Where to keep Title Deeds?

IamRoy

Where would you suggest is the best place to keep home title deeds?

I suppose options include;
a) pay conveyancing solicitor an annual fee to retain them.
b) keep them at home (though presumably this is potentially risky)

Are there any other possible options, or do you have any comments on the options above?

Tixy

Assuming the property is registered at the land registry then the deeds are more an item of interest rather than a hugely valuable document, so keeping them at home probably isn't a risk.

kingstreet

Double post;-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5168770

TBagpuss

have you checked what the conveyancing solicitors will charge?

As Tixy says, if the property is registered then the deeds are more of academic interest than financial.

Personally I would be inclined to back them up by taking good quality scans or photos and back them up, then keep the originals at home.

If the property is not registered then I would take copies to keep at home, and arrange to store the original with my solicitor. Any fee is likely to be small.

happypuppy

How do I find out whether the property is registered?
can that be done online?

Annie1960

Solicitors do not usually charge a fee for this. They store them free in the hope that you will use their services when the time comes for you to sell.

As others have said, the paper title deeds are no longer relevant anyway because, as long as the property is registered with the Land Registry, the solicitor will need to apply for the electronic ones when they begin the conveyancing. Any charges etc are no longer registered on the paper deeds, so they are obliged to check the electronic version.

Tixy

happypuppy wrote: »

How do I find out whether the property is registered?
can that be done online?

Yes at the land registry website.

antrobus

happypuppy wrote: »

How do I find out whether the property is registered?
can that be done online?

See: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Just click the button. It costs £3 or so to actually get a copy.

If it's not registered, you can always do so voluntarily. Yes, it costs. But then you don't have to worry about those darned bits of paper anymore.

https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry/register-for-the-first-time

G_M

Assuming you have just bought the property, it will be registered.

If you are asking because you have owned the property for many (30?) years, just paid off the mortgage and received the deeds from your lender, it may or may not be registered.

I keep my documents at home in a fireproof safe.

Richard_Webster

It isn't the old "deeds" that can be important - because if the title is registered this is all held at the Land Registry.

What people tend to lose are planning permissions, s106 agreements, and consents from covenant holders for extensions etc. People keep damp proofing guarantees but forget the details of the work done to provide the guarantee and without that these guarantees are useless.

If the property is leasehold there will be the original lease and that definitely should not be lost! Bitter experience shows that Land Registry copies of leases are sometimes incomplete or don't exist- blame the outsourced scanning company that was supposed to scan in these and missed out pages/plans etc.

Land_Registry

As others have mentioned, do you need to keep them safe and if so where do you think is safest?

If registered then we hold the details electronically so the original deeds would not be required should you wish to sell/mortgage.

If unregistered then it might be 'safer' to register instead

And where is safe? - whether you keep them in a bank, solicitor's office, at home or anywhere else there is always potential for loss/destruction/theft so that is always a personal choice. In my experience people have used a wide variety of the options mentioned but none offer 100% guarantee of being kept safe. So it really is an issue of whether you need to keep them safe first rather than how to do so.

You can check online to see if there is any information available - see our online guidance

You can also check to see when your area became subject to compulsory registration by checking section 7 of our online guide on first registration - if you bought the property after the date listed then the property should be registered