Found someone else's deeds in my garage....what do I do with them??

sacha28

Ok so I'm packing up for my relocation and found some house deeds that belong to a friend's parents. I have no idea how we came to have them, my only thought is when we helped them move a few years back maybe a box of theirs ended up in our garage (?).

Anyway, I phoned my friend (they don't live near us anymore) and asked if she wanted us to post them to her address. She said her parents had split a couple of years ago and sold the house so I should just bin them :eek: Really? Is it ok to do this? They are the original deeds and, although I have absolutely no idea about buying/selling houses, I don't understand how you can sell a house without them?

So what should I do with them?

G_M

If you don't mind paying £3, go to the Land Registry and find the current owners.

Give them a ring and offer them. (ask for the £3?)

RAS

Where do you live?

In England and Wales most properties are registered centrally so the deeds are only of interest value.

Might be worth asking the current house owner if they want them out of curiosity?

cattie

Deeds are held electronically at the Land Registry now, so paper deeds have very little value or even importance.

Actually having the deeds would generally indicate that the house has been completely paid for & that there is no mortgage outstanding on it as otherwise they would be in the lenders possession.

To be honest I think if it were me I'd post them to the address that the deeds relate to as the current owners might just like them for historical interest.

TBagpuss

Once the house is registered with the land registry it is that, not the deeds, which shows ownership, so they are not needed to buy and sell. they can however be useful as they may include details about restrictive covenants etc in more details than the land registry entry, and if course, (particularly for older properties) can be interesting or beautiful in their own right.

Personally, I would probably checkthrough them to make sure that they didn't contain any more personal documents and then send them to the address of the house with an explanatory note.

sooz

You could post them, after all you have the address.

DRP

are they newish or antique?

current owners may want them if they're old/interesting - i certainly would...

sacha28

Thanks peeps, think I'll post them to the house owners.

I have never bought or sold a house so have no idea how important they were likely to be but had a friend's experience in the back of my mind where her and her husband pulled out of a sale because the deeds couldn't be found and her solicitor told her that whoever had them could turn up within the next 10 yrs and lay claim to the house!!

sacha28

And that was only last year!!

cattie

sacha28 wrote: »

And that was only last year!!

Ah, that house was probably never even registered at the Land Registry in the first place. I don't know what date it became compulsory for properties to be registered, but it is relatively recently, not something that happened in the dark ages! :rotfl:

Somebody who had bought & paid for a house before registration was needed & never sold the house til after the date registrations started would need the deeds to prove ownership as far as a solicitor was concerned. When sold, the house would then be registered.