STOLEN DEEDS

Hammy21

Hi everyone,

My sibling stole the deeds to my brothers house when he died, we do not speak as I would not sell the house to their family for half the price. So they took the deeds from the house.

I am the administrator and the house is now sale agreed........but my sibling will not hand the deeds over, they are ignoring solicitors' letters. 

I have got copies of the original land registry deeds, but the solicitor wants the originals.

Do I need the originals to sell the house?

thank you

user1977

Surely your solicitor can advise you? If the title is already registered then I doubt the original deeds are of any value.

Keep_pedalling

If the property is registered with the land registry you should not need the paper deeds to sell the property.

jackieblack

My lender sent my the paper deeds to my house some years ago stating they were now held online and the paper deeds were no longer needed.

YBR

Whereas my mother's house deeds (bought in early 1970s) were still with the former lender around 10 years ago having paid off the mortgage in around 1990. It had never been registered, and it took quite a palaver to persuade the lender that they had to find them in whatever warehouse or cave such things are stored, and send them back.

So when was the house bought? If it was bought or had a re-mortgage on its ince 1990, then property should be registered and any paper deeds are not needed.

AskAsk

as others have said, if it is registered with the land registry the original paper is not needed.  i didn't have to send originals when i sold my properties where originals were available.

i think your solicitors is probably more concerned about you having the authority to sell the property and want to see the original deed as proof that you have authority to sell it.  but they should have reviewed your administrator status.

gwynlas

There are many instances of paper deeds being lost or destroyed by fire or flood your solicitor must have dealt with these situations before.

newatc

How do you find out if the deeds are held online by the Land Registry ?

Section62

Hammy21 said:

....
My sibling stole the deeds to my brothers house when he died, we do not speak as I would not sell the house to their family for half the price. So they took the deeds from the house.
...

If they (now) don't have a right to access the property then have you changed the locks to stop any other mischief?

daveyjp

newatc said:

How do you find out if the deeds are held online by the Land Registry ?

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

Bookworm105

if the house is registered with the Land Registry then paper deeds are not required to legally complete a sale

your solicitor may however want sight of them as LR records do not necessarily record every possible covenant that would be set out in the deeds and therefore the buyer may, quite reasonably, be wanting to know if there any. In the absence of such paperwork it is the down to the buyer if they want to take to risk to complete the legal purchase without fully knowing any potential exposure they may face as new legal owner.

if the property is not registered with the Land Registry (or Scottish equivalent etc) then you cannot legally sell the house without having them

Where are my title deeds, and do I need them? – HM Land Registry