Bank Lockers
- Thread starter RPR
- Start date
Since, at least a few years back, our former mortgage lender (EBS) no longer offered a deeds storage service for customers who had paid off their mortgages I approached my bank (PTSB) and they offered a free safety deposit storage service so I left them there.
Unfortunately in my case I just stuck the deeds in an envelope, sealed it with a signature and handed it over at the counter. It was nothing like in the movies where the manager escorts the valued customer into a big vault and leaves them there to open the drawer and inspect their stolen diamonds etc. 
I also cleared my mortgage with the EBS early. They wrote out to me asking me to collect my deeds but I just ignored them.
I contacted them recently and they confirmed in writing that they still held the deeds. They didn't request me to take them so I'll leave them there.
If you leave the deeds of your house with a bank, whether you pay for the service or not, and if the bank lose them, are they obliged to pay for duplicate deeds to be made?
Murt
I contacted them recently and they confirmed in writing that they still held the deeds. They didn't request me to take them so I'll leave them there.
If you leave the deeds of your house with a bank, whether you pay for the service or not, and if the bank lose them, are they obliged to pay for duplicate deeds to be made?
Murt
Presumably you authorised and paid them to remove their interest in the property from the vacated mortgage? I know that they (and probably most lenders) offer to do this for a fee but I did it myself at the Land Registry offices in Setanta House, Nassau Street myself for less than half what they were charging. If not you could have paid off the mortgage but have left them with a legal interest in the property. It would be a good idea to sort this out just in case it causes problems later on. Also - unless you needed to retain it you could also cancel the mortgage protection life assurance if you redeemed the mortgage early. This does not get cancelled automatically if you clear a mortgage early.
That's interesting. I presume you are referring to people leaving the deeds where they are rather than them being lost though!Vanilla said:
As far as I recall EBS contacted us when the mortgage was redeemed and gave us the option of paying them to vacate the mortgage or to do it ourselves after which the deeds would be returned to us. However maybe that would have required us to call in in person rather than them sending them out by courier/post? As it happens I collected them in person anyway, had the deeds updated at the Land Registry and then stored them with PTSB. I would have expected them to hassle us if we hadn't collected the deeds but maybe they don't bother?
No, actually I was referring to banks losing original deeds. It happens fairly frequently. Well when you think of the large volumns of paperwork and deeds they handle, its probably a very small percentage, but enough that I have dealt with a number of applications for a duplicate land certificate where the original was lost by a financial institution.
I don't know whether if you didn't collect your deeds the bank would hassle you to do so, I would imagine most people are so delighted to be mortgage free and to actually have their own deeds, that they just automatically take them. I do frequently get asked by clients to deal with the vacate and thereafter store their deeds in this situation. Not everyone would be comfortable dealing with the vacate themselves, though it is not at all complicated.
I don't know whether if you didn't collect your deeds the bank would hassle you to do so, I would imagine most people are so delighted to be mortgage free and to actually have their own deeds, that they just automatically take them. I do frequently get asked by clients to deal with the vacate and thereafter store their deeds in this situation. Not everyone would be comfortable dealing with the vacate themselves, though it is not at all complicated.
Thanks - I'm surprised at that to be honest.Vanilla said:
Do many solicitors offer a deeds storage service to clients? Do they charge for it? Do you, as a solicitor, consider storage of the deeds in a bank safety deposit facility suitably secure? Do you think that, in spite of what is often said, loss of the deeds is not that big a deal after all? Any idea on the ballpark figure involved in replacing lost deeds?
I can't see why anybody would be wary of this. You collect the deeds, take them to the Land Registry (or maybe Registry of Deeds in some cases?), go to the counter, tell them the mortgage is cleared and you want the lender's interest removed, let them do it and pay them the required fee (c. IR£25 in 2000 if I recall correctly) and then take the deeds off for safe keeping. Nothing to it really. Unless you know of other complications that can arise?
Most solicitors do store deeds- they don't charge for storage, but many will, if subsequently asked for the deeds, charge a scrivenary fee to find them, photocopy them, and arrange for a collection by a client. This should be no more than 30 or 40 euro, I would think. I would consider storage by a bank secure, as I said the percentage of deeds lost is probably very small, but it does happen, and if the bank lose them, they will pay for replacement. Cost of replacement? Advert in gazette ( €121), land registry fees ( €31), solicitors fees probably around €250 & VAT, commissioner for oaths fees €20 ( at least, depending on number of affadavits required by land registry). In some circumstances the land registry might require an advert in a national newspaper, or additional proofs and that might push up the cost.
In relation to people dealing with the vacate themselves- don't forget that theres quite a few of us out here who do not live in Dublin...Kerry dealings are in Waterford, and some people are just wary of doing anything like this themselves. If you think thats unusual, I would think the majority of my clients don't even like to get their own land registry map. Whenever a client comes in and asks me to get one for them I tell them they can get it themselves, explain how, and the majority STILL ask me to get it for them. I remember when I started out as an apprentice people used to come in for those voluntary government census forms, area aid forms, anything remotely official. The younger generation is better at dealing with paperwork as they are used to it, so this will probably fade out more and more.
In relation to people dealing with the vacate themselves- don't forget that theres quite a few of us out here who do not live in Dublin...Kerry dealings are in Waterford, and some people are just wary of doing anything like this themselves. If you think thats unusual, I would think the majority of my clients don't even like to get their own land registry map. Whenever a client comes in and asks me to get one for them I tell them they can get it themselves, explain how, and the majority STILL ask me to get it for them. I remember when I started out as an apprentice people used to come in for those voluntary government census forms, area aid forms, anything remotely official. The younger generation is better at dealing with paperwork as they are used to it, so this will probably fade out more and more.