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Original poster

What happens when the mortgage is paid off?

76 replies

ReviewingTheSituation · 18/08/2022 10:29

Just that really... Our final payment went out this week, so we have paid off the mortgage. We've had nothing from the bank to say we have to 'do' anything, but now that we own the house outright, it feels like there should be some course of action that makes things official?

I've heard/read that we don't need the physical deeds any more (I don't actually know where the deeds would be - do the mortgage company have them?), although it would be quite nice to have them. But how do we prove that the house is ours/put it in our name?

It feels like a momentous thing - all of a sudden, we own this asset, but apart from the fact we're living in it, there's nothing to say so. When a car is sold, you have to fill in a bit of paper for DVLA giving the name of the new owner - it feels like something similar should happen for a house?

Can anyone who's been-there-done-that enlighten me?

OP posts:
RuthW · 18/08/2022 12:13

I got nothing from the bank when mine was paid off

LindaEllen · 18/08/2022 12:13

Cottagegarden11 · 18/08/2022 11:07

We paid ours off a couple of months ago and it took about a month for the land registry letter. Huge anti climax after scrimping and saving to pay it off early 😂

Haha same here. We got our letter this week. I wanted physical deeds in my hands, to frame! (Joking).

But even so, it's a great weight off, knowing we own outright.

Pixiedust1234 · 18/08/2022 12:20

we finally finished paying our mortgage last year. Since it was still an endowment one we got letters from the policy company and the bank stating the endowment was finishing and all proceeds would go to the bank.

However we did get the physical deeds about a month later. I still haven't looked through it properly as it was a huge bundle going back to at least 1880 with builders receipts and the original council planning consent and everything Shock

maddiemookins16mum · 18/08/2022 12:22

How lovely, I’m longing for that day.

UseOfWeapons · 18/08/2022 12:29

Congratulations, OP, completely agree with others who say it’s a bit of an anticlimax!
Paid mine off last year, had notification from the bank a week later that all was done and dusted. I did go into the bank and ensure that my DD for my mortgage and for my mortgage protection insurance was cancelled, and contacted my home insurances company, let them know it was no longer a mortgaged property, where I received a little refund on my H and C!
Rang land registry, they sent me the forms, and I sent them back once I had the letter from the bank to say they’d removed themselves form the title.

MrsIronfoundersson · 18/08/2022 12:29

Pixiedust1234 · 18/08/2022 12:20

we finally finished paying our mortgage last year. Since it was still an endowment one we got letters from the policy company and the bank stating the endowment was finishing and all proceeds would go to the bank.

However we did get the physical deeds about a month later. I still haven't looked through it properly as it was a huge bundle going back to at least 1880 with builders receipts and the original council planning consent and everything Shock

We have this too - beautiful copperplate handwritten deeds of when the land was bought and all the sales since 1882 (only 4 including us!).

DomPom47 · 18/08/2022 13:00

Definitely a glass or two of something bubbly!!!! I have over 2 decades to go for my Yeahy it’s finally all paid off moment. 💐 🥂

Seemslikeaniceday · 18/08/2022 16:19

You will eventually get a copy of the Land Register from Land Registry. There are delays so expect to wait a few months.

Duchess379 · 18/08/2022 16:29

I paid my mortgage off last year. I got a letter through from the bank a few weeks later, confirming the mortgage was paid up. That's it. No bunting or flowers delivered unfortunately 😆

ScarlettSunset · 18/08/2022 17:06

I got a letter from the land registry (eventually).
And out of the blue I had a massive parcel of documents that the bank had been holding onto about things relating to the house from when it was first built. I didn't know they existed and have no idea what's supposed to happen to them, so I've just tried to store them securely and I guess they'll all get passed on to the next bank or owner one day

GreenClock · 19/08/2022 16:11

When my parents paid theirs off in the 1980s, they got a letter, typed by a secretary on a manual typewriter, from the manager of the local Midland Bank. This manager, an older chap who happened to live near us, had signed it and added a little handwritten note of congrats/best wishes and he wrote how much he loved the hydrangeas in the front garden of our house (dad was a keen gardener). I found this letter amongst dad’s paperwork after his death last year.

Tayegete · 20/08/2022 08:59

That’s so lovely @GreenClock. We are definitely in different times.

SummerLobelia · 20/08/2022 09:04

You definitely need to celebrate!

My parents when they paid theirs off took us (I was about 13 at the time and my sister a bit younger) on a city break.

Then they saved the mortgage money and bought a holiday shack home that they subsequently retired to.

Nowadays i can't imagine having any money to spare with cost of living etc!

