safety deposit box - is it free???

harpo1

Hi this might seem like a mad question - but some of you banking bods might know the answer. About 20 years ago I inherited a safety deposit box & envelope from my my mother, probably opened in the 1950s. The envelope has the deeds to her house in it & the box has some sentimental jewellery & things. I was the executor of her will at the time. I checked all was as it should be & had apart from adding some bits & pieces of my own -I have left things as they were.
The envelope & box were transferred into my name. I have never been contacted by the bank or been charged in anyway. They have my current address. Am I likely to be hit with a large bill for 20 years of safekeeping. I'm frightened to bring their attention to it, but at the same time I need to know. i'm not a customer with this bank,
Please help:o

nilrem_2

harpo1 wrote: »

Am I likely to be hit with a large bill for 20 years of safekeeping. I'm frightened to bring their attention to it, but at the same time I need to know. i'm not a customer with this bank,
Please help:o

Well until recently I had a large brown packet containing my deeds and will stored at my bank for which they charged me £5.87 per year to keep in their vaults, a couple of years ago they wrote to me to say that the charge was going up to over £20 per year so I withdrew the package, so I would be surprised if they looked after your box for nowt! Banks don't usually do anything without a large charge being involved!

baby_boomer

It can be dependent on you having an account with the bank in question. HSBC let my father have a deposit box in return for his current account business.

If you haven't got an account then I suspect there will be charges.

The banks are keen to reduce the deposit facilities (for security / insurance reasons?)

For instance my mother-in-law was forced to empty her box from Lloyds (because they were merging branches) & my father had to move his box from Barclays to HSBC even though he had banked with Barclays for life and at a major city branch.

Who's it currently with?

angeltoad

My parents get charged £18 per year by HSBC for the safety deposit box. It does rise periodically it seems. Their computer system does log what is in the box - they do want to know, despite a lot of people saying that they don't. It can however be a simple description such as "a sealed envelope". Maybe it depends how big the item is ho9 wmuch they want to knw about it?
I was told by someone that you can now store house deeds for free by certain banks - this would free up some of the boxes which are allegedly in short supply if the contents are small and do not fill them. I can't remember which banks do this though - anyone know?
If your house is registerd o nthe land recgistry database it is less important to have the deeds than if they are the only proof of ownership.
Private deposit boxes are expensive.
You might be interested in this report too - http://www.moneyweek.com/file/49136/crackdown-on-the-perfect-homes-for-swag.html

chris1

baby_boomer wrote: »

It can be dependent on you having an account with the bank in question. HSBC let my father have a deposit box in return for his current account business.

That must have been a locally negotiated favour - my mother has to pay £30 for her envelope.

chris1

angeltoad wrote: »

Their computer system does log what is in the box - they do want to know, despite a lot of people saying that they don't. It can however be a simple description such as "a sealed envelope".

Not true in my mother's case - they opened the sealed envelope (without permission!) It clearly said on the front that it was her will - but they opened it anyway, and presumably noted what it said. Not very happy about that...

DiggerUK

harpo1 wrote: »

....... About 20 years ago I inherited a safety deposit box .....

There is a difference between a safety deposit box, and a deed box held by the bank. Safety boxes are provided by the bank, and deed boxes by the customer for putting in the vault. Best to check what you have.
At worst, a deed box is about fifty pound a year, and ten pounds per access. I'd get in touch with them.

You don't need to hang on to house deeds anyway, it is all kept on file by the Land Registry these days.
..._

Lokolo

This thread is super old.

DiggerUK

Lokolo wrote: »

This thread is super old.

I'm a lot older.

Jake'sGran

The deeds to the house and two wills have been kept by my solicitor.
There was no mention of a charge. Reading this thread has made me realise that I will not know if my daughter gets a request for payment but I doubt it. I like my solicitor very much and doubt there will be any request for payment unless she asks for a Will Aid contribution for the very first one I did and cancelled later. The later wills were paid for.