How difficult is it to get the deeds

naughtysmurf · 21-09-2021 7:43am #1

Parents purchased a house in 1990, no mortgage sold another property

Deeds were left in the bank for safekeeping, their current solicitor , not the solicitor they used to purchase at the time has requested them or a copy by letter along with a letter of authorisation signed by my mother, father deceased. No response from bank.

A number of years back , parents seemingly went to the bank themselves to look for the deeds but were told they were in a sealed envelope, that’s just what I’ve been told.

How difficult should this actually be? Not sure current solicitor is as focused as I’d like him to be.

thanks

Peregrinus · 21-09-2021 7:51am

Shouldn't be a problem at all. No need to involve the solicitor. Your mother is the bank's customer; from what you say they are holding the deeds in safe custody for her. They're her deeds; the bank should hand them back to her any time she asks for them.

She should ring the bank and say that she's coming in tomorrow (or whenever) to pick up the documents that the bank has been holding in safe custody for her, and ask the bank to confirm that they are available.

NB: most banks are reluctant to provide pure safe custody services; if they hold title deeds it is usually as security for a loan. So it is possible that the bank's understanding of why they are holding these documents is not the same as your mother's.

naughtysmurf · 21-09-2021 8:18am

Thanks, agreed, thought it would be straightforward

my mother is currently in a nursing home so getting her to the bank in person is problematic, copy of deeds is required for nursing home fair deal scheme , that’s why we asked her solicitor to do it as I can’t request them.

ohnonotgmail · 21-09-2021 9:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117918105#Comment_117918105

Are you sure you need the full set of deeds? when I was doing the same with fair deal earlier in the year they only required the folio number.

phormium · 21-09-2021 9:37am

If item is in safe keeping there is normally a receipt issued to customer, I kept stuff with AIB for years and always collected with receipt and new one issued when put back. If held as security for a loan they are quite probably offsite somewhere with either bank solicitors or other safe holding facility. Maybe if you could establish which it is it might be easier chase up.

Living Off The Splash · 21-09-2021 9:45am

Normally you get a safekeeping receipt for an "envelope". The bank does not know what is inside nor do they need to know. You are only renting storage.

Your solicitor's letter should be enough though if the original receipt was lost.

naughtysmurf · 21-09-2021 8:24pm

Not an expert on this but as I understand it, the purchase wasn’t registered on the latest system, Solicitor did manage to get a Memorial of deed, this I understand is a summary of the title deed, solicitor was surprised this wasn’t acceptable & has asked for clarification

The bank so far have been unresponsive to his request, small enough branch too, not aware of any receipt which doesn’t help I suppose

naughtysmurf · 22-09-2021 1:31pm

So just to update this, the bank confirmed that they have the deeds but as they were in a sealed envelope for safekeeping, they were not allowed to view them themselves so they couldn’t provide a copy, my mother’s solicitor can request the unopened envelope containing the deeds or my mother can collect the envelope herself.

UrbanFox · 29-09-2021 11:36am

Make sure to arrange for the envelope to be collected directly by the solicitor - do not allow them to be sent or collected via courier. This way they cannot get lost and the torture of trying to reconstruct them is avoided.

You may well find that the envelope will not be accepted back for further safe keeping as banks seem to have stopped that service.

naughtysmurf · 29-09-2021 1:03pm

They are with the solicitor now, all sorted

How difficult is it to get the deeds

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