Deeds release charge?

[EXC]

I'm posting this for Agnes if anyone could help. Thanks.

I have asked Halifax Building Society, to release the Deeds in Store to us, and paid the appropriate £125.00 balance which is required for holding them in store. I was told that the deeds would be sent to us.

We now have a letter asking us to pay £50. for them to release the deeds. without this we can not obtain them. I realise that the deeds are not considered of any use now that they are computerised, but just the same I want the paper version for sentimental reasons.

Do you know if they are legally entitled to place a charge for this. ?

[Emerald]

Re: Deeds release charge?

Was the £125 the amount outstanding on the mortgage?

[EXC]

Re: Deeds release charge?

I don't know, I was wondering what the figure was for. I'm sure Agnes will shed some light on it.

[Emerald]

Re: Deeds release charge?

In the past for a building society/bank to store the deeds safely for free then a balance had to be owing on the mortgage, this was as little as £1, and then a fee was paid to release them of which £50 sounds about right.

[scoobydoo]

Re: Deeds release charge?

In the dim and distant past a fee would not have been charged - but nowadays as an admin charge occurs everytime they pick up a pen it would not surprise me.

Did you have any letter when they agreed to hold the deeds as if on that there was no charge mentioned or say it was £25.00 then you might have a case.

But otherwise I guess it is as the poster above said par for the course I am afraid

[EXC]

Re: Deeds release charge?

I'm sure Agnes will let us know if she has an agreement.

Thanks you two.

[agnes]

Re: Deeds release charge?

Was the £125 the amount outstanding on the mortgage?

Hi,
Yes I can tell you That was the omount the Halifax told us to leave outstanding on the mortgage when we finished paying it, required to keep the deeds in store. There has never been any mention till now of paying to get the deeds out.
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In the dim and distant past a fee would not have been charged - but nowadays as an admin charge occurs everytime they pick up a pen it would not surprise me.

Did you have any letter when they agreed to hold the deeds as if on that there was no charge mentioned or say it was £25.00 then you might have a case.

But otherwise I guess it is as the poster above said par for the course I am afraid

Hi there No I cannot remember a letter stating anything about that, but to be fair there could be some small print gone unnoticed of course. All I remember was the £125.00 required to hold the deeds. In retrospect I wish we had just had the deeds there and then, especially as they have no real value other than sentimental !!

Thanks all I would love to find out they have no right to ask for this fee.!!

[Tools]

Re: Deeds release charge?

agnes, if you are still the owner registered with the Land Registry you can obtain a pdf copy of the tiltle deeds from them for £8 I think (or was last time I checked Ame will correct me if I am wrong )

[scoobydoo]

Re: Deeds release charge?

I would be tempted to write to the Halifax asking for evidence that your were informed of the £50.00 fee when you agreed to leave the deeds with them. Let them try and prove it rather than just pay up. It is a bit like the discharge admin fees for mortgages - if when you take out your mortgage they tell you the admin fee is £50.00 - then when you repay the fee is £125 I believe they have to refund the difference.

So for the sake of a letter asking them to show you exactly where they informed you of the fee - it will be worth a try.

[agnes]

Re: Deeds release charge?

agnes, if you are still the owner registered with the Land Registry you can obtain a pdf copy of the tiltle deeds from them for £8 I think (or was last time I checked Ame will correct me if I am wrong )

Thank you I think I will do that anyway and still write to the Halifax BS val xx

[righty]

Re: Deeds release charge?

In order to store deeds FOC it was required that there be small balance left outstanding on the mortgage which could vary but £125 sounds about right.

The 'release fee' is intended to cover the cost of physically searching their archives to locate the hard copy

[agnes]

Re: Deeds release charge?

In order to store deeds FOC it was required that there be small balance left outstanding on the mortgage which could vary but £125 sounds about right.

The 'release fee' is intended to cover the cost of physically searching their archives to locate the hard copy

So once more we learn that it costs an enormous amount of money for a member of staff to go to a filing system, pull out a document, put it in an envelope and address it, for posting. no wonder we never made enough money, when running our business !

[agnes]

Re: Deeds release charge?

agnes, if you are still the owner registered with the Land Registry you can obtain a pdf copy of the tiltle deeds from them for £8 I think (or was last time I checked Ame will correct me if I am wrong )

Guess What, The charge at the Land Registry now is £29.95 So I am waiting for the response from the Halifax first, and at best they may not have the proof I asked for, and I pay nothing, or a least I can pay the £29.95

[agnes]

Re: Deeds release charge?



Greetings All, Well After writing to the Halifax Building Society, and first of all receiving a letter stating that the charge does apply and is shown in the leaflet given with all mortgage details etc. I then wrote back again stating that they still had not given me the evidence showing that we had been informed of this charge when we first agreed the mortgage as I had asked for, and lo and behold ! we received a second letter, no proof contained, but as a gesture of goodwill they will wave the charge!! si thanks for the good advice, scoobydoo, by the way I have since found that you can get a basic copy download of the title deed for £3. from the land registry site.

[Tools]

Re: Deeds release charge?

That was what I meant when I said £8 , lol, I got the fee wrong