Vendor has lost the title deeds and the house isn't registered

Bensav

We have had an offer accepted on a house, everything from our end is sorted, mortgage offers are in, searches are back but we have just been informed by the estate agent that the vendor cant find the titles deeds (the house was his mums but she passed away) and they will have to sort with land registry as the property isn't registered. 

they bought some land at a later date and that is on land registry.

any ideas on how long this will take?

[Deleted User]

Happened to me a few years back when i was buying a place.  There wasnt any additional land and the properties next door were registered properly so recreating the title plan wouldn't have been as hard as it could have been.
Added about 6 weeks on to my purchase. 

I also had it happen to a client and that had a parcel of land that was wrongly fenced so it wasnt in their garden when it should have been.  Become a boundary dispute with a neighbour.  Also it turned out that the septic tank sat on the boundary line.   Sorting all that out took best part of a year.    

The

Bensav

The properties next door look to be registered and so is the land they bought

would that help speed up the process?

I was hoping to have a quick sale as we are both no chain but its turning out to be a longer process than i thought we are currently on week 7 and this only just got mentioned last week so starting to worry abit!

FreeBear

Bensav said: We have had an offer accepted on a house, everything from our end is sorted, mortgage offers are in, searches are back but we have just been informed by the estate agent that the vendor cant find the titles deeds (the house was his mums but she passed away) and they will have to sort with land registry as the property isn't registered.

I had a similar problem a while back - Owner died, house unregistered, couldn't find the deeds. In my case, I was the executor, so really needed to locate the documents. Went through a list of local solicitors that the owner had dealings with over the years. The various firms had been taken over or merged... After some effort, I found the deeds stashed in an archive run by Eversheds, and they kindly sent the whole lot to me at no cost.

It may be worth your vendor (in his role of executor) going through the same exercise - The deeds may be with a solicitor or a building society if there had been a mortgage (hopefully not Bradford & Bingley as they had a big fire in 1998).

Bensav

FreeBear said:

Bensav said: We have had an offer accepted on a house, everything from our end is sorted, mortgage offers are in, searches are back but we have just been informed by the estate agent that the vendor cant find the titles deeds (the house was his mums but she passed away) and they will have to sort with land registry as the property isn't registered.

I had a similar problem a while back - Owner died, house unregistered, couldn't find the deeds. In my case, I was the executor, so really needed to locate the documents. Went through a list of local solicitors that the owner had dealings with over the years. The various firms had been taken over or merged... After some effort, I found the deeds stashed in an archive run by Eversheds, and they kindly sent the whole lot to me at no cost.

It may be worth your vendor (in his role of executor) going through the same exercise - The deeds may be with a solicitor or a building society if there had been a mortgage (hopefully not Bradford & Bingley as they had a big fire in 1998).

OK i will speak to the estate agent and see what they can do 

I'm just getting abit concerned that they have left it quite late to look for the deeds

If they have to go through land registry do you have an idea on how long this could take?

akwexavante

You could also visit your local archives and dig out all the registered deeds/conveyances yourself or suggest that the current owner does.  Deeds are usually filed/indexed by year then surname.  So if you know  "Mums" Surname and the approx year the property was bought the conveyance/deed/title will be retrieved.   Same applies to all deeds/conveyances etc going back.  Year then Surname, buyer / seller etc.

Indexes usually cover a number of years, for example 1930 to 1960, look up the surname and you may find just one or several entries for the address being searched for.  Each entry will have a reference number, give the ref number to a member of staff and ask to see the deed.

The deed will have the previous sellers Surname and a date that that person bought the property, you can then go backwards very quickly, as far back as the 1780's, beyond this it can get tricky, what's your latin Like!!!!!!!

Set aside a day, pack lunch, notebook, pencil (pens, biro's, markers not allowed).  You'll need ID such as a photo drivers licence, valid passport and a very recent utility bill with you.  In just 1/2hr you'll have what you need but plan to stay all day and recover as many titles/deeds/conveyances as you and time allows.

Ask for the documents(s) to be photocopied, they usually discount if you want several doing.  If you want a Legal "Official" copy, these usually take a few days to do and cost upwards of £30ea.  A STD photocopy will be roughly £7ea, less if you want several copied.  At the very least write down the document reff no's and write down a brief description of what the document has to offer in the way of meaningful info and pass it on to your solicitor who will if required obtain copies on your behalf.  The solicitor will charge more than the record office will.