I bought a house about 10 years ago and I have been having a bit of a clear out of all my documents and I cannot find any deeds to the house. In fact I don’t ever remember seeing any?
The Title to your property is likely to be registered at HM Land Registry. The Registry no longer issue formal documents as the information is kept on an electronic register with each property having its own Title Number.
Following completion, therefore, owners are now issued with a Title Information Document – a snap shot of the electronic register at the precise time on which the electronic copy is printed. This is effectively the main Title Document. If there are mortgages registered against the Title, or documents affecting the Title which contain covenants, or restrictions, then copies of these documents are often retained at the Land Registry and their existence mentioned on the register.
If you have a mortgage on the property the lenders only now retain the Title Information Document and the original Mortgage Document leaving you to retain possession of all pre-registration Deeds and Documents and other guarantees and documents relating to the property. Your solicitor will have returned the Title Information Document and Mortgage Deed to the lender and may well have retained the balance of these other documents, either on file, or in safe custody, at their offices.
Alternatively, the solicitors will have sent the balance of these documents to you to keep, and it is imperative you know where these are as the guarantees, planning permissions etc will need to be handed over in the event of resale.