Deeds to our property

I’m glad you mentioned this jeanie99. I think my deeds are with my solicitor. I bought this house in 2008. I will have to look into this. I shall be reading the replies with interest. I wish GSM was still on here. Please come back, I ask, selfishly .

You can request a copy from Land Registry. It’s about £15.00

Surely all property is now registered with the Land Registry, for a fee you can obtain a copy of registered ownership.

www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

We have a copy of our title deeds documents. It was sent to us by our mortgage provider as soon as we finished paying our mortgage.
An electronic copy of the documents is kept by the Land Registry.

Recently found out that our house bought in 1986 is not registered with the Land Registry. We do have the deeds though.

Thank you everyone much appreciated the swift responses.

I wonder who told you they didn't hold the deeds, jeanie?

Did you make an appointment with your solicitor and ask to see the deeds in person? Our solicitors moved location, the two who had dealt with us over the years had left so we asked to see our deeds and our wills, just to make sure they still had them. The person on the phone said she didn't know, but didn't think so.
The solicitor we went to see produced them from their safe for us.

We also have a copy of our deeds but that was from years ago.

SporeRB

We have a copy of our title deeds documents. It was sent to us by our mortgage provider as soon as we finished paying our mortgage.
An electronic copy of the documents is kept by the Land Registry.

Can I please ask, did you have to pay the mortgage provider to transfer the deeds to yourself? Our provider did not automatically sending us the deeds when we paid off the mortgage. Ten years on our solicitor asked for them to be transferred and it cost us upwards of £2000. We were shocked.

We didn’t get our deeds sent to us by our Mortgage Company, just a letter congratulating us!

We sent off for our copy from the Land Registry, just a piece of A4, very disappointing, I expected reams of paperwork tied up in green ribbon as we had with another property we owned some 40 yrs ago.

Just to add, we also signed up to receive any info regarding anyone wanting to look at our deeds.

Just in case anyone with criminal tendencies wanted access to them.

Oopsadaisy1

Just to add, we also signed up to receive any info regarding anyone wanting to look at our deeds.

Just in case anyone with criminal tendencies wanted access to them.

We’ve signed up for that, too - and not just ours, but dds’ too.
They notify you of any activity - and it’s free.

It’s happened that houses have been sold by criminals without the owners’ knowledge!* So just as well to be prepared.

*someone wrote a novel on that theme - IIRC ‘Our House’. In that case, IIRC, it was done by a dodgy ex spouse.

It was after reading Our House that I signed up for the Land Registry service, Witzend. My heart sank a bit when I had an email from them recently, but it was just to confirm that there’d been no activity. Phew!

Our deeds were sent to us by the Halifax when we paid off the mortgage. No charge.

Our local history society appealed recently to people not to throw away their deeds just because they no longer need to keep them. There’s a lot of historical interest in the older ones. Our whole street was once passed on to the owner’s grandchildren - it was interesting to see that while half of them were in low-paid manual jobs, one lived in a French chateau and another was married to a member of the aristocracy.

Oopsadaisy1

We didn’t get our deeds sent to us by our Mortgage Company, just a letter congratulating us!

We sent off for our copy from the Land Registry, just a piece of A4, very disappointing, I expected reams of paperwork tied up in green ribbon as we had with another property we owned some 40 yrs ago.

This bought back fond memories of deeds we held for a 16th century cottage we owned. There were pages and pages all in beautiful hand written script a lot on huge pieces of paper with seals on. When we sold it we left them for the new owner. Now you buy a house and the deeds are just a miserable piece of A4 paper

Our deeds are also hand written with seals and say that we must maintain rooms for 2 maids, Tiley
They also allow candlemakers, sweeps, tinsmiths, boot boys, coalmen, dairymen and other trades to have access via our neighbours at all times of day and night - as required. It lists numerous tradespeople.

And the block of 3 properties (of which ours is one) must never cut down any mature trees or the land on which the houses sit will revert to the Marquis of Anglesey!

Old deeds are very interesting!

We have our deeds sent when our mortgage was finished.
Interesting reading we are not allowed to sell alcohol due to the fact the land was originally owned by a local brewery.
We are also registered with land registry to inform us of any activity of anyone wanting access.

