim title to a property are long gone. If the worst happened and the deeds were lost/destroyed you can still prove title by the fact that the property is registered to you.
They are still VERY important though. Anything such as boundary or fence disputes could well rely on information in the deeds. Easements and covenants 'should' have been recorded with the LR but this is not always the case and it's better to have the 'original' deeds should any problems arise.
I don't see anything wrong in keeping the deeds in the same 'drawer' as things like insurance policies and birth/marriage certificates.
I'm sure if you looked into the cost of getting the bank/building society to hold them securely (oh yeah!) for a few years, you would find that it would have been cheaper to buy a small fireproof safe yourself.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Hi

I used to work for a mortgage lender and we always advised customers to NEVER keep their deeds at home. I agree it may not be as much of a problem now that Land Registry are using electronic records more and more, but I still don't like the idea of keeping them at home.

My parents' deeds are stored for free by our solicitor, who also holds wills etc. I would suggest you try some local solicitors and banks, as quite often they will offer this service for free.

jennyuk

i work in a solicitors and most clients choose for us to keep their pre-registration deeds and documents. we dont charge for this service. check with your solcitior to see if they offer same service.

jennynoo

Thanks everyone for the advice, my solicitor never offered to store my deeds and I got the impression that he wouldnt store them for me. I dont know any other solicitors and I am reluctant to try any in London!

I think I will find out from my bank how much they charge and if it sounds too much then I may invest in a safe. After all, as Wobbley says, I do have my birth certificate, etc. in a cardboard box in my flat!