Locating title no.of a property to correctly complete Land Reg DJP form

Mellow_gogo

Hi all,

My Dad died just over a year ago, and I'm aware that we still need to amend the house deeds to reflect my Mum as the now sole owner.  We apparently need to supply the Land Registry with a completed DJP form along with a copy of the death certificate.  On the DJP form I need to provide the title number of the property, which is apparently on the house deeds.  The deeds are currently held with Halifax and a nominal annual fee is paid for their storage.  

What would be the easiest way to get the title number?  I know there is an option on the Land Registry website to effectively purchase property data - but do I need to do this or can I request the info from Halifax?  Also, my parents purchased the house over 50 years ago -  would my parents have been supplied with a paper copy of the deeds at the time of purchase, where I could get the necesary info from - presuming I could find them!!  

Thanks in advance.

kipsterno1

You can seach here

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

poppystar

To be honest it will be much easier to pay the small amount to get the information than try to track down paper deeds from Halifax. 

Bear in mind they are probably in some hard to access secure storage somewhere.

Most unlikely anyone would have been given a paper copy of the originals.

Is any mortgage paid off? If so, then did Halifax not return the deeds then? I’m amazed they are charging for storage but maybe that is because it is your parents choice to keep them there beyond the mortgage term. 

p00hsticks

Mellow_gogo said:

 On the DJP form I need to provide the title number of the property, which is apparently on the house deeds.  The deeds are currently held with Halifax and a nominal annual fee is paid for their storage.  

If the property has previosuly been registered with the Land Registry then there is no need for the house deeds to prove ownership - they are mainly for historic interest. I don't believe that the title deeds themselves would have a title number - my understanding is that that's something that is allocated when the property is first registered with the Land Registry. However  there may be a copy of the Land Registration title held with them.

As kipsterno1 says, it will be easiest/quickest just to search by address on the Land Registry site.

I think you'll have to pay £3 for a copy of the title to get the title number (make sure you use the offical gov.uk site kipsterno1 linked to above as there are ones that will charge over the odds to get the info for you). But I susepct Halifax may charge more to retrieve the documents for you, and you may find they don't actually include the title number anyhow.

If the property doesn;t show up on the Land Registry site it means it;s never been registered with them. If it's not changed hands in 50 years this may well be the case, although I found with my parents house that it seems to have happened at the point at whcih the mortgage was paid off. If it isn;t registered then you'll need the house deeds to prove ownership, and it's worthwhile starting the process of getting it registered to avoid any potential delays in the future if/when you need to sell.

Mellow_gogo

Thanks all.  I'll pay the £3 and go from there. 

Thanks p00hsticks for pointing out the potential need to get the house deeds to prove owenership if it's not registered with the LR.   This may be another task to add to the list!

Mellow_gogo

Ah, just checked via the link above.  "No information held" for my Mum's property.

I guess this means next stop Halifax to obtain the deeds in order to get it registered.

p00hsticks

Mellow_gogo said:

Ah, just checked via the link above.  "No information held" for my Mum's property.

I guess this means next stop Halifax to obtain the deeds in order to get it registered.

Yes, I'm afraid so.

At least you've realised it now and know where the deeds are, which puts you in a better position than some, who only realise when trying to sell it that it's not registered and they can't locate the deeds.

It's best to get it sorted now just in case the LR have any queries 

Land_Registry

if if it’s unregistered then there’s no title to update and form DJP isn’t needed. 

Your Mum may wish to consider voluntarily registering it for the first time 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registrations

Mellow_gogo

Thanks for the link. 

Yes I think that’s what we’ll do,  to hopefully help keep things as simple as possible in the future. 

NeverTooLate

Land_Registry said:

if if it’s unregistered then there’s no title to update and form DJP isn’t needed. 

Your Mum may wish to consider voluntarily registering it for the first time 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registrations

Just to say that's what we're doing at the moment for my Dad's house, I sent in the forms in November 2021 and have still heard nothing - LR are quoting 16 months for non-expedited first registrations at the moment.

Land_Registry

NeverTooLate said:

Land_Registry said:

if if it’s unregistered then there’s no title to update and form DJP isn’t needed. 

Your Mum may wish to consider voluntarily registering it for the first time 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registrations

Just to say that's what we're doing at the moment for my Dad's house, I sent in the forms in November 2021 and have still heard nothing - LR are quoting 16 months for non-expedited first registrations at the moment.

Understood and wait times are lengthy. If an urgency arises then a request to expedite can be submitted to reduce the remaining wait time