Do you get "deeds" these days??

[StevieP]

Managed to pay off the remainder of my mortgage this week having overpaid for the last 5 or 6 years - and HSBC have given me mixed information with regards to what happens with the deeds to the property!?!?

First they told me that they write to the land registry and then we would receive the deeds through the post in "2 to 3 weeks" - then another person said that deeds don't exist any more in their previous form but rather they are just held electronically by the land registry.

A third person then said that I needed to pay a small fee on the land registry site and I would get a "hard copy" (which presumably then needs keeping somewhere safe!?!)

Our house is relatively new (around 10yrs) and so there won't be years of changes and planning permissions so I'd imagine whatever info there is will be pretty basic??

Has anyone been in this position and can advise?

Thanks...

 

[Jokester]

I received the deeds to my property when I bought it 9 years ago, even though I was mortgaged. As far as I'm aware the person stating they are held electronically now is correct and the paper copy is exactly that, a copy.

This is Scotland by the way, it might be different in England and Wales.

 

[peterwalkley]

When I paid mine off 6 years ago FirstDirect (i.e. HSBC) sent me the paper deeds - and this is England & Wales as opposed to Scotland. It did take a few weeks for them to appear.

 

[robj20]

Already got ours we got then via the solicitor when we bought the house. But they are generally not required anymore these days land registry contains all the relevant information. Nice to keep the original deeds though.

 

[Solus]

I got mine as soon as I got my mortgage through my solicitor. An old ex council house though

 

[Squid Vicious]

Paid off flat in 2014 and when asking the bank was told they were held electronically.

 

[IvanDobskey]

I just paid mine off.

Got a letter from nationwide to say they no longer hold an interest in the property, then a letter from land registry to say it's now in my name and the deeds are held electronically. I think I can pay a £3 nominal fee for a paper copy though.

 

[ron3003]

I paid the £3 just to make sure that they know the house exists and I do actually appear as the house owner.
We had the house built back in 1995 on land I already owned, I have all the paper deeds for the land but there was nothing for the house itself bar the planning permission, builders receipts and the completion cert from building control.
Already all in order at the Land Registry as it turned out. I also signed up for the Land Registry Property Alert service which warns if any attempts at securing a mortgage or change of ownership be tried. If you're mortgage free I strongly recommend doing this yourself. Scammers have managed to steal peoples homes in the past without the real owners knowing anything about it.

 

[HangTime]

Similar position here (new house, mortgage paid off 3 years ago) and when we enquired with our lender they told us the deeds had been destroyed. Was a bit annoyed as this was done without warning and the stuff you can download for £3 online isn't complete (doesn't show fence ownership etc), but not the end of the world I suppose.

 

[Skillmister]

. Was a bit annoyed as this was done without warning and the stuff you can download for £3 online isn't complete (doesn't show fence ownership etc), but not the end of the world I suppose.

And there's a good chance the documents that got destroyed didn't either, many don't. In fact if they did, that document would likely have been digitally stored and there would be an entry on the title to say "conveyance dated xxx contains a provision as to boundaries"

 

[Skillmister]

. I also signed up for the Land Registry Property Alert service which warns if any attempts at securing a mortgage or change of ownership be tried. If you're mortgage free I strongly recommend doing this yourself. Scammers have managed to steal peoples homes in the past without the real owners knowing anything about it.

This is wise. You can also put an email address down as an address for service

 

[Pocah]

The deeds still exist but they do not amount to ownership of the property. Rather they are collection of documents relating to the property, but ownership is all done with computers these days.
The deeds will include plans, applications, property lines and stuff so they are still important, and if you have the deeds you should keep them somewhere safe. They are sometimes used to settle arguments about where a fence should be and so on. I remember one house I had that next door decided to move his fence in to an area he thought was unallocated land between the properties, but the deeds showed that in fact the original builder had put the boundary fence in the wrong place and the so called "unallocated land" belonged to me.

 

[LeeUK]

My house was inherited. It originally had a mortgage with the Woolwich then later Barclays when they were bought out. As far as I know they still have the old paper deeds (property is 100 years old) but I've had a copy of the Land Registry entry from my solicitor that says it's in my name, also bought a £3 copy once too.

 

[StevieP]

Thanks for all the replies guys - I've signed up to the Land Registry alerts and will pay for some sort of copy of the deeds!

Just feels soooooo good to know we are mortgage free at a relatively young age!

 

[Pocah]

Thanks for all the replies guys - I've signed up to the Land Registry alerts and will pay for some sort of copy of the deeds!

Just feels soooooo good to know we are mortgage free at a relatively young age!

Best thing in the world