Lost deeds and house not registered on Land Registry

[MimiGC]

My elderly parents have lost the deeds to their house. When I tried to help them get a replacement copy, we found that their house is not on the Land Registry. I looked into it, but got a bit stuck and couldn't work out how to get replacement deeds when the house isn't on LR or get the house put on the LR without a copy of the deeds.
Does anyone know if it's possible to resolve this problem ourselves or whether we need to engage a property lawyer to sort it out? Thanks.

You might be able to sort it yourself. They can do a statement of truth and submit it to the land registry. If you speak to /look at land registry website they should be able to help. I will try and post links if my signal is better.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/first-registration-of-title-where-deeds-have-been-lost-or-destroyed/practice-guide-2-first-registration-of-title-if-deeds-are-lost-or-destroyed

Have they definitely lost them and they’re not being held by the bank/building society they had a mortgage with? Back when physical deeds were more of a thing people often used to leave them with the bank for safe keeping even after the mortgage was paid off.

The statement of truth form will be available from land registry.

If they have a simple title and clear boundaries then it is fairly straightforward.
Obviously if the title is complex with easements etc or unclear boundaries then you may need help from a surveyor and a solicitor

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lost-or-destroyed-deeds-statement-of-truth-st3

It was the bank who lost them by posting them to the wrong address. They have a letter from the bank apologising for their error, that was ages ago, but my parents never took any action at the time.

Ahh. I helped quite a few times to register properties with missing title deeds as a trainee when the bank lost them. The bank always paid the legal and land registry costs. I am not sure the bank would do so after a long delay but they can at least refer to the letter from the bank in their statement of truth and attach a copy of it to the statement

Thanks @madamweb that's really helpful. I think the statement of truth form looks straightforward enough, aside from questions 11 an and b, not sure what those mean...

For 11a you are providing evidence they own and occupy /possess the land. I haven't looked into this in-depth but it looks like copies of council tax invoices /utility bills will work.

For 11b you are saying if they have any rights over other land in connection with their property (eg a right of way over a neighbouring drive or anything like that) or if others have any similar rights over their land

Thank you.
I will help them with registration for the LR, but still not sure how this helps in getting a replacement copy of the deeds, which is what they want...they are in their 80s and, whilst thankfully still in good health now, they want to get their affairs in order.

Obviously its necessary to get it sorted and register their ownership with the LR but it still sounds like they want the physical deeds to their house? They are all online now and can be printed off the internet if you need a copy of them.

They dont exist in the way your parent remember them (lots of large bits of paper with drawings, first title info etc from when the house was built & first sold etc) and when their house has been registered, they wont be sent anything like they had before as they will be digital and can be accessed online 24/7.

They aren't online if the house is unregistered.

If they bought the house a long time ago it could have been before compulsory registration.

(I look at the LR maps a lot and there are still quite a lot of residential properties, as well as rural land, that are unregistered, just because they haven't changed hands in decades)

It’s a nightmare and expensive to have deeds reconstructed.
You need decades worth of proof, old household bills etc.
5 years ago we were quoted £6k but only because we had 50 years of paperwork to back it up.

We nearly had to do this for Fil’s unregistered house, it was only thanks to speaking, by complete fluke, to a Woman at Barclays who had also previously worked for the now defunct Building society who put the Deeds into archival deep storage in Liverpool.
It took six months for them to be found and ONLY because we still had the original mortgage paperwork from 1973 with the Building society reference number on it.

I don't know who quoted this to you but I never charged anywhere near that amount when I was doing it, nor was it ever a nightmare.

When did they buy the house? Land registration has been compulsory since 1990.

I would start by ordering the title documents of all properties surrounding theirs. This will show whether neighbouring properties have any rights over their property and will indicate whether their property has any rights over the neighbouring properties. That's one hurdle overcome. These documents can be ordered online.

I bought an unregistered house in 2022 and it took nearly 2 years for the Land Registry to process the registration and sale. I think this would have caused issues if it had still been ongoing when we needed to renew the mortgage. The timescales might have improved since then but I doubt it will be a quick fix even once you submit everything your side.

Theres still a massive backlog for non urgent work

I'd just engage a law firm to try to sort this out for you.

That was what I thought, but some of this morning's responses made me think I could help my parents to do it. If it just completing Statement of Truth form, then that's fine. But I have just looked at the Gov.uk site and got confused by the FR1 form (First Registration form). I don't know if that has to be done before, after, alongside the Statement of Truth form...so am back to being confused and thinking that maybe we do need a professional. I know my parents are worried about the cost of professional help though...

A law firm will give you a quote. I would anticipate a couple of thousand plus vat

Perhaps it was due to Covid or maybe the Solicitors didn’t actually want the job so gave us a ridiculously high quote?
Things were extremely slow and difficult during lockdown.

Yes you would need to do an FR1 too and send it at the same time. That guidance should be in the links I shared.

But you shouldn't need to pay a fortune to solicitors if you would rather use them. As I said though,.it will all depend how simple (or complex) their property and it's boundaries are. You will need to submit a plan that follows the land registry requirements

(i think there are online surveyor firms that can prepare plans for a few hundred pounds though)

Land Registry will be more concerned with how the deeds were lost or destroyed than with the content of the documents themselves. It’s therefore crucial to provide a detailed account supported by evidence. The account should provide a timeline to the point when the applicant last knew of the deeds’ whereabouts, including:
who had possession and when?
why they were in possession and where they held them.
Often, the last known holder of deeds is a lender holding them for security.
The applicant should then set out, to the best of their knowledge, how, when, and where the loss or destruction occurred. For example, it may be that their solicitor had the deeds when they purchased the property in 1989. The solicitor then sent them to the mortgage lender as security, and the lender now says it cannot locate them. Or perhaps the deeds were held in the basement of a specific property from a specific date until they were destroyed in a flood in 2009.
The applicant must also detail the steps taken to recover the deeds by reference to letters, emails and other communications and documents. For example, the various enquiries made with the mortgage lender and the solicitor as to the deeds’ location.
Reconstruct the title
To reconstruct the title, the applicant must attempt to show how the title has devolved to them. In other words, they must demonstrate the trail of ownership and detail the deed or document that created their interest. In the absence of the original document(s), the applicant must provide secondary evidence.
If they are fortunate, the applicant may have certified copies or completed drafts of the lost documents. If so, the copy documents should be supported by a statutory declaration confirming:
that title has been investigated in the usual way by a solicitor;
the source of the copy deeds; and
that the deeds were properly executed.
Failing that, the applicant may have a receipted schedule of deeds, inheritance tax declarations, or receipts for insurance premiums, rates or other charges relating to the property.
Evidence of the possession of the land is also important. This might be demonstrated with utility bills addressed to the applicant at the property.
The applicant must inform the Land Registry as to whether there was a mortgage or other charge on the land when the deeds were lost, and if so, provide evidence of repayment. And they must also submit Land Charge Searches, and details of other known incumbrances over the land.
Evidence of the applicant’s identity
The final requirement is that the Land Registry will require the applicant to prove their identity.

I copied and pasted the above