Having left our deeds with a local solicitor which we thought would be easier for the family I was upset to see that they had moved and we knew nothing about it. I had to go into the shop beneath the offices to find out where they had moved to. It was the other side of London. I managed to phone them and asked for our deeds to be returned to us and questioned why they had not informed us of their move and new address. They seemed surprised that I now wanted them returned.

NotSpaghetti

Our deeds are also hand written with seals and say that we must maintain rooms for 2 maids, Tiley
They also allow candlemakers, sweeps, tinsmiths, boot boys, coalmen, dairymen and other trades to have access via our neighbours at all times of day and night - as required. It lists numerous tradespeople.

And the block of 3 properties (of which ours is one) must never cut down any mature trees or the land on which the houses sit will revert to the Marquis of Anglesey!

Old deeds are very interesting!

Oh I love this thread
Bringing back so many memories. Ours said we had dipping rights in the local Brook

It became too cumbersome for solicitors/lenders to store large bundles of deeds after registration at the Land Registry so they mostly sent the old deeds to the client for them to keep. Some lenders just shredded them which was sad if they were historical. Apart from a copy of the title and plan you still need to provide planning permissions/guarantees etc when you sell otherwise you have to pay for replacements which can be expensive! There's no charge from your lender when your mortgage is discharged and they deal with the formalities.

Silvergirl

SporeRB

We have a copy of our title deeds documents. It was sent to us by our mortgage provider as soon as we finished paying our mortgage.
An electronic copy of the documents is kept by the Land Registry.

Can I please ask, did you have to pay the mortgage provider to transfer the deeds to yourself? Our provider did not automatically sending us the deeds when we paid off the mortgage. Ten years on our solicitor asked for them to be transferred and it cost us upwards of £2000. We were shocked.

No, the bundle of documents to the title deeds were sent free of charge by Nationwide Building Society together with a letter of thanks for choosing them as our mortgage provider.

Yes, I had to, twice. It is compulsory now to register with the Land Registry on change of title, but of course, there are many that remain unregistered.
You don't say why you need to see them, but I would begin with the Land Registry - they are helpful. They may be able to send you the information they hold, which may be enough. Otherwise they may be helpful in pointing you in the right direction.

NotSpaghetti

Our deeds are also hand written with seals and say that we must maintain rooms for 2 maids, Tiley
They also allow candlemakers, sweeps, tinsmiths, boot boys, coalmen, dairymen and other trades to have access via our neighbours at all times of day and night - as required. It lists numerous tradespeople.

And the block of 3 properties (of which ours is one) must never cut down any mature trees or the land on which the houses sit will revert to the Marquis of Anglesey!

Old deeds are very interesting!

That’s fascinating, NotSpaghetti.

The deeds to my friend’s little two up two down stated that she couldn’t brew beer in the cellar but she was allowed to make candles and soap. It wasn’t even big enough to stand up in.

Poppyred

Recently found out that our house bought in 1986 is not registered with the Land Registry. We do have the deeds though.

Better get it Registered up asap. Just in case. It seems to depend a bit on what part of the country one is in - but there are parts where there are a lot of boundary disputes/neighbours trying to nick land that is either someone else's or communal. Voice of experience - as I live in one of those areas and am forever hearing tales of this sort of thing happening and a bit of my own garden has been stolen off me by a neighbour (albeit I can see a plus side - as it's my retaining wall and has been on my title plan for over 20 years - and yet they managed to steal it when they got their house Registered for the first time and the plus side is it needs some very expensive work and they didn't seem to realise/care about that before - but that bill will now belong to their house and not mine).

The oldest Deeds to my home, an old stone built farm house, are beautifully hand written in Copperplate on thick Vellum, tied with bright coloured tapes. The history of the people buying and selling is so interesting.
As a little 'aside' - my GD has just bought her first home - a lovely 2 bed terrace - but has paid £15,000 more than we paid for my house plus 23 acres of land over 30 years ago!! Admittedly, the value of money and wages today are far different to those earned when we bought my home!!