Question: My mortgage was with Permanent TSB. It was paid off in spring 2016. They did not contact me regarding the deeds. On three occasions during the summer, I made a request for the deeds via their telephone banking service. I received no follow-up.
After writing a letter to them in September, they finally responded. I received a form, with instructions to pay a €35 release fee. I returned the form with a comment that I don’t intend to pay a fee for the deeds – which by their own acknowledgement are now rightfully mine. I’m still waiting for resolution of this matter (some letters from me, one response from them with no new information). Perhaps I’m being stubborn, but as far as I’m concerned I have repaid all my financial commitments to PTSB.
Having said this, after reading your recent column, I realise I will now face the issue of secure storage for the deeds. Perhaps I’d be better off leaving them at PTSB! On the other hand, I’d be concerned that some day, I may need to sell at short notice and would have to trust PTSB to locate them promptly.
Mr P S, email
Answer: Banks are always surprised