All the title deeds of a mortgaged property will usually be kept by the mortgagee as his security for the loan that he has given. If a property is mortgaged more than once, the deed will be held by the first mortgagee. If a property is free from all encumbrances, then, either the person to whom the property belongs shall have the deed or he might have kept it in safe custody with a bank or a solicitor. While talking to the seller, the whereabouts of the deeds have to be ascertained. Usually a property is mortgaged to a bank, building society or an institutional lender. In such a case, the lender will usually instruct the purchaser’s advocate to to act for it on redemption of the mortgage. The mortgagee has to be written along with the account number. The seller’s advocate may put forward a request asking the mortgagee to give the deed on loan for the intending sale and redemption. The lender might ask for a written undertaking. In reality, the lender is seeking assurance that the advocate of the seller will either return the deed on demand or redeem the mortgage. It should always be ensured that the terms of the undertaking are always within the control of the seller’s advocate. The advocate should never give an unqualified undertaking stating the mortgage will be repaid as this is something that can never be guaranteed. While asking for the mortgage deeds, either from the mortgagee or his advocates, it will be judicious to request confirmation of the present outstanding balance of the mortgage debt. The mortgagee might have given the advocate relevant points but the advocate should always verify from the lender because one must be sure that there will be sufficient proceeds from the sale of the property to redeem the mortgage.
