Deeds of our house

Safety deposit box.

I understood deeds were all electronic nowadays and you don't need a paper copy. We moved house two years ago and live in England.

We were given the deeds for our new house purely as a historical document. Deeds are now electronically stored.

You could get a home safe, fire and water proof, if you are really concerned.

Since properties have had to be registered with the Land Registry when you buy you only get a Land Certificate (or Charge Certificate if there's a mortgage) so if you have a packet of deeds they must be the old ones.

I'm surprised your solicitor told you they'd be needed if you ever moved as all the information should be on the Land Certificate at the Land Registry.

The other replies are correct - titles are registered at the Land Registry and the old historic deeds are not needed although they may of be interest. Even Land Certificates are no longer issued, you should have a copy of the Entry on the Register. Ask your solicitor to clarify just what he has sent you and why they would be needed for any future sale, registering your title with the Land Registry is compulsory so you should have no worries about proving title in the future.

Thanks for all your comments. Maybe we misunderstood our solicitor and these, as you say are just the historical copy.

Mine are in Halifax's deedstore and a fee will be payable when they're recovered.

mcem so we're ours. Over the years the fee added up to a couple of thousand pounds when the solicitor retrieved them for our sale.

There is a caveat on this. Whilst most deeds are now stored electronically with the lad registry, there are a few cases where the paper deed is essential as there is no registered owner with the LR.

My aunt bought her house back in the late 1940's and it was not registered at the time. This was because the law regarding registration was not in place for her house (there was a law in place but it didnt cover all land and houses).

The deeds were absolutely essential to selling the house in my case. I had to prove her ownership ( via the deeds) and then transfer it to me and sell the property.

Its not common but there are still a few old ladies out there who are living in houses which pre date the official LR process and where deeds are necessary.

We were handed the original paper deeds to our house, built in the 1890s, after paying off the mortgage several years ago. I was thrilled to bits, because they are the only house deeds we`ve ever had. However, I`ve always felt nervous about anything happening to them whilst in the house, so after my husband died, I asked the solicitors if they`d keep them for me, so that`s where they reside now.

Bear in mind that solicitors usually store house deeds (and anything else you ask them to store) in their standard filing cabinets, not in a fireproof, waterproof safe.

Thank you for pointing that out absent. I once had a solicitor who lost my lease!!!
When I met with him to discuss this I could see why, his office was total chaos.