Inherited house with no deeds

dawnyblue

My dad passed away earlier this year, I’m an only child and was the Executor and sole Beneficiary of his will. I’ve had probate granted and was going to put his house on the market but deeds are needed as the house isn’t registered with the Land Registry.  There are no deeds anywhere that I can find and have been told this is going to be lengthy and costly to sort out. Has anyone been in a similar position that could advise. 

user1977

What avenues have you explored already? What's the history of your dad's ownership? Did he ever have a mortgage? 

dawnyblue

He bought it around 1972 with a mortgage, then bought my mum out around 1981. I’m not sure when the mortgage was paid off. I know he had the deeds at some point after the mortgage was paid off as I remember him showing me them. I basically don’t know where to start 

doodling

If he has had the deeds (which it appears he has from the fact you have seen them) then there are two possibilities:

1. He has put them "somewhere safe", this could be somewhere in the house or it could be with a third party (solicitor, bank, etc.).  You will need to carry out an extensive search of the house and then think through where else he could have had them stored.  Don't forget the obvious, sometimes they are "pretty" documents - are they framed and hung on a wall somewhere?
2. They have been lost, in which case there will be a way of registering the title but not quite so robustly as otherwise.

AdrianC

Have a read of these...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed/practice-guide-2-first-registration-of-title-if-deeds-are-lost-or-destroyed

https://www.landregistryservices.com/online/lost-deeds.asp

Any half-competent solicitor has been where you are a dozen times, and knows exactly what to do. Definitely get it done before marketing, because the likely delays will put many buyers off.

I'm going to assume you've been over everything in the house 93 times, with a fine tooth comb...

rose_T

dawnyblue said:

My dad passed away earlier this year, I’m an only child and was the Executor and sole Beneficiary of his will. I’ve had probate granted and was going to put his house on the market but deeds are needed as the house isn’t registered with the Land Registry.  There are no deeds anywhere that I can find and have been told this is going to be lengthy and costly to sort out. Has anyone been in a similar position that could advise. 

We are buying a house at the moment which is an executor sale in Scotland. 

The house went through confirmation ( probate in England) the executors couldn’t find the deeds and the house is not registered to the land register but it was listed on an older housing register called the sasine register. 

The sellers solicitor managed to order a copy of the deeds from the sasine register so not sure if England has a older register in place? 

We have now come across another problem. The title is showing a old standard security from TSB dated 1983, we know 100% there is no money outstanding on property. The lady who stayed there never discharged her mortgage after final payment so we believe this could be the reason the executors couldn’t fine the deeds. 

This may not be the case for yourself but if there is any paperwork showing mortgage account number etc keep a hold off just in case as our sellers don’t have any paperwork and we are now trying to get it sorted as our lender won’t lend as second ranking security. 

user1977

You mention a Will, so had he maybe stored the deeds with a solicitor who made that (or a previous Will)?

user1977

rose_T said:

dawnyblue said:

My dad passed away earlier this year, I’m an only child and was the Executor and sole Beneficiary of his will. I’ve had probate granted and was going to put his house on the market but deeds are needed as the house isn’t registered with the Land Registry.  There are no deeds anywhere that I can find and have been told this is going to be lengthy and costly to sort out. Has anyone been in a similar position that could advise. 

The sellers solicitor managed to order a copy of the deeds from the sasine register so not sure if England has a older register in place?  

No, in England if it's unregistered then it's not archived anywhere else.

dawnyblue

thank you for the helpful replies so far. I have boxed up all possessions in the house and put them in storage so they definitely aren’t there. 

rose_T I’m not sure if there’s something similar in England to the sasine register in Scotland but I’ll look into it. 

There is no old paperwork in connection with a mortgage only recent bills. I do have an idea who the mortgage was with and am waiting on a call to find out if they have the deeds in safe keeping but I’m 99.9% certain they won’t be. 

RAS

Try contacting the solicitor who wrote his will? Even if they've been taken over the Law Society can tell you who has now got their files?

If that doesn't work, some firms will put a notice round other local firms asking them to check for wills and deeds.

FreeBear

dawnyblue said: There are no deeds anywhere that I can find and have been told this is going to be lengthy and costly to sort out. Has anyone been in a similar position that could advise. 

Yup. I was in the same situation myself a few years back. The old "family" solicitor had gone out of business many, many years back. Eventually tracked down the deeds and found they were in a storage facility run by a major firm of solicitors. A helpful young lady over there sent the deeds over along with an ancient will, all free of charge.