seller lost the deeds!

be96erj

I have just been informed that the seller of the house I want to buy does not have the deeds to his house. He, along with his 2 other siblings inherited the house from their father. However I am informed that the deeds to the house have been lost. They are offering some sort of insurance to avoid someone coming along and saying they are the owners! Also, reading previous posts it would appear I would not be able to apply for proper deeds until after 12 years.

I have a few questions:

1. Would you buy such a house?
2. How much less is a house worth without the proper deeds?
3. Would my mortgage company, HSBC, still lend me the money on the property (I know I should ask them), but they are closed at the moment!

Thanks

Guest101

Most deeds are computerised, if they inherited it, then this should probably be the case now.

Just check land registry to see who is listed

G_M

From what the OP says I suspect the property may not have been put in the sellers' names (and registered) when they inherited. If their parents ownership pre-dated registration, the Land Reg would have no computerised record.

I may be wrong, of course, but the sellers, and/or their solicitors, would hardly raise this issue if the property was registered.

Fishingtime

You do not need the deeds at all

G_M

Fishingtime wrote: »

You do not need the deeds at all.....

...providing the property is registered with the Land Registration!

benson1980

The deeds can be reconstructed- then you can get insurance to protect against someone turning up at your door to claim the house is theirs, which I don't think it very expensive.

I was under the impression that you wouldn't even be able to buy the house without the deeds and it not being on the land registry so you would have no choice about it.

G_M

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-2

be96erj

thanks for the replies, but can anyone tell me what price reduction you would suggest under these circumstances?

Dimey

You don't need to offer less money and why would you want any form of risk.

You just need to get the vendors to pay for the Land Registry to re-construct the lost deeds including any surveyor fees. Then you have a Land Registry entry for the property which is all you and your Solicitor will need to proceed with the sale.

suelizab

deeds are computerised . when buying a house the new buyer receives a copy of the house deeds from their solicitor . No reason for a price reduction .

Dimey

suelizab wrote: »

deeds are computerised . when buying a house the new buyer receives a copy of the house deeds from their solicitor . No reason for a price reduction .

It appears these deeds were not registered with the Land Registry so not yet computerised. Vendor needs to get the old lost deeds re-constructed with the Land Registry first. Then they can be computerised at the Land Registry and OP & Vendor can then proceed normally with the sale.

Instructions here as mentioned by previous poster- G_M :- http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides/practice-guide-2