We are due to finish paying our mortgage in August this year. The Halifax say that they will store our house deeds if we keep from paying the last
125. Is there some catch in this? Why not pay off all the mortgage then pay them to store the deeds? Does the house still remain theirs? What is the benfit from their point of view of us owing them 125?
If your interest rate is, say, 6% p.a., then it will cost you 7.50 annually for "storage" - this could be a lot less than an actual storage charge. What would the Halifax charge?
This house has always been yours.
The Halifax charge no interest when you are on a Deedstore Mortgage
In message , Susan writes
Their policy is probably to return the deeds once a mortgage is paid off. This is a workaround, which means they get to lose your deeds, rather than you
I dont think there is a catch. 5 or 6% of £125 is not much for safe storage of important docs.
I think Richard Faulkner is north of the border, where the system is different, but for England and Wales the Land Registration Act 2002 did away with land certificates and charge certificates.
For registered land that big brown envelope of "deeds" (including the rabies vaccination certificate of the last owner but three's uncle's sheep dog) may be of historic interest, but is of no other value. *
Halifax seem to have a nice little earner if they can charge for safe keeping of reams of valueless documents!
Details are at
I'm in Manchester and would suggest that you try selling a house without the big brown envelope. The Land Registry might like to think they have all that we need on their register, but most solicitors will not accept that. They want to see and feel the real thing.
I believe that there is no interest charged on outstanding mortgage balances under £125. Thus the only cost is the £10 fee. The other plus is that the mortgage account remains open should there be a need to borrow for improvements etc.
Regards
In message , Melvin Anderson writes
But the Land Registry only has land which has been registered and land is only registered if there is a transaction, so if the mortgage was given years ago then title may still be represented by unregistered deeds which the Halifax will still be holding and they most certainly wont be valueless.
Does it ?
Exactly what advantage does it give if you need to borrow again ?
Daytona
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