what to do with deeds?

toadhall

We should be finished with our mortgage in about 9 months, friends have said that we should leave a small amount because then the deeds stay in the bank and are safe. If we pay of the mortgage we should never keep them in the house (in case the house burns down) and then we would have to pay the bank to keep them safe.

I hadn't thought about this before, can anyone give me the right advice please

Valli

My understanding is that physical deeds are no longer important (but no doubt I'll be told if I'm wrong) as it's all electronic. But just ask the bank what they advise/offer.

You can register your interest in a property here and you'll be alerted to any activity.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82024050#Comment_82024050

We're in Scotland, and that's definitely the case for us. Almost all paper deeds have been superceded by the electronic registry.

Ib06

When we paid our mortgage off a few years ago, I chased the bank several times expecting them to send us the deeds… Eventually when I spoke to someone I was told they no longer held the deeds and they are stored electronically with the Land Registry.

For a small(ish) fee you can login to the Land Registry and check on the registration and ownership - and ensure that the charge over the property has been removed.

kassy64

Land Registry will be updated by the bank confirming they no longer hold an interest in the property. No deeds these days.

XzavierWalnut

Mine have been in a fire and waterproof locked box for over 20 years.

Keep_pedalling

First thing to do is to check to see if your property has been registered with the lang registry.

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

If it is not then you will need the deeds so that it can be registered. If it is then those paper deeds are just historic documents. In either case there is no point in leaving the deeds with the mortgage company.

badmemory

I half wish I hadn't read this. It made me look at mine on the land registry only to discover that although there is no mortgage there is a rentcharge, which I believe is chief rent which I bought out 24 years ago.

My deeds & the chief rent info is in a box file, so that I can look at it & say "mine all mine". a bit Scroogelike.

HonestJohn

Many years ago Nationwide would let you owe £1 and stored your deeds for free. Then the electronic storage came in and they waived the £1 and sent me the hard copy.

toadhall

thank you for all your replies, very useful informaiton. I will now carry on paying off the mortgage and then check on land registry so I can say all mine :)

beanielou

I got the paper deeds for mine in 2021. I’m in Scotland and had to instruct a solicitor to do so.