Title & Property Documents at Land Registry

Nerazzurri4

Good afternoon.

After completing my mortgage repayments my lender said I (or a solicitor) could now request my title and property documents from the Land Registry. I looked at the Gov website to begin the process, but the more I looked, the more confused I got. So I asked a conveyancing solicitor if I could pay them to do it on my behalf, but they said they only do that if conveying the buy/sale themselves.

So I'd be glad if somebody here could help with some information please. My house is in Wales if that's important, I now live in England.

I got confused between should I use an OC1 or 2 form. It also asked for the exact name of documents I was requesting but there's so many it seems to me - transfer, charges, title plan, title register, property, etc. And the dates of these - I have no idea of when these were created.

To be honest, I don't even know if these things are something I actually "need". It's just because my lender said I could now get them I felt as if it's something I should make the effort to get.

Regards.

Land_Registry

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6664281/title-property-documents-at-land-registry

It can be confusing but in many ways you don't 'need' anything as we hold the information electronically. And if you need to prove ownership for example or someone wants to check and confirm the registered information you/they can do so at that time.

Have a read of our online blog article which explains this in more detail and includes guidance on how to obtain the information online or apply by post

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

Form OC1 is used to get an official copy of the register/title plan - the same details can be downloaded online and an OC is really only needed if you need legal proof eg for a court or government agency

Form OC2 is a postal application used to request an official copy of a specific deed/document often referred to as being 'filed' on the register. It's not the 'deeds' form some might interpret it as being

Nerazzurri4

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81964099#Comment_81964099

Very interesting, and the blog too.

So I can see now that I just don't need that information, and that if I should in the future it's readily available. For the moment I'll file my closing letters from the lender, which also contains the title number.

Thank you.

Regards.

gonboating

Hi Nerazzurri4.

Haven't read the LR doc but its quite right - deeds were dematerialised years ago so all they are offering are photocopies that you can get any time (for a small fee). The only worthwhile documents for historic/sentimental reasons are originals which LR won't have. Wales was bit slow getting registered titles so it is possible that some interesting conveyances etc might have been submitted for the first registration but those originals would have been sent back to the solicitor who applied. If that wasn't your conveyancer they won't have them.

BUT good tip I have been spreading is that the absence of originals coupled with non occupation does increase the possibility of fraud when the property becomes mortgage free. Wont bother you with the method but what you should consider is going onto the land registry and setting up what is called a property alert account. V simple and free - you input the title number(s) of the property you are interested in and then LR will send you an alert if any applications are made v useful if some swine is trying to sell or mortgage your property without your knowledge (which is a thing and hugely difficult and expensive to remedy if you dont catch it in time)

Hermann

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6664281/title-property-documents-at-land-registry

From your post it sounds like a lender who once held a charge over your property no longer has a right to that charge and that should now be reflected in the documents held by Land Registry.

Whilst it is entirely optional I would recommend checking the 'Register' document to ensure the charge has been correctly removed.

It usually is but occasionally something goes wrong and the changes aren't correctly reflected at Land Registry.

This may not come to light until you need to do something like raise some finance, sell the property or someone inherits.

It can take a long time to correct a mistake discovered years down the line, I've recently had a friend for whom it took 18 months to achieve such a correction.

The time taken to correct could seriously inconvenience yourself.

So a quick check now to confirm the charge has been removed could save you difficulties in the future and give you peace of mind.

It's also likely to be easier to correct any mistakes now whilst everything is fresh in your mind and the lender has only recently been dealing with the charge rather than potentially asking then to deal with something from 10 or 20 years ago.

silvercar

I've recently redeemed a mortgage and had an alert through the Land Registry property alert service that a change had been made to my deeds. That seems to suggest that the lender has removed their charge. Pleasantly surprised that it only took a couple of weeks from redeeming to getting the alert - I thought there were delays of many months.

Land_Registry

Couple of things to add re the later posts that may be of interest

Property Alert service - free alert service aimed primarily at those who feel they could be vulnerable from property fraud. Property Alert - GOV.UK - you get an email alert when any significant application is submitted so one to update the register or an information service such as an official search (used to protect a future transaction such as a purchase, mortgage or lease). The alert simply notifies you as to who has submitted it and when. No more than that. Note - you are not notified if an application for official copies is submitted or someone searches online for the registered information

Discharges (redemption of a mortgage) are a significant application and most lenders apply on average within2-4 weeks for the register to be updated. And again most lenders do that electronically so them to us in one seamless transaction that is rarely subject to any delays

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81964963#Comment_81964963

Thanks for that reassurance. If the mortgage lender has applied to remove their charge electronically, is there then a wait until the deeds are updated, or is that part of the seamless transaction. I just want to know if I need to check that it has actually been updated in a few months time to avoid problems when I eventually sell, though there is no urgency at the moment.

Land_Registry

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965065#Comment_81965065

If the lender has the necessary access and there is nothing 'pending' with us against the same title, then seamless means 1 or 2 seconds for the update to happen.

If there is a pending application then the electronic request drops out of the seamless process and has to be manually processed as and when appropriate, most likely when whatever is pending is also processed

For the vast majority of lucky property owners who have paid off their mortgage, and nothing else such as a sale/remortgage, I would recommend waiting at least a month from the date the lender confirms redemption/discharge before searching for or requesting the registered information.

Hermann

For clarity the delays I spoke of earlier in this thread were the result of a lender failing to apply to remove the charge when the mortgage was fully repaid and it was over a decade before this was realised by which time the lender had been incorporated into another business.

The delays were largely created by the lender and poor responses to enquiries rather than Land Registry processes.

Checking the register is as much to check the lender has actually applied to remove the charge as it is to check the Land Registrys own actions.

It's likely to be much more straightforward to chase up a lender within a few months of an error compared to decades later.

Diaz09

Just to clarify something that might help with the confusion - you don't actually need to retrieve physical deeds anymore since everything's electronic now. What you probably want is just an up-to-date official copy of your title register (form OC1) which will show the mortgage charge has been removed. This costs a few pounds and you can do it online yourself quite easily. The OC2 form is for title plans specifically, though you can request both together if needed.