How much to live on

Bravepants

PennyForThem_2 said:

scottish-lassy - lol we paid off mortgage ages ago and bank has the deeds for which we are not 'charged' 0.50p per year.  Really should check that they have actully got them.

HUGE relief when husband made redundant and got a lump sum to pay off mortgage.  We could put that money to other things such as paying into SIPP.  As my OH has now died I am a massive beneficary with no financial worries around my home.

Is there still a need for paper deeds? I registered my house electronically with the Land Registry and I thought that paper deeds are now obsolete. Again, one less thing to worry about.

blue.peter

Bravepants said:

Is there still a need for paper deeds?

Is this something that depends on the age of your house? Mine is only 20 years old (and I bought it in 2010), but my solicitor sent mine to me. It had never occurred to me that they were no longer necessary. Having said that, I can imagine that electronic registration that would be brought in starting with newer houses, and then working through the "back catalogue".

intgomo

blue.peter said:

Is this something that depends on the age of your house? Mine is only 20 years old (and I bought it in 2010), but my solicitor sent mine to me. It had never occurred to me that they were no longer necessary. Having said that, I can imagine that electronic registration that would be brought in starting with newer houses, and then working through the "back catalogue".

We paid our mortgage off last year and everything was handled electronically - no letters or paper copies of the deeds.  This was for a house built in the 1930s.  The situation may be different in Scotland as we have our own registrar (Registers of Scotland) and I know that they have been investing quite a lot on improving their digital services over the past 5 years or so.

I suspect one has the option of paper or electronic deeds, with a supplement for the former.

MovingForwards

blue.peter said:

Bravepants said:

Is there still a need for paper deeds?

Is this something that depends on the age of your house? Mine is only 20 years old (and I bought it in 2010), but my solicitor sent mine to me. It had never occurred to me that they were no longer necessary. Having said that, I can imagine that electronic registration that would be brought in starting with newer houses, and then working through the "back catalogue".

No, it depends on whether the purchase / transfer was done after compulsory registration came in, possibly the 80s. Property built after that was automatically registered.

There's still lots of unregistered land / property as it's down to the owner if they want to register it. Compulsory registration comes in when the land / property is sold / transferred.

It's worth keeping paper deeds as sometimes the land registry doesn't have important bits eg a lease or details of a separate covenant / restriction and that's why indemnity insurance is recommended by the solicitor.

RetSol

getting to a position where you are making money in spare time rather than spending helps a lot.

Absolutely love this, @hugheskevi!

I have a small business which I enjoy but I had never thought about it in these terms.  My business provides a creative outlet for energy which I might otherwise be spending on, eg costly home improvement projects!

Win, win! 

jennystarpepper

I'm another one for paying off the mortgage.  I'm hoping 4 years max, this time next year if all goes well it should be in the 40 something K range.  It is our only debt so if anything should happen to Mr Pepper or I (we have insurance) it would make life easier. I keep telling Mr Pepper aim is to me MF by the time he is 55 so about 58 months to go.

Pension gets increased when a pay rise is given, so we are mindful of this, it's just the psychological boost that is pushing me on, knowing that I won't have to pay anymore intrest or having £675 leaving our account each month.   I feel for those who pay 3 or 4 times this amount.  

[Deleted User]

I recently removed 3 posts regarding my income and expenditure because on reflection I felt a bit over exposed! Silly I know!
Anyway after a little editing I will be reposting one of them, as it maybe useful to others with a similar planned or actual pension/part-time income. 

Best wishes.

[Deleted User]

I paid off my mortgage nearly 6 years ago, using part of my tax free lump sum from my pension. Best thing I ever did in terms of peace of mind. Furthermore, with the house value increasing about 40% price over that time the money spent has probably made more than if it had stayed in various accounts. 

[Deleted User]

I do not believe there is a need to have paper deeds for your house. I checked that my house is registered with HM Land Registry and shows the correct ownership. When you pay off your mortgage the name is the lender is removed from the digital paperwork. 

SuperSecretSquirrel

[Deleted User] said:

I paid off my mortgage nearly 6 years ago, using part of my tax free lump sum from my pension. Best thing I ever did in terms of peace of mind. Furthermore, with the house value increasing about 40% price over that time the money spent has probably made more than if it had stayed in various accounts. 

I think this may have been slightly tongue in cheek, but for the benefit of other readers I felt I had to post something...

The value of your home increasing has no relevance when making the "pay off your mortgage" decision.

If you had not paid off the mortgage, the value of your home would have increased at the same rate regardless, and your total equity plus savings balance would be the same in both scenarios (near enough, allowing for my next point).

The number to beat when looking at cold hard numbers alone is the mortgage interest -  will your overpayment save you more in mortgage interest than you could otherwise earn on the overpaid sum.

Of course it's not just about cold hard numbers for many of us - paying the mortgage off early (and the peace of mind that brings) can be it's own reward!

I could have earned a lot more than my mortgage charged in interest if I had shoved my mortgage OPs into a S&S ISA (of course this is only fact in hindsight, more a very high likelihood before the event). Do I EVER regret paying off the mortgage early? Nope 😁