Downloading deeds

FaceHead

Can someone tell me in idiots terms how to get hold of the deeds for my house. I don't think I saw them through my solicitor when buying (I definitely did see the title register and title plan). If nothing else I'd like simply to take a look at a copy out of curiosity, but who knows what interesting things will be in there. 

People on this forum often talk about downloading deeds. As far as I can see, I need to fill in OC2 and put it in the post with a cheque, which might be for £7, unless the deeds are more than one document. 

Does LR even have a copy of my deeds? On the Title register extract it says "1 (xx.xx.1961) The Freehold land shown edged in red on the plan of the above Title filed at the Registry and being <address (postcode)>. " So the the title being 'filed', means LR have a copy of the deeds for me to request? 

I feel like I am missing a trick, as others seem to make it sound as simple as paying the £3 for a title register and getting an instant download. 

Thanks,

p00hsticks

I don't believe the land registry keeps the deeds - in fact, as the title and plan are on there, the deeds might no longer even exist.

Before the electronic versino of the LR the deeds were the way to indicate ownership of the property - if it was mortgaged the mortgage company kept them until the mortgage was redeemed - people often kept a small amount outstanding on the mortgage specifically so that the building society would retain the deeds safely in their vaults.

Any property that has changed hands or had a charge removed in the last few decades wil lhave seen it added to the LR as part of that process, and once that happened the deeds were considered superflous - I seem to have read that many building societys simply destroyed them at that point ,although individual owners may have retained them for historical interest.

JGB1955

We have our (physical) deeds but, having been mortgage free for the past 20+ years suspect that all the LR have is an electronic record.

FaceHead

JGB1955 said:

We have our (physical) deeds but, having been mortgage free for the past 20+ years suspect that all the LR have is an electronic record.

By an electronic record, do you mean the tile register & plan, or an electronic copy of the deeds?

It sounds likely that the physical deeds will have been destroyed at some stage, but I'm more interest in the information in there.

Assuming the deeds were destroyed by a building society at some point, would they have have been digitised and sent to the LR? If so, how do I get a copy? 

Slithery

FaceHead said:

Assuming the deeds were destroyed by a building society at some point, would they have have been digitised and sent to the LR? 

There is a possibility, but usually not.

TBG01

The register is your deeds. 

Yes the Land Registry might hold some historical title documents, but with all due respect they'll be nothing but gibberish to you.

If you still want to see them, by all means go ahead and download them, but you'll have to pay £3 for each document.

GDB2222

TBG01 said:

The register is your deeds. 

Yes the Land Registry might hold some historical title documents, but with all due respect they'll be nothing but gibberish to you.

If you still want to see them, by all means go ahead and download them, but you'll have to pay £3 for each document.

This is the point. The deeds have no significance, once the property is registered. The deeds have ceased to be documents of title.

Sure, you can have them to look at. You can paper the walls with them, as they have no value.

canaldumidi

Not strictly true.

The Land Registry holds the electronic Title and Plan (often called the 'deeds') which can be downloaded online for £3 each here. This will tell you the owner, whether there are charges (eg mortgage), and brief details of any restrictions, rights, liabilities etc associated with the property.

Those rights, liabilities etc however may well be documented in a separate document, often an earlier Conveyance, or a 'Deed' (different meaning to above) which created said rights etc. These document(s) (if any)  are also often described as being part of the generic deeds of the property.

The Land Registry often, but not always, has copies of these additional documents. If they do, they are usually reference in the Title document you've downloaded for £3, with the comment 'copy filed'. If that is the case, you are quite right that you can apply for the additional document by post using OC2 and £7 here.

Then there are other documents which form part of the historic deeds but which usually have no ongoing legal value, eg a copy of each contract/conveyance going back in time. In the case of my property for example, I have 100 years worth of these and yes, they are interesting but no longer of legal impirtance. I also have a 120 year old document granting me the right to water from the local farm - again meaningless as the property is now on the mains supply, but none-the-less interesting.

GDB2222

I don’t know how common it is for the LR title to refer to documents but not have a copy filled? I’ve never come across this. 

Mojisola

When we registered our house, we asked for the paper deeds to be returned to us. 
If we hadn't, they would have been destroyed by the LR as they are no longer necessary to prove ownership.
We think they are of historical interest and will pass them on to the next owners (although they may not be bothered and the deeds may be destroyed then).