Having Documents And Information Available
Having all the required information ready and at hand for viewers, surveyors, solicitors, mortgage lenders and head-lessors is imperative if you are to keep your sanity during the sale process. A strong but compact multi-section folder in which you can store this data and access its contents easily and quickly when needed will be a sound investment.
Legal Documents
If you are an organised person you may already have most of these documents at hand or you will know where they are. If not then you will need to find them or, at worst, try to obtain copies where the originals have been lost.
- The title deeds. These are the legal documents that prove you own the property. If your home was originally purchased using a mortgage then they will be stored by the mortgage lender. If you purchased it without a mortgage then you or the solicitor you used to purchase the property should have them. Find out who is in possession, explain you are about to place your property on the market for sale and request the deeds in writing.
- Solicitors must make a legally binding promise to return the deeds on demand (called ‘an undertaking’) This is governed by the Law Society. Individuals who are not solicitors are not bound by any legal sanction and therefore some mortgage lenders may be unwilling to release the deeds to them. In such an eventuality you will have to rely on your conveyancer acting for you.
- The Land Registry introduced changes during 2003 to absorb new technology and to create a more steamlined procedure for handling documents. Part of this development meant they ceased to issue Land or Charge certificates and destroyed any that were sent to them after 13th October 2003. Instead, registered titles are now being kept on their computer database. However, ‘Official Copies’ (previously called ‘Office Copies’) can still be obtained.
- New buyers of property will receive a title information sheet, but this is not the Title Deed and cannot be used as evidence in court.
- Lenders have also been moving towards dematerialisation and many now do not wish to receive the bulk of paperwork that once accompanied a Charge Certificate, such as planning permissions and NHBC certificates. Solicitors acting for buyers and sellers often store these documents themselves in their own storage facilities or send them on to their clients for their own safekeeping. This bundle is sometimes called the ‘Pre-registration Deeds’. If you bought your property after 2003 and are now selling it, it may be worth consulting your original conveyancing solicitor and asking about these documents, before approaching your mortgage lender.
- The lease. Unless your home was bought ‘freehold’ there is likely to be a Lease governing the length of term (usually 99 or 999 years) during which you can use the property. After this term expires the property ownership reverts to the ‘freeholder’. The lease also contains written conditions which you as the owner are bound to observe. The original lease may have been kept with the deeds but you are likely to have been given a copy by your solicitor prior to purchase.
- Any planning consents or variations. If you have altered your home in some way, for example by building an extension or conservatory, then it is likely you will have had to obtain planning consent from the local authority and provide evidence of them adhering to building regulations. There may also have been some agreement for a variation, sale or transfer of land or boundary. Gather together any contracts or letters describing such changes.
- The memorandum and articles. If you pay a service charge and/or management charge to a landlord or management company then there will be a document detailing the regulations and rules of the company and its association with you as the tenant or lessee. It may seem strange to describe the owner of a property as a tenant or lessee but, in law, that is exactly what they are if the property was bought leasehold. Any buyer of your property will need access to the memorandum and articles and, if these documents are not held by you, your solicitor or mortgage lender, then contact the landlord or management company and ask for a copy. At the same time check whether there have been any subsequent new rules or regulations introduced affecting you and any new buyer.
- Your mortgage documents. Keep all up-to-date records in your file, including the name, address and telephone number of the lender, and your account and reference number. The company may have changed name and premises over the years. Double-check that your information is accurate.