Title Deeds

[funnygirl]

We are coming to the end of paying for our mortgage and have been asked what we want to do with our title deeds.
I have been given conflicting advice.

So is it best to leave the deeds with the bank and why it is better?? or is it best to take the deeds the minute the mortgage is paid????

[Wak]

You used to be able to leave them with the Building Society but I don't think they will accept them now as they eventually take up too much storage space (or so I'm told!).
We left ours in the Bank at a cost of between £10 and £18 over the years but now keep them at home in a file with other valuable papers, etc, ready to grab in case of fire, etc. You could always scan them and leave a copy elsewhere to be doubly safe.

[Buenchico]

The documentary deeds are of little importance anyway. (The deeds to my house are in a drawer right next to where I'm sitting. If I was to look in that drawer and discover that a mouse had nibbled his way through them I would be completely unconcerned).

What really matters nowadays is that the Land Registry's electronic records are correct. (They take precedence over anything you might have on paper). Once the mortgage is paid off, it would be worth investing £4 to check that the title register for your property is up to date:
https://www.landregis...ortal/Property_Search
(When I sold a small part of my garden to a neighbour I discovered that the Woolwich had forgotten to advise the Land Registry that there was no longer a charge against the property, even though I'd paid the mortgage off 15 years earlier!).

There is no point whatsoever in storing your deeds with your bank. It's just a (so-called) service which they offer to get money from you.

Chris

[Eve]

The term "deeds" can be somewhat misleading in itself.

Deeds can include other documents over and above just title documents such as warranties and certificates, old searches and copies of property information forms, explanatory correspondence, other documents such as statutory declarations or just useful documents you'd have to pay to get another copy of etc... which can be required on any sale or remortgage or similar dealing with the property.

Always worth keeping in a safe, fireproof place as deeds pack can contain way more than just title documents.

Doesn't have to be with the bank but just make sure if you do get them back to check what's in there and keep them safe.

[funnygirl]

Thanks guys, you've made up my mind I am going to get them and keep them in my kitchen drawer!

[modeller]

I've left mine with the solicitor . It doesn't cost anything but they hope to get the business eventually. My ex-bank Natwest tried to charge me £27 for so called looking after a worthless piece of paper which belonged to me 30 years ago . At that time they would hold such items free of charge if you had a current account with them. I closed all my accounts with them in disgust . I transferred to Halifax that pays me 3%. compared with 0.1% from NatWest .

[marval]

We have a small box safe, we keep our deeds in there along with our birth and marriage certificates.

[carlton23]

Mine are with The Halifax and they don`t charge anything.

[SlackAlice]

Hope you get them back ok. My bank (Halifax) managed to lose them from there supposedly 'secure fireproof' location?????

[smudge]

When we finished paying our mortgage, we left the deeds with the building society.

Just out of curiosity & to see if they were still easily obtainable, I asked them for a copy last year & they obliged with no charge.

[LoftyLottie]

Agree with Chris. Our building society sent us our deeds back when we registered our house with the Land Registry for the first time. This came with a letter saying they had no further use for them, but we might like them for historical interest. We still had a mortgage.

However, there are still thousands of old houses that remain unregistered, so the deeds are still important.

Our deeds are here at home in a drawer and there is information in there that has proved to be useful in a current neighbour boundary dispute, so they still are quite important, but not vital.

[alavahalf]

My deeds are held in Deedsafe by the abbey/santander... so if I were to register them with the Land Registry does that mean that I no longer would need to worry about losing them etc.
I think it cost about £30 to have a look at them.!