House Deeds

f114306

Hi,

Firstly apologies that I couldn’t see a forum regarding wills and estates but feel free to move this post and or tell me the most appropriate forum.

My father recently passed away leaving my Mother. She is 94. We have a copy of her will the text of which leads us to believe that the house is in her sole name. However despite a thorough search we have not been able to find a copy of the deeds.

The house was purchased in 1955, with a deposit from my Mothers father which sort of reinforces the fact that we believe the house is in my Mothers name. I believe that this was at the time when registering a property with the Land Registry was not a legal requirement. So to that end the Land Registry could not assist us.

The house was later remortgaged around the 1980’s or so we believe but we have no documentation of any kind to support that.

I understand that the deeds can be ‘reconstituted’ but that involves engaging a conveyancer getting house valuations etc.etc. Which will have an intrinsic cost.

Are there any agencies or records bodies we might be able to contact/search to establish ownership of the property or look into the remortgage side of the story?

Rgds.,

CG

Keep_pedalling

First thing to do is to see if the property has ever been registered with the land registry.

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

If it is you don’t need any paper deeds ownership will be held there.

Did your fathers will mention their home?

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this to the relevant part of the forum

f114306

Thx for your response.

No my fathers will made no mention of the house which further reinforces the belief that it’s in my Mothers name only.

Unfortunately the link provided shows ‘No information held for……’ address

Rgds.,

CG

Reed_Richards

The deeds might be held by the solicitor who handled the house purchase, if you can identify which company they worked for.

sheenas

If it was the case that the house was mortgaged in 1980 then then, I am thinking deeds would be with the convincer and the land registry. As others have said this is a simple task done online. Carefully about getting the correct site as there are scammers ripping people off with fake sites

f114306

Thank you all for your responses, whilst my father was an engineer by trade working to fine tolerances it seems that precision did not extend to his record keeping or my Mothers if truth be told.

I will try the solicitors mentions in my Mothers will in the first instance.

Appreciate the scammer warning.

Rgds.,

CG

YBR

My parents paid off their mortgage in the mid 1990s and at this time the mortgage company held the (paper) deeds as their surety, and there was some arrangement that they would keep that deed in secure storage for my parents. This, I believe, was fairly normal at that time.

My mother went back to the mortgage company to get the deeds I think 10-15 years ago and they denied everything. She was sure and can be very assertive and after some round-the-houses they did admit they held it and located it in a storage unit.

All this to say if you can trace the mortgage company and ask the right questions you might get lucky. Not sure how that helps if there are no records of the mortgagee or conveyancer though.

Keep_pedalling

If you have no luck uncovering the original deeds with the above suggestions then your mother can still make an application for first registration with the LR.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed/practice-guide-2-first-registration-of-title-if-deeds-are-lost-or-destroyed#introduction

RAS

Land registration across England and Wales didn't become compulsory across the country until 1990. It started decades early and the areas involved increased over time.

If your maternal grandfather paid a deposit in 1955, that still left capital that had to be paid, presumably via a mortgage? Was you mother working at the time, as it would have been assessed on income?

Mortgages were usually repayment over 25 years, so re-mortgaging in the 1980s suggests a domestic financial crisis or perhaps another need for capital? Is there anything that mum or even your generation can remember? Were there financial difficulties, a business set up or need for capital? Or even the need for repairs that couldn't be funded from savings?

As has been said, when an unregistered property was mortgaged the deeds were kept by the provider, which would have been a building society or bank. It would have been a provider with a local office.

Generally, if the property wasn't registered, it was common for couple to leave £5-10 owing on the mortgage so the deeds were safely retained and stored by the provider.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82090735#Comment_82090735

If the mother did require a mortgage back in 1955, it is unlikely she could have done so in her own right without the co signature/ gurantee of husband or the OP's grandfather. Women, by law did not enjoy the freedom of obtaining sole mortgages until change of legislation in 1975.

https://www.whitakerseager.co.uk/fifty-years-of-financial-freedom-the-law-that-let-women-buy-homes-without-their-husbands-consent/