How do I find my home's past?

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

We recently purchased a house without having a mortgage and were sent a two-page title deed with no other documents.

Cottage

As we were interested to find out the history of the house we were naturally disappointed and phoned our solicitor who advised that no further documents were now sent out.

Could you tell us where we might find the documents plans etc that we expected to receive. We know that the previous owner had a mortgage with Abbey is it worth trying there? PB Romford

A spokeswoman for Land Registry says: Public Guide 1 (October 2005) explains what information Land Registry keeps and how it can be obtained. It is available free from any Land Registry office, and can be viewed or downloaded from www.landregistry.gov.uk

The majority of the deeds and documents lodged in support of an application for first registration are returned to the solicitors who lodged the application. The deeds are then forwarded to either the mortgagee or the owner of the property. As these documents have no legal significance and would not be required for future transactions it is up to the owner of the property to decide what to do with them.

Documents relating to transactions which take place after first registration will be held at Land Registry as originals, hard copies or scanned copies. Applications can be made for copies of the register, title plan, most documents held by Land Registry and for historical copies of the register and plan.

Land Registry also offers a service to customers who wish to research the history of a property. This service provides the customer with copies of all documents held by Land Registry since first registration and is useful in establishing the property price history or for general interest. Further details about the property history service are available from Commercial.Services@landregistry.gsi.gov.uk

Please note:
• Our information only dates back to first registration, not necessarily the date that the property was built
• We do not hold pre-registration deeds
• There is a research fee and a charge for each copy document provided by this service.

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