Following on from one of my previous questions... we now have had the payout from the endowment and are preparing to pay off the remaining of the mortgage.
I guess we ask our provider for a final settlement but once we've paid up do we have to do something with the deeds for the house?
To be honest I've no idea who actually has them as our mortgage provider has changed hands several times over the 25 years... don't we have to pay to have them looked after???
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The mortgage provider usually offers to keep them for a fee but we asked to have them back. They are now in our solicitor's strongroom.
But are they needed (for more than satisfying curiosity) if the property is registered, as I believe most are? Ask your own solicitor.
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I’m in Scotland.
I cleared my mortgage and my deeds are lying about somewhere in the back office.
I am pretty sure these are no longer the important document that they were before land registration etc.
Registers of Scotland know I own my property, the loan is discharged.
I don’t think the deeds matter that much now?
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The deeds might make interesting reading but the English Registry (at least) does not record prices earlier than April 20th, 2000.
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The 'deeds' are of no worth these days as long as the house is registered - ours were sent back to us a few years ago as the bank no longer wanted to hold them.
There's a little bit of work to be done to release the charge on the house. If you are in England this is fairly straightforward, and the lender will probably unwind it for you (no doubt for a fee!!). In Scotland it's a little more difficult and requires a deed to be lodged to be Registers of Scotland, and the lender might not do it. Went through this a couple of years when an inheritance allowed us to pay ours off early. Got settlement figure from mortgage co and payment details and sent the money, mortgage co sent a letter confirming paid up and nothing outstanding. Then began the process of convincing ROS that both the bank and I were happy that no monies were outstanding!! I DIY'd it, because I'm like that... found wording for deed off 'net, sent it to bank and got it signed, then sent it off to ROS with the form and payment (and an ID check as I am not a reg conveyancer). It was initially rejected as the deed did not have on it the names of the signatories and place of signing - these were on a separate sheet of paper (which I had also sent) - so I just wrote the info on the deed and sent it back, and that was OK. Go figure!! It was a bit annoying as the bank still charged the same release fee as they would in England, but did nowt for it.
Apparently not getting the charge released is quite common in Scotland since the banks don't routinely do it, OK till you come to sell it, then have to arrange all this retrospectively!
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I work in ROS and rejected a case for that exact reason this week!
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I found my deeds invaluable in proving who was responsible for a boundary fence.
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>> I found my deeds invaluable in proving who was responsible for a boundary fence.
I don't think anyone is legally responsible for maintaining or replacing a boundary fence.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Thu 30 Sep 21 at 13:44
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>> I don't think anyone is legally responsible for maintaining or replacing a boundary fence.
My deeds show who is responsible, even if it's just a piece of wire on posts. I'm responsible for two of the three sides of my garden, although one neighbour elected to erect their own fence on their own property relieving me of the responsibility on that side.
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>> >> I found my deeds invaluable in proving who was responsible for a boundary fence.
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>> I don't think anyone is legally responsible for maintaining or replacing a boundary fence.
On the whole, thats right. The deeds merely show the boundaries and any you are responsible for. You could, if you chose, just pin a rope in place or grow a line of poppies to show the boundary.
Only covenants determine what you have to do with a boundary.
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Wasn't mine, as this was a couple of years ago!
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Mine is in the back of the drawer. Of historical value only now of course as its the land registry entry that counts. Interestingly my credit checking services reveals the date the building society relinquished an interest in the property.
Its quite a stressful experience paying off a mortgage, or it was. The settlement figure is only valid for a short period of time, payment methods (before extensive use of personal bank transfers) were limited. I ended up with a 30 minute drive between banks with a 40 minute timescale before that closed and the settlement amount changed.
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Had mine returned many years ago when i changed mortgage provider. The Land Registry should hold electronic copies which is worth checking.
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The stress involved in managing the payment process is more than completely covered by the sense of relief felt from completely owning the property.
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Used the same solicitor, a one man band, for coming up to 40 years. He has the deeds in his room safe as the Building Society wanted to charge me £40 per year for the privilege of them looking after the deeds - the mortgage was paid off decades ago.
The solicitor looks after the deeds for "free" - the lawyer's payday is when either of us departs and they tie up all the loose ends and distribute the estate.
The only, hopefully minor, issue is that the solicitor retired and it is now people I do not know at all - never had reason to need their services. The previous guy had bought & sold other properties for my sons as they progressed from flats to houses over the years.
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Paid mine by BACS - hardest part was convincing the bank that I did actually want to send the money ('only' £70k so by not a massive amount) - despite me having transferred the same amount out to a savings account in 3 chunks a few weeks earlier! It was a bit odd when I spoke to the mortgage bank, and they just said this is the figure, send it to this account!! It went a couple of days before the agreed settlement date, and the bank even refunded the 2 days interest they had calculated.
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I cleared my mortgage in 2008 - it was one of the most liberating feelings ever. I've had the deeds for the properties we've owned since then. Interestingly the house we now live in was built by the Pilkington (glass people) who had a factory in the city for many you years (all this was detailed in the deeds which also gave us the original name for the property, to which it has now reverted). Not much point in paying anyone to keep them safe for you IMHO
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Thanks all for the feedback...
While I was at work my wife rang the bank who are our mortgage provider to find out what was what.... turns out to be a bit of an anticlimax if what they said was true....
So they have told us that there are 'aren't any paper deeds anymore they're all electronic', if we want a paper copy then we can get one from the land registry (can't believe that our early '70's house doesn't have one somewhere!).
Also they are quite happy for us to pay the remainder over the phone using a debit card.
Apparently there's a small £50 admin fee to tie things up and then that's it... job done.
Seems too easy to me.
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I cleared mine in 2001 when we moved here. I always remember a work colleague telling me he'd never be a slave to a mortgage when I first bought a place. I often think of him still paying rent on a flat in a dodgy estate in Leytonstone and continuing to pay it till the day he pops his clogs.
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I don’t remember feeling particularly elated when I did pay it off…that was just done over the ‘phone. But I do remember how much better off I felt the next month when there was no mortgage payment :)
The deeds to our last couple of house, though practically speaking meaningless, were fascinating reading, and the previous owners of the last house had prepared a summary of all the previous owners, when they lived there, what they paid for it and what their professions were
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End of mortgage - Ambo
