Reconstituting Title Deeds

[Prosper]

I've been advised that one part of the process is a Statutory Declaration. Can anyone enlighten me on what is involved in this and what its purpose is?

 

[mf1]

From the Irish Times 3.11.2011



Q THE DEEDS of my house are missing. Can I still sell it?

A YES IN most cases you can sell your house without the deeds but only after you have taken the following steps: first you should establish how the deeds became lost and set out the circumstances in a statutory declaration. If your solicitor is the party who last had custody of your deeds he or she should also make a statutory declaration.

In each case, the declaration should confirm that the deeds have not been placed with a lending institution or other third party by way of mortgage or other security. It should also say that despite intensive efforts to retrieve them the deeds have not been found and that they are irretrievably lost. Some purchasers may insist on an insurance bond to protect them in the event that the deeds should emerge at a later date in the wrong hands, as it were. The bond should at least be for the amount of the sale price.

The second step is to attempt to recreate all or part of your title. This will be easier to do where house is registered with the Property Registration Authority. If not, you can still get a copy of a memorial of the deeds from the Property Registration Authority, which is often accepted as secondary evidence of title.

If you live in a large estate, your neighbours’ title documents will be similar to your own. You may be able to obtain copies of your title deeds which may have been kept on file by your solicitor or even on the file of the vendor’s solicitor or even the developer’s solicitor if you live in a multi-unit development.

Copies of planning documents and other documents of public record can be obtained from the local authority or appropriate public office. Often, you can have architects’ certificates recreated by the firm of architects. Obviously there is a cost involved in taking these steps but they should not be prohibitive


mf

 

[Prosper]

Thanks very much for your reply, it's very helpful.

I have started the process of reconstituting the title deeds. After 3 letters between early December and end February I finally got a reply from my father's solicitor 3 weeks ago. Basically saying that they would do a final search for the documents and if that's not successful the Deeds could be easily reconstituted given that my father was the first and only owner of the house.

Week before last I replied asking them to outline what would be involved and that we were very anxious to sell the house. I have not had an answer yet. I don't believe they will ever acknowledge that they had the deeds despite knowing that I have a written note by my father in 1986 that he left the deeds with his solicitor and another note in 1992 that he left the Vesting Cert with them. Therefore I doubt if I will be able to get a statutory declaration out of them.

I have now written to a Solicitor representing the company who my father bought out the ground rent from in 1992. My thinking in approaching this Solicitor is that he would be familiar with dealing with properties in the same housing estate and that he could arrange a reconstituting of the original Lease more easily than another Solicitor.

At that time I noted from my fathers diary that this man had worked for my fathers Solicitor firm who also happened to represent the firm that owned the ground rents (and were located in the same building as the ground rent firm) and that he had attended a meeting with my father and the Principal partner of my father's Solicitor. So I think he's ideally placed to carry out the reconstituting work. Hopefully he'll take on the task and hopefully the fact that I've already promised the house sale business to another Solicitor won't discourage him!.

I have confirmation from my father's bank branch and their central office that they do not and never did have the deeds.

The property was not registered with the Land Registry but only with the Registry of Deeds. I have attested/certified copies of the Memorial and Vesting Cert. Incidentally, these copies show that my father's Solicitor paid the PRA a total of €40 in 2013 for the copies. These were required to be sent to the HSE before approval of a Nursing Home Loan for my now deceased mother. If he had the deeds then why would he bother paying the PRA for copies? Maybe he thought it was a more cost effective use of time. If it was because he couldn't find the deeds then he certainly never told my father this. Hence, I believe they are irretrievably lost.

Regarding the Insurance Bond, do you know if a regular insurance company do this or is there a specialist insurance company that do it?

 

[Darth Vader]

You will require the following in order to obtain title insurance:

1. A copy memorial of the missing deed/s
2. Confirmation that there have been no third party challenges to title to date.
3. Confirmation that a Registry of Deeds search against the Vendor discloses no adverse entries.
4. Copy of a Statutory Declaration in relation to the property and the Missing Deeds not being pledged (see sample)
5. Market value of property.
6. A note of the proposed Insured’s details (if known)
7. Confirmation if you also require the PRA named on the policy

Have a look at Titlesolv, a company in Dublin.
T: +353 (01) 6338872; W: www.titlesolv.com
A. Titlesolv, Hannover Re, 4 Custom House Plaza, IFSC, Dublin 1

I haven't used them as yet but they are the only one I know of.

 

[Prosper]

Thanks for your post Darth Vader.

1. I have attested copy Memorial and Vesting Cert. As mentioned in my previous post, my fathers solicitor purchased these copies from the PRA back in January 2013, when my father was applying for the Nursing Home Loan for my mother. The nursing home loan was repaid from my mothers estate after she died in 2014. The stamp on the Memorial and Vesting Cert is how I know that my Dads solicitor paid €20 for each copy. These were then sent to the HSE and returned when the loan was repaid.
2. I'm certainly unaware of any third party challenges to date but I'll be doing a search in Registry of Deeds on Monday so I'm assuming that will clarify this issue.
3. Would the copy Memorial not show any adverse entries? The search in the Registry of Deeds will show up any adverse entries since the Copy Memorial that I have issued back in 2013.
4. Not sure what you mean and what sample are you referring to? I have confirmation in writing from my fathers bank and from the HSE that they do not and never did have the Title Deeds.
5. We got a market value for probate purposes 6 months ago. Of course the market value has increased since then.
6. Who is the proposed insured? Is it the party who wishes to buy the house or the estate wishing to sell it - i.e. myself and my siblings. My understanding is that the "proposed insured" would be the party that wish to buy the house.
7. Under what circumstances would we require the PRA to be named on the policy? Does "named on the policy" mean that the PRA might need to be indemnified against the Deeds turning up at some future date with some third party named as owner of the property? Would this be unnecessary once I have confirmation from the Registry of Deeds that their records show nothing adverse?

I did find a company in the UK called First Title that provide this type of insurance, but thank you for giving me an alternative.