SummerLobelia · 20/08/2022 09:05

(anyway- as for what actually happens re the official side of things I have no idea. But many congratulations. :)

Newgirls · 20/08/2022 09:10

Pixiedust1234 · 18/08/2022 12:20

we finally finished paying our mortgage last year. Since it was still an endowment one we got letters from the policy company and the bank stating the endowment was finishing and all proceeds would go to the bank.

However we did get the physical deeds about a month later. I still haven't looked through it properly as it was a huge bundle going back to at least 1880 with builders receipts and the original council planning consent and everything Shock

I feel clueless about this. We have an endowment and a repayment mortgage - they finish around the same time. Does the endowment magically go to the bank or do we organise that?! What did you do?

thankfully for the first time in years the endowment says it will pay out in full but with interest rates etc who knows what will happen in 18 months

burnoutbabe · 20/08/2022 09:19

I celebrated with a glass of shloer.

And I did tell the world via Facebook. Why not celebrate your own stuff. People celebrate promotions don't they?

(Think it was my most liked post ever, more than getting engaged was)

Maybe as an accountant it just seems more normal to be matter of fact about money.

WeAllHaveWings · 20/08/2022 09:26

TeaAndCock · 18/08/2022 12:11

I'm in Scotland and our mortgage will end in December. It's my understanding that we need a solicitor to finalise things but that could be scotland specific. Also if any fellow Scots know differently please say as I'd like to know!

We are in Scotland and didnt need a solicitor for anything, we just got a couple of letters from the mortgage company (that are filed somewhere) and that was it.

Dougieowner · 20/08/2022 10:00

I paid off my mortgage (early) nearly 20yrs ago and as far as I can recall I just got a letter from the mortgage company and had to pay a nominal sum to have the deeds released and sent to me.

Took out a new mortgage last year (moved house) but will be paying it off next year (early again) so will see what happens then.

I remember when I was little (probably about 1970) my dad coming in from work, popping his head around the door and saying (very matter of fact) that he had made the final mortgage payment that day.

No champagne, partying, holidays, posts on SM etc for any of us.
It is a great feeling though. 😁

Allmyarseandpeggymartin · 21/08/2022 07:35

Stapleton143 · 18/08/2022 11:53

We deliberately keep a small amount of mortgage to pay each month as we don’t want the responsibility of owning the deeds outright. Something in the news he had read about someone fraudulently steeling someone’s deeds of property. So we remain cautious.

I’m surprised your mortgage company are still doing this. At one time before the land registry was set up whoever “held” the deeds could claim to be the owner of the property which is why the documentation was so important.

These days everything is registered at the land registry (literally the county is divided up in little plots and numbers) which makes the paper deeds worthless (but an interesting read especially if it’s an old house) usually when you buy these days the deeds will have been previously destroyed or the solicitor will send you what there is once the house is bought (the bank have registered their charge) It’s just another cost that the finance company want to avoid.

Congratulations op! Time to top up your pension or book a dream holiday!

Allmyarseandpeggymartin · 21/08/2022 07:41

@Newgirls In theory your mortgage provider will have a record of your repayment vehicle (the endowment) and vice versa.

Do you know how the endowment has performed? Will there be enough to cover the balance on the mortgage? You might find that the bank contact you to ask what to do about any extra the endowment has made or to cover a shortfall.

WhiteCatmas · 21/08/2022 07:45

Just to add a bit of diversity, in NI you can pay off your mortgage and NOT receive a letter from the land registry.
The property alert system does not seem to be in place for NI. The links upthread apply only to England & Wales.

We received a big bundle of documents from the mortgage company and they now live with the local solicitor in a fire proof room.

well done OP! Definitely a call to celebrate!

user1487194234 · 21/08/2022 07:47

in Scotland the security should be formally discharged,normally by a solicitor

BarrelOfOtters · 21/08/2022 07:54

We bought a bigger house and started all again. Being mortgage free briefly was rather lovely.

as others said there’s a charge that needs removed on your house.

RedHelenB · 21/08/2022 07:56

I got sent my deeds and all the original paperwork and a letter from the Halifax saying that the mortgage was paid up. It's a lovely feeling knowing that you actually own your home.

RedHelenB · 21/08/2022 08:00

Newgirls · 20/08/2022 09:10

I feel clueless about this. We have an endowment and a repayment mortgage - they finish around the same time. Does the endowment magically go to the bank or do we organise that?! What did you do?

thankfully for the first time in years the endowment says it will pay out in full but with interest rates etc who knows what will happen in 18 months

Show quote history

You need to contact the endowment company as yhe money comes to you. They have to do a check that you are who you say you are before they release the money. I was very pleased that mine wasn't far off the original projection, definitely worth taking out for the life cover too