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What happens when your title deeds are missing?
Since December 1990 it is compulsory for all properties in England and Wales to be registered at the Land Registry. The Land Registry keep a digital record for each property and summarise all the relevant provisions from the original title deeds into one document which is called a ‘title register’. The property is then ‘registered’.
If you have owned your property prior to the introduction of compulsory registration it may be that your property is unregistered.
Therefore, when you come to sell the property, there is no single title register and you need to provide all the original Deeds relating to the property to evidence your ownership. The buyer’s solicitor, on completion, then applies to the Land Registry for the first registration of title.
But what happens when you can’t find the Deeds? In such circumstances, an application has to be made to the Land Registry which is called a ‘reconstitution of title’.
This is where you have to prove to the Land Registry that you are the legal owner of the property by relying on other evidence.
1. You must first exhaust all avenues for locating the original Deeds before applying to the Land Registry. If you cannot locate your Deeds at home, they can sometimes be found in the following places:
* If you have, or had, a mortgage on your property your mortgage lender may be holding the Deeds for safekeeping.
* The solicitor who acted for you in the purchase of the property may hold the Deeds in their Deeds storage
* If you have prepared wills, then the Deeds may be kept with the Wills – either at home or with the solicitor who prepared the deeds.
2. If the Deeds cannot be located, a Statement of Truth is signed by the owner of the property which sets out the facts and evidence on which they seek to prove their ownership. This statement will also detail all the steps taken to locate the Deeds and a plan showing the extent of the Property will need to be prepared by a surveyor.
You have to show evidence of continuous possession – this can be shown by providing, for example, utility bills, planning permissions or building regulations certificate relating to the property or solicitor correspondence from when you purchased the property. This must be for a period of at least 15 years.
3. The Land Registry will consider the information provided. If they believe that there is sufficient evidence, they will register the property with ‘possessory title’ This is one of the lowest classification of titles as the Land Registry cannot say, without doubt, that you are the owner of the property but they are willing to register the property in your name based on evidence of possession only. Future buyers and/or their mortgage lenders may require an indemnity insurance policy to proceed in light of this. You may be able to upgrade the classification of title form ‘possessory’ to ‘absolute’ (which is the best class of title) after 10 years of registration.
The Land Registry look at reconstitution of title on a case by case basis. Not all applications are successful – therefore it’s important to instruct a solicitor who can guide you through the process.
If you are looking to reconstitute your property’s unregistered title, or if you have the original deeds and want to apply for first registration, please contact our Conveyancing team on 01606 74301.