RootsChat.Com

General => The Common Room => Topic started by: flipflops on Monday 31 December 12 01:28 GMT (UK)

Title: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: flipflops on Monday 31 December 12 01:28 GMT (UK)
Going through a box of odds and ends I came across a set of house deeds dating from between about 1902 and 196? Although I've only glanced at them, there are quite a few names, including a KCB, and a notice of sale from the early 1900s, so I imagine they are of some historical interest. 

Now I'm just wondering what would be the best/right thing to do with them,


 
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: CarolA3 on Monday 31 December 12 02:38 GMT (UK)
Someone mentioned this website a few weeks ago - and just for once, I kept the link :D

http://www.familydeeds.org/about.php

I'm sure they'd be pleased to hear from you!

Carol
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Old Bristolian on Monday 31 December 12 10:18 GMT (UK)
I'm sure the relevant County Record Office would be glad to have them too

Steve
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Jane Masri on Monday 31 December 12 16:03 GMT (UK)
What a great web site Carol.  I've bookmarked that  :)

Jane
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: flipflops on Monday 31 December 12 17:22 GMT (UK)
Thank you for your replies - and for the link. Couldn't decide which to choose, so contacted Family Deeds in the hope that they can 'borrow' them then pass them on to the records office which seemed like a good plan to me - and maybe I'll be (a little bit) forgiven for working in my heedless youth, at a company who used to cut up old vellum documents such as deeds and indentures and turn them into lampshades (shudder).
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: CarolA3 on Monday 31 December 12 18:42 GMT (UK)
Most of us, if we're honest, shudder from time to time when reminded of past mistakes - life's a learning curve!  If offered that job in my youth, I'd probably have done it too ::)

And now that you've made such a public confession, and you're truly repentant, we can all wish the new improved Flipflops a very happy 2013 and the best of luck with your research :) :D ;D

All the best,
Carol
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Viktoria on Monday 31 December 12 20:23 GMT (UK)
Do you know the property to which these deeds are relevant? I  hope they are not your present house-----If so they are essential documents and it is a helluva job to replace them. A property can`t be sold without them.
 They are passed on to each successive owner when a property is sold and outline boundaries, fences etc. as well as leasehold and freehold conditions.Unless the property to which they pertain has been demolished they ought to be with the present owner.
Sorry if I am" teaching my granny to suck eggs "  but they are really important docume
nts.  Viktoria.
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: CarolA3 on Wednesday 02 January 13 00:16 GMT (UK)
NB This reply refers to England only
For several decades, the Land Registry (a government agency) has been transferring information from old-style 'deeds' into its own electronic register.  Generally speaking, 'deeds' are now redundant because most properties are registered.  I've bought and sold nine (soon to be ten) properties in the last 35 years, and 'deeds' have never been required.

This link explains it better than I can:  http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/faqs/where-are-my-deeds-kept

Carol
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Viktoria on Wednesday 02 January 13 22:11 GMT (UK)
I did not know that Carol. When our mortgage was all paid up we got the deeds and a long document explaining how important they were and our bank offered to keep them safe for us. This was in1996. Several ,to my disappointment were copies, I had seen our neighbour`s which were all on vellum ,copperplate writing, red wax seals etc.Some of ours are typwritten and on flimsy paper , not very nice at all. Some others are really lovely .However I`ll look after these as they are part of the history of our little town and I`m sure future owners will  be interested---- especially in the increase in price  from the 1800`s  when it sold for  several hundred pounds.
Viktoria.
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Greensleeves on Wednesday 02 January 13 22:24 GMT (UK)
If I remember correctly, Registration with Land Registry became compulsory in England and Wales in 1988 and therefore, after that date, when properties were sold they would be registered and this would in effect render the deeds of no further  legal use.  When we sold a registered house I passed the deeds over to the purchasers as the solicitors had no need for them any more.  I still have the deeds to the house we sold subsequent to that and I, too, would like to know where I could send them for safe-keeping as they contain information which could be really useful to researchers in the future.
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: GrahamSimons on Wednesday 02 January 13 23:31 GMT (UK)
I'd suggest that you make copies: the original to go to the local Archive Service, where they will be stored securely and conserved if need be, a set of copies for you family history folders, and a set of copies to stay with the house. On a parallel note I had in my possession the paperwork of designing and building a house - when I sent it to the present owners, who are I think the fourth since it was built, they were thrilled to have the documents, even though they are from the relatively recent 1970s.
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Pheno on Wednesday 17 January 18 17:34 GMT (UK)
Resurrecting this thread as I have just been handed a file of deeds/maps relating to a property for which I am now Power of Attorney.  Having looked through them there are originals/maps relating to when the land was purchased from the local farm in 1884 and from then on showing this land in much smaller parcels until it was sold for development in 1937.

Thereafter there are deeds and lots of other documents (Nigerian marriage certificates, bankruptcy docs) relating to several of the people who have owned the property up to the present day.  I will retain them for now until the property is sold in the next couple of years but was wondering what to do with them after that and found this thread.

Wondered if anybody had gone on to donate to local Record Office and what their experience was and if anybody had experience relating to the family deeds website as noted in Reply#2 as, reading the blurb, it implies to me that once the deed I provided had been copied they would then be sold to provide funds in order to purchase further deeds.

Don't want that to happen to them.

I guess the present owner of the property has all this info as the place was bought outright without a mortgage.

Looking forward to getting such an impressive stack of info when my mortgage matures in the next couple of years and hopefully by then I shall know what to do with them.

Pheno
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Gadget on Wednesday 17 January 18 17:48 GMT (UK)
We were given a whole batch of deeds, etc., dating back to 1860s-70s, when we bought this house a few years back. I photocopied them and then handed them to our solicitor to keep in the strong room with our wills, etc.

I was able to follow the house/occupants from the 1871 census to now  :)

Gadget
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Pheno on Wednesday 17 January 18 17:58 GMT (UK)
I can't do any census searching as the land wasn't built on until 1937 more's the pity and I don't have a family solicitor so can't go down that route.

Pheno
Title: Re: What to do with old(ish) house deeds?
Post by: Gadget on Wednesday 17 January 18 18:05 GMT (UK)
You could try the 1939  :)

added - Electoral registers and any planning docs etc. from local authority