end of mortgage.

marienbad

The last payment for our mortage was today and I rang up the bank to make sure the mortgage protection insurance was cancelled and to request the deeds of our house be forwarded .

The guy made a huge song and dance about it and said they would hold on the deeds. I said ''no you wont why would you as we have no other business with you''

He then gave me a rigmarole saying it was standard practice for the bank to hold deeds and to do it differently I would have to use a solicitor to act on my behalf and would have to pays fees to the bank.

Is this standard procedure or what. It have been a trouble free relationship until now and I thing this is the first conversation we have had since the mortgage was granted 20 years ago.

NIMAN

No advice, just to say congratulations! Envy you.

marienbad

NIMAN wrote: »

No advice, just to say congratulations! Envy you.

Hang in there , everything works out in the longterm. To be honest I would prefer to have the 20 odd years back ,even with a mortgage . How times flies .

killers1

marienbad wrote: »

The last payment for our mortage was today and I rang up the bank to make sure the mortgage protection insurance was cancelled and to request the deeds of our house be forwarded .

The guy made a huge song and dance about it and said they would hold on the deeds. I said ''no you wont why would you as we have no other business with you''

He then gave me a rigmarole saying it was standard practice for the bank to hold deeds and to do it differently I would have to use a solicitor to act on my behalf and would have to pays fees to the bank.

Is this standard procedure or what. It have been a trouble free relationship until now and I thing this is the first conversation we have had since the mortgage was granted 20 years ago.

Congrats!!! There is a legal process whereby the mortgage deed needs to be vacated and the Land Registry or Registry of Deeds notified that the mortgage has been repaid and the charge is to be removed against your property. Banks generally tend to return Deeds to the solicitor who looked after the purchase so if you have any solicitor contacts ask them about the best way to approach this. Otherwise, try to contact your banks Legal & Securities Dept and you should get a clearer answer as to their particular process. Personally I'd prefer for the bank or a solicitor to hold onto the Deeds for safekeeping instead of having to find somewhere safe at home, although a lot of banks no longer offer this facility.

skippy2

Sounds like another racket just to get money from you.
They hold the title deeds as security, you repay the loan you get your title deeds back should be pretty simple.
Why the need to pay solicitors etc
If need you be you should be able to contact the Land Registry directly with a letter provided by the bank that they no longer have need of the security and release any hold on the title deeds. Anything else is just another way to take money from people.

NIMAN

Think all banks have a release fee for your deeds after the mortgage is cleared. As if they didn't get enough off you during all those years, you'd think they could waiver this fee!

mickdw

Its not just as simple as the bank posting the deeds out. The charge against your property would be recorded on the land registry docs relating to your property. New clean documents will need to be issued and knowing land registry, this might take a year or two if left to their own devices.
I wouldnt worry either way. It just a process that will have to take place.
Give your solicitor a call to clarify.

tony81

marienbad wrote: »

Is this standard procedure or what. It have been a trouble free relationship until now and I thing this is the first conversation we have had since the mortgage was granted 20 years ago.

standard procedure.. just ask your solicitor to do it. The bank fee is fixed (I forget how much), just make sure to agree a fee with your solicitor.

Congrats by the way!

DMcL1971

mickdw and killers1 are both correct in that the bank do need to do some work. However it is their responsibility to do this. They must close your mortgage account and inform the land registry that they no longer have an interest in your property. This is something they can do now online. The land registry take a few days to process this and they update their records to show that you are now the sole owner of the property and then instruct the bank to release your deeds. Remember, the deeds belong to you and always did, the bank only held them as security until you paid them back their money.

Once that is done, the deeds should be returned to you by the bank. Some banks will offer to hold onto them for you for safekeeping for an annual fee, some will return them to your solicitor who may then store them for you, or you can have them returned to you and you can choose how you want to store them.

The 'Deed' or 'Deeds' is actually a very large collection of all the paperwork related to your property and and can run to dozens of seperate documents. When I received my deeds theywere in a concertina file about two inches thick. My mortgage provider charged me a 'Deed Release Fee' of 65 Euro to cover administration costs. There was no need to talk to any solicitors.

I recommend that you contact your bank again. When I first spoke to them about clearing my mortgage , the lady I spoke to had no idea what the procedure was, as in the three years she had worked there no one had asked to clear a mortgage, she atually said, 'I will have to go and ask someone a bit older.' I got this image of a middle aged guy who had been kept on to deal with closing old mortgages while the rest of the staff were a gang of twentysomethings who did nothing but sell as many mortgages as possible and damn the consequences.

StillWaters

Physical deeds are historic documents now, yours will need to be filed electronically with the Land Registry. A solicitor shouldnt charge you much for this, you will then get a folio number which replaces your deeds. You can then burn the deeds if you wish.

SVI40

When I cleared my mortgage with the EBS 3 years ago, I rang them, spoke to the mortgage people in head office, they sent the deeds to a branch of my choice, and I signed a receipt saying I received them. Two years later I sold the house, absolutely no issues with the deeds or any solicitor involved to get them back.

_ciaran_

SVI40 wrote: »

When I cleared my mortgage with the EBS 3 years ago, I rang them, spoke to the mortgage people in head office, they sent the deeds to a branch of my choice, and I signed a receipt saying I received them. Two years later I sold the house, absolutely no issues with the deeds or any solicitor involved to get them back.

Re: the deeds release fee: most banks will only charge this if the mortgage is being paid off prematurely .i.e before the agreed term of the loan. If it expires naturally they shouldn't charge you.

Cereal Number

Congrats!

Spend the extra money on hookers and coke!

SVI40

_ciaran_ wrote: »

Re: the deeds release fee: most banks will only charge this if the mortgage is being paid off prematurely .i.e before the agreed term of the loan. If it expires naturally they shouldn't charge you.

Mine was paid off early, and no fee was charged. It was a variable, so maybe that had a bearing.

Sandwlch

Cereal Number wrote: »

Congrats!

Spend the extra money on hookers and coke!

Or on opera tickets and champagne at the interval !

horse7

StillWaters wrote: »

Physical deeds are historic documents now, yours will need to be filed electronically with the Land Registry. A solicitor shouldnt charge you much for this, you will then get a folio number which replaces your deeds. You can then burn the deeds if you wish.

So basically the folio number with the land registry will have all the information that the hard copies have?