Lost deed to house

Hi

Does anybody know what has to be done if the deed to a house are lost.

Background

House purchased approx 20 yrs ago, original solicitor never lodged deeds with mortgage lender. Solicitor now cannot locate deeds and has moved premises a number of time since.

Thanks

There is a fair bit of work in re-constituting lost title deeds; The volume of work depends on various issues, including whether the deeds are "Land Registry" or "Registry of Deeds". It is not possible to give an exact summary without knowing a lot more, but briefly:

1. Planning documents must be re-consitituted ; i.e. put together copies of all planning permissions, building bye law approvals and architects certificate of compliance.

2. If a Land Registry Title, and if already registered, apply for new Land Certificate. This involves advertising etc.

3. If Registry of Deeds title, ascertain how many of the lost deeds were original and how many would have been copies only. Copies can easily be replaced. For lost originals, it may be possible to have the original signatories re-execute a deed. Otherwise, you can get a certified copy memorial and perhaps a lost title document insurance policy (not needed unless and until you actually go to sell or mortgage)

Thanks MOB

There's a bit more information in this thread about the potential issues (and, in particular, costs) involved in replacing lost deeds in case it's of any interest.