I’m writing to inquire about house deeds. The house belonged to my mother, who is deceased, and it is registered with the Land Registry.
I’ve been told by the local council that my mother had the deeds, but I can’t find them anywhere. I’m wondering if I can get another set of deeds for the house and how I would go about doing that.
A: That the property is registered with the Land Registry should make finding information about it straightforward, says solicitor Gwen Bowen, of Bowen & Co Solicitors in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.
There are two systems for recording property in Ireland – the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds.
About 90 per cent of the legal titles in Ireland are now registered in the Land Registry.
The Land Registry issues property folios – a folio is an official document, but there is no ‘original’. A folio serves as official proof of ownership. It shows the location and size of the property, the name and address of the registered owner and lists any financial or legal burdens on the property, such as mortgages or rights of way.
Anyone can log on to LandDirect.ie, a Government website, to check the ownership of property, its boundaries or rights of way. Here, too, you can view and print a plain copy of the property folio, costing €5, or order a physical certified copy for €40.
If you are planning on selling the property, you’ll need the assistance of a solicitor anyway, so you could ask them to do this.
The reader’s query infers his mother’s house was once a council-owned property, or a home that was purchased with a council loan.
You may find the Land Registry folio shows there is a charge registered on the property by the local authority.
“Back in the day, when the local authority was giving you the title deeds to a property, they would have given you a paper ‘discharge’ document, but they wouldn’t have formally registered it, so it (the charge) may still show,” says Bowen.
“Anything before the late 1990s, we tend to find there is a charge still sitting on the property. People say, ‘but I paid it off’ . . . There will be evidence somewhere that it is paid off. Again, you just write to the local authority, send them the folio and tell them it was paid off.
“They will be able to work it out and get the charge removed, although there may be an administration charge.”
A solicitor will need to compile several documents for the sale, including title deeds, a Land Registry-compliant map, certificates proving any extensions, conversions or structural alterations were done legally, a building energy rating (BER) certificate and proof that local property tax has been paid up to date.
If there have been any alterations to the property that required planning permission or a certificate of compliance, and these are lost, they will have to be replaced.
“You won’t be able to sell your house without them,” says Bowen. “You’ll need to get an engineer to go out and certify any work.” That will cost about €1,000.
If you are selling the property but it is still in your mother’s name, you will have to provide a grant of probate or a grant of administration to show that you inherited the property, or that you have authority to sell it.
Bowen adds: “If the reader’s mother had a number of children but never made a will, and the reader has been living in the house all these years, he may be entitled to adverse possession of it. However, that is a whole different issue.”
The name of the reader who submitted the question is not being published to protect the identities of those involved.
Please send your legal queries to Joanne Hunt, Ask the Lawyer, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or by email to joanne.hunt@irishtimes.com with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice.
