Old solicitor still has deeds to house

mathie

Hi
Long story short.
I'm selling my house.
Our old solicitor (who we bought the house with) still has the deeds.
The new solicitor says the bank should have them.
The old solicitor is not releasing the deeds until the bank verify that he should.
This has been going on for over a week now.

Shouldn't the bank have the deeds?
Is it unprofessional/illegal for the old solicitor to have never sent them to the bank?

Thanks
M

ladylorenzo

In short..Yes! Your old solicitor would have had to give an undertaking to the bank that he would lodge the deeds with them once everything was stamped and registered(with the Revenue Commissioners and the Land Registry respectively)

Usually, if there is a delay in doing this, then the solicitor would have received letters from the bank reminiding him of the undertaking given by him and requesting that the Deeds be lodged immediately.

Your new solicitor should be able to draft a Release for you to sign confirming that you want any documents relating to your file released to your new solicitor so that he may proceed with the sale of your house and a copy of this sent to the bank so that they are kept in the loop. If the Solicitor fails to release the documents at this stage without any justifiable reason for doing so(i.e. Outstanding fees etc.), then you have grounds to report him to the Law Society.

spurious

On a related deeds question....once a mortgage has been paid off, do people normally get the deeds from the bank or are they generally left with the bank for safety?

ladylorenzo

spurious wrote:

On a related deeds question....once a mortgage has been paid off, do people normally get the deeds from the bank or are they generally left with the bank for safety?

The bank will release the Deeds to the Solcitor who generally keeps them in his safe unless directed otherwise by the client.

seamus

Indeed, please ask your new solicitor for guidance on this, he should know what needs to be done.