What do Title Deeds Look Like?

Say that you have accepted an offer on your home and are all ready to sell. The pace is picking up, and soon you’ll be able to take the next steps on your property journey. The final step may be that you need the title deeds to prove you are the owner.

It’s possible at this point that you cannot find them, and are perhaps unsure what they even look like. It might be that the last time you saw them was when you bought the house, and since then they have remained safe with your solicitor or mortgage lender, with a digital copy kept by the Land Registry.

What are title deeds?

Title deeds are your proof of ownership. Much like a shop receipt might show you own the item you’ve purchased, a title deed proves that you own the property.

The title deeds will confirm that you are the legal owner of the property. Made up of several documents to demonstrate you own the home and what its previous ownership was, the title deeds will include:

• Leases
• Sale contracts
• Wills
• Mortgage agreements
• Transfers of ownership
• Property descriptions
• Restrictive covenants

What do I need the title deeds for?

When you sell your home, you will need to show that you are its current legal owner. The deeds will validate this and therefore allow you to proceed with the sale.

They can also be used should a dispute arise between neighbours. With detailed information about the property and any rights & restrictions that may be in place, they can be used to show where boundaries are, and therefore settle any problems raised by those living near you.

If you aren’t selling and don’t have a dispute to deal with, your deeds may come in useful if you plan to remortgage or carry out some major changes to the home. By proving you are the legal owner and showing what covenants may be in place, you’ll find your mortgage application or development plans are much easier to achieve.

I can’t find them. What do title deeds look like?

Not to worry – these days, copies of the title deeds are kept digitally by the Land Registry, with the originals held by your mortgage lender or solicitor. In fact, there is no legal requirement for the originals to be handed over, so it is quite possible they have long since vanished (especially if there have been multiple sales of the property).

In cases where the property is particularly old or unregistered, physical deeds may still remain in the owner's hands. They will look slightly different to the digital versions commonly found today.

Physical title deeds

If you, your solicitor or mortgage lender have paper title deeds, they will commonly:

• Be handwritten or typed and bound in a folder with all other relevant documents
• Have signatures from solicitors and property owners along with stamps or seals to denote authenticity
• Contain information relating to mortgages, covenants, disputes and boundaries
• Show the sales history of the property
• Detail any significant changes to the home

Digital title deeds

The current format of title deeds is digital, and for most properties in the UK, this is how property deeds will look. They are structured documents rather than a collection of paperwork and files.

With this type of title deed, you’ll find:

• A title register that confirms the ownership, legal rights, restrictions and financial charges held against the property, such as a mortgage. It will also include a title number and how much the house was sold for
• A title plan that maps out the boundaries of the property, its location and any shared access areas it may have

Where can I get my title deeds from?

For properties that are registered with the Land Registry, you can head to the online portal and search for your property. You can view the summary for free and then pay for downloadable or official copies of the title register and title plan, so you have documents to hand that prove ownership.

It’ll cost you £3 to download or £7 to have them posted out to you. If there is additional information you need to help support your sale or dispute, you can request specific documents from the Land Registry by completing a deeds request form. There will be a charge again, £7 per document, but this can be useful if there is very specific information required.

You can request the physical paper documents, but this can prove tricky. You’ll need to speak to the solicitor who helped you purchase the home or the lender who loaned you the funds to buy it. Occasionally, they don’t have them. When this is the case, your last port of call is the previous owner, but there is no guarantee they still have them.

Can I still sell my home without title deeds?

It can be challenging to sell if you don’t have the title deeds available. Without this proof of ownership, buyers may be reluctant to proceed. Even if they are willing to complete, their solicitor will have to dig deeper to find information that validates your ownership and allows the purchase to go ahead.

If you have found problems with selling your home, perhaps due to missing title deeds or simply a lack of interest, speak to us. At Bettermove, we buy any home for cash. Location, condition or type doesn’t matter, and in many cases, we will have your house sold in just seven days. With two guaranteed routes to sale, you just choose the one that aligns with your goals the most. Either opt for our network of cash buyers for houses, or allow us to buy it directly. Either way, you sell your house for free as we’ll pick up all your legal fees, too.