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.
Orlaith McCarthy is a consultant in the private client department of law firm ByrneWallace, byrnewallace.com
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This column is a readers’ service. Advice given is general and individual advice should always be sought
