Disappointing Deeds

[ComeAgainPlease]

First World Problem for sure but the Deeds for our home are simply a piece of cruddy paper with a Land Registry logo as a record of the electronic register and I would prefer them to be a parchment with a seal. I am going to ask a Friend, who is a designer, to do me a lovely document which I can frame and treasure. Buying a house is the most money most of us would ever spend on one 'thing' and even some Robot Vacuum Cleaners now come with a certificate! I just want a celebration of ownership and a record of the house's history.

I like the cut of your jib OP

May I suggest some kind of portrait to commemorate the occasion too? I think you need to be wearing a tricorn hat in that.

Surely you’re joking. You own a house, why do you need a faux certificate 😂

Because title deeds sound mythical and otherworldly.
I'm gutted on your behalf op.

Well it’s better than our Deeds, with my name misspelt 🤦‍♀️

At least you have your deeds, as unexciting as they appear. Ours are stuck in a bloody big queue at the Land Registry :-( And we really need them at the moment to prove that we own the house. Oh well, just another day in life admin hell

I just sold mum's house, and I was able to hand over a fabulous folder of information and documents going right back since the house was built - all of it would be lost in the electronic ether nowadays.

I feel you op, such an achievement should be documented!

Well clearly you didn't buy the right kind of house to deserve a proper deed. when we purchased our castle in transylvania, it came with proper deeds, a crypt, an ancient cursed sword and an even more ancient butler named igor.

do better

My house is from 1790 and we only received a few pieces of paper. Nothing of any interest. I was quite gutted as I expected more. The 1950s house I sold had a good sized stack of paperwork.

We're selling my gran's house and the family have owned it since it was built in 1900. We have nothing to hand over, despite the family being paperwork hoarders. Turns out the paperwork went to the solicitor who later went bust and the documents never made it to the repository ☹️

Ask your solicitor to expedite the application at the land registry. They'll have them back in 10 days if it's causing you hardship.

Tried that. They just forwarded us the email from Land Registry saying what a big backlog they have.

Do you actually need them and it's causing you hardship? If so, the land registry will expedite them. They just haven't told them the right way it would seem.

It's Land Registry in Scotland which operates a bit differently. The house is also very old and is being registered on their new system for the 1st time. Because they are having to update the Registry of 1000s of homes since the new processes came into force and the old feudal system was abolished, everything is stuck in a huge backlog. They are very aware of how desperately we need this sorted but they can't make it move any faster. Trust me, we have been on at them about it.

When I receive it, I will definitely be wanting to turn it into a posh scroll with fancy wax seal like the OP wishes to do!

The Land Registry in England ‘dematerialised’ most of the deeds they held. That was their phrase. The rest of us would use ‘destroyed’. The most you’ll get these days is a printout of an electronic record.

@Bringbackspring have you tried contacting ROS yourself? They tend to be more accommodating if the homeowner contacts for an expedite.

I just got a bloody email!

As we don’t and didn’t hold the original deeds/documents we couldn’t have destroyed them. The land register was held in card form and we used to issue Land/Charge Certificates which were a copy of the register and often referred to as ‘deeds’.
Dematerialisation relates to the conversion of our card register to an electronic version. Not destruction of old deeds.

Thank you - this is different from something the Halifax bank told me, so it’s good to have it from the horse’s mouth.

Oh, I envy you your Igor. Such an asset 😁

he has a cousin... also called igor. I can send him over if you like. but I would need your cv to ensure you fit the igor master criteria

Do it! When we signed for this place (built 1901) we received a lovely bumper pack containing previous owners' bankruptcies, death certificates, wills etc all related to the house and a piece of waxed, sealed, calligraphed parchment as big as the FT with the deeds on 🥰

Considering the amount of hands the house has gone through I feel very lucky. I loooove this sort of historical stuff!

When we actually paid the mortgage off we just got a standard balance letter from the mortgage provider, rubbish!

With unregistered property in England And Wales a lender would keep the old deeds/documents by way of security - having the proof of ownership ‘secure’ protected their loan
Once a property is (and was) registered we create a register/title plan and return the original deeds etc to the applicant.
Pre 2000 we would issue a Charge Certificate for a registered property and a lender would keep that too. Unmortgaged properties had a Land Certificate and the owner kept that.
In mid 90s we started computerising the register itself and Post 2000 we stopped issuing such certificates and as and when Land/Charge Certificates were submitted we didn’t re issue them
Many lenders refer to ‘dematerialisation’ and deeds being destroyed in terms of Charge Certificates being discontinued. Not original deeds/documents which we never held.
Old deeds, especially Conveyances which were hand written (the writers were paid per word hence their length), are pre-registration deeds and do have historical interest. There’s one in my local Chinese restaurant in a frame.
https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2018/02/19/title-deeds/