Title Deeds or House Deeds

Title Deeds or House Deeds

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Overview

The terms "Title Deeds" and "House Deeds" are usually expressed to mean the ownership documents of your home. These are a technically incorrect terms, but are terms that most of us readily recognise the meaning of. The purpose of this article is to explain the precise meaning of Title Deeds and House Deeds and to contrast them with the the more exact title of Title Register and Title Plan.

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Official Documents of Title

Nearly all property in England and Wales is now registered. Land Registration takes the place of the dated system of land conveyancing and its once handwritten, lengthy Deeds that transferred and described the ownership of our homes. These Deeds often used to be forgotten about and lost, as indeed is the case with those properties that remain unregistered today.

The Title Register and Title Plan are now the official documents of Title, but only become so once a property is registered. A registered document is available online at any time, day or night, on any day of the year. Such documents cannot be lost and can always be purchased for a modest sum.

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Title Plan

The Title Plan illustrates the position and shape of the land and usually your home which is built upon the land, in relation to the surrounding land and properties. It will also illustrate the position of any parts of the land uniquely affected by restrictive covenants and easements and show areas of the land that may have been sold off separately, shared drives, etc.

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Title Register

The Title Register provides details of the property, sufficient to identify it, and also refers to the Title Plan. The meaning of coloured markings on the Title Plan are explained in the Title Register. The tenure of the property, i.e. freehold or leasehold, is also shown.

It also provides details of the ownership, i.e. the names and contact addresses of the owners, the class of title enjoyed by them, e.g. absolute freehold title, or possessory title, the date of purchase and the purchase price.

Any mortgages or charges are also described in the Title Register, as are any rights of way, rights of light, rights of access, restrictive covenants and the like.

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Title Deeds and House Deeds

The Title Deeds (or House Deeds) are in fact the old Associated Documents, which are now mostly redundant. This is why it is necessary to distinguish these expressions from the correct titles of "Ownership Documents", "Documents of Title" and "Title Register and Title Plan". Although Title Deeds are largely redundant they may, however, serve a useful purpose, e.g. where there is a boundary dispute or a right of way dispute. In such circumstances the reference to the old Title Deeds or Associated Documents, would be very useful. In this respect the Land Registry make copies of some of them and then insert a note in the Register following a reference to a Deed, to the effect that a copy has been made of it. Whenever this is so a copy can be purchased by using the Associated Documents link.