Deeds when buying a house

[Hamish]

If I buy a house for cash will I recieve the title deeds when at the same time I hand over the money (assuming I do it in person). Bareing in mind that the seller has a morgage on the property? Thanks

[kags]

Please tell me you have a solicitor acting for you! If so, the payment will normally be made by you to your solicitor who will transfer it to the seller's solicitor. Your solicitor should have checked that the seller does in fact own the property, and once the sale has gone through the deeds will be sent to your solicitor. This can take a while, especially if the deeds have to come from a mortgage lender. It would be advisable to leave the deeds with the solicitor for safe keeping. If you don't have a solicitor then handing a large amount of cash over to someone soes not sound like a good idea.

[BenDToy]

I can only echo what kags has said. I would emphasise though, that if you have to ask this question, you really do need to get a conveyancer to act for you. Good luck.

[Hamish]

Thanks for the info folks, it was a hyperthetical situation. Just one other thing kags, How could my solicitor check that the seller owened the house?

Thanks,

Hamish

[kags]

The Land Registry has a record of ownership for all land and properties, a solicitor or conveyancer would check that to make sure the seller had the legal title to the property. They would also make other checks to make sure there aren't any imminent building projects, such as a new road being built 50yards from the house. Incidently, even if you did give someone the cash in person, they would have to pay off the mortgage before the lender would release the deeds, so they would not have the title deeds with them. It is possible to do the conveyancing of property yourself, but I think people who do, do it for the challenge rather than saving money - a solicitor would charge a few hundred quid but I would say this is one thing in life it is not worth trying to save money on!

[Hamish]

Thanks for the help folks! Tried looking on the net but all I got were people wating to sell my house for me!

Hamish