Selling a house without the Deeds.

katipip

Father in Law has asked me to investigate how his house can be sold without the deeds which appear to be lost.

He has an "Official Copy of Register Entries" from the Land Registry with a title number which details the property address and a Proprietorship Register which details Father in Law and late Mother in Law as having "Title Absolute". It also shows the property outlined in red on a local map.

Mother in Law died 3 years ago and Father in Law is ill - he wants to know how easy it will be for the executors of his will to sell the house after his death.

He is asking this question now to enable him to sign/apply for any documentation before "it's too late".

Is the entry and title number on the Land Registry records sufficient for the executors to use or should there be more documentation?

Thanks in advance.

terryw

The short answer is yes. Deeds are really only of historic value .

TBagpuss

The office copies he has mean that the house is Registered, and as it is registered, there should be no problem at all. Registration at the Land Registry means that the physical deeds are no longer required. (they can sometimes be helpful, in relation to issues such as boundaries etc, but they are no longer the legal proof of ownership)

saabay

You will need late Mother-in-Law's death certificate to clear her off the title.

katipip

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies - I will ensure Mother in Laws death certificate is stored with the Title Deeds.

Mojisola

saabay wrote: »

You will need late Mother-in-Law's death certificate to clear her off the title.

If the house was owned as 'joint tenants', you don't need to make any change to the title now.

Both death certificates will be enough for the executors to sell the house after the second death.

saabay

Both death certificates will be enough for the executors to sell the house after the second death.[/QUOTE]




Plus the grant of probate for father in law (presuming he is deceased at that point).

Mojisola

saabay wrote: »

Both death certificates will be enough for the executors to sell the house after the second death.

Plus the grant of probate for father in law (presuming he is deceased at that point).[/QUOTE]

Of course.

What I meant was that there is no need to pay now to change the ownership into Dad's name at the LR.

saabay

DJP (Death of Joint Proprietor) application is free. There is no requirement to do it but it just makes the title a bit tidier.

DaftyDuck

The real point of all the above posts, which are correct, is ...

Tell F-I-L to stop worrying and enjoy life. Sorting out the house will be easy enough.

katipip

When in laws made their wills they also applied to "Sever the joint tenancy" which has been registered under section B of the Land Registry document "Proprietorship Register"

Do we still need to apply for a DJP??