Historic deeds, any legal value?

Himoutdoors

I bought my house in 2016 and an electronic title deed was generated.  I was given a pile of deeds  from previous transactions dating back to 1929 when the house was built.  Would these historic deeds have any legal value in the event of a defective title dispute of some sort, or they of historic interest only?

Many thanks for any thoughts you have.

user1977

Probably not, but is it a problem to keep them? They can be scanned if you are short of storage space.

bouicca21

Very valuable for local and house history. If you don’t want them offer them to your local record office.

GoogleMeNow

You could check that the Land Registry have all the important documents scanned in on their portal, which would include old Transfers and Conveyances.  If some of the documents are missing and you destroy the old deeds, then there would be no record anywhere of an old document. 

Grizebeck

As long as the old deeds are filed with the LR then you dont need them.  For example we had a boundary issue with the house we are buying.  The original conveyance was logged with the LR, if it hadnt been then we would have needed the paper document to prove the correct boundary

RHemmings

GoogleMeNow said:

You could check that the Land Registry have all the important documents scanned in on their portal, which would include old Transfers and Conveyances.  If some of the documents are missing and you destroy the old deeds, then there would be no record anywhere of an old document. 

How is it possible to view old documents on the LR portal? I only know how to obtain the current title deed and plan. 

FreeBear

Himoutdoors said:

I bought my house in 2016 and an electronic title deed was generated.  I was given a pile of deeds  from previous transactions dating back to 1929 when the house was built.  Would these historic deeds have any legal value in the event of a defective title dispute of some sort, or they of historic interest only?

Many thanks for any thoughts you have.

Digital records can get corrupted or altered (as can paper records). For your (electronic) deeds, you are reliant on the Land Registry having a secure computer system and an aggressive backup policy that works - Being a government agency, one would hope that they have robust policies in place.

Whilst the paper documents have little legal value at present, they could be invaluable if the LR record becomes corrupted.

GoogleMeNow

RHemmings said:

GoogleMeNow said:

You could check that the Land Registry have all the important documents scanned in on their portal, which would include old Transfers and Conveyances.  If some of the documents are missing and you destroy the old deeds, then there would be no record anywhere of an old document. 

How is it possible to view old documents on the LR portal? I only know how to obtain the current title deed and plan. 

The current title will refer to other titles, such as a Transfer title number EX11141 dated 1.1.1948 (copy filed).  As long as it says copy filed (i.e. the Land Registry have a copy), then you can request a copy by completing form OC2 and paying the LR fee.

propertyrental

The old deeds may specify rights and obligations rat are still relevant.

If they (the old deeds specifying those rights) are also held electronically by the LR (the LR Title will refer to them and say something like 'copy filed) then the original paper deeds are not (legally) needed.

If the LR does not have copies, then the paper copies would be the only source of information regarding those rights/obligations.

Dustyevsky

propertyrental said:

The old deeds may specify rights and obligations which are still relevant.

If the LR does not have copies, then the paper copies would be the only source of information regarding those rights/obligations.

Indeed. Without going into details, people who have become adversaries of ours in a legal context have accidentally destroyed one such document, not apparently held at the LR. The modern equivalent misses out one sentence, which would be to the others' advantage. 

It seems unlikely we will be sharing the contents of the original any time soon!

Himoutdoors

Thanks for these responses which are very helpful and I will act accordingly.