Splitting the Assets

Keep_pedalling

A 19 year old house will be registered as registration became compulsory in 1990 (assuming this is England or Wales, not sure about Scotland)

Broadyx

Mojisola wrote: »

No, it doesn't.

When we paid off out mortgage, we had the deeds back from the building company because the house belonged to us.

We did a voluntary first registration at the Land Registry some years later.

I have never heard of this. I was only talking from my experience, apologies.

Normally the mortgage company will remove their charge from the land registry, and if they hold the deeds return these to the owners. You should have registered the property when you bought it (the solicitors normally do this) and the mortgage company place a first charge on this property.

I think if the house was pre-1990 (which the OPs wasn't) then it didn't need to be registered, and you could do it later, but anything since 1990 had to be registered, and therefore the OP would be fine.

Mojisola

Broadyx wrote: »

I have never heard of this. I was only talking from my experience, apologies.

Normally the mortgage company will remove their charge from the land registry, and if they hold the deeds return these to the owners. You should have registered the property when you bought it (the solicitors normally do this) and the mortgage company place a first charge on this property.

Registration wasn't an option when we bought our house!

Broadyx

Mojisola wrote: »

Registration wasn't an option when we bought our house!

My message wasn't implying you had done anything wrong, I was just talking theoretically what the process was a couple of years ago when I worked in that department at the bank.

Did you buy your house before 1990?

PrettyWoman

Broadyx wrote: »

It doesn't mean your house isn't registered. It is quite common to request the deeds from the bank that held the mortgage upon redemption - since 2007 (I think) deeds were no longer held at the bank so this process wouldnt have been necessary. However the fact you were able to request them, and you have subsequently received them, means your property is registered at the Land Registry.

For peace of mind you could always do the check being suggested by many others to ensure theres no clauses or charges in your deeds that mean the SIL can have a claim on it in the future, but to be honest, all sounds above board to me.

When I worked in mortgage redemptions we often had funds coming directly from the solicitor dealing with the estate of a deceased. For a large sum of money, I would be more concerned if it was paid into his account and then immediately out again to repay the mortgage (think money laundering). The way it has been done has left a clear audit trail of the funds should any questions ever be raised in the future!

The house is registered with Land Registry, thank you for your advice 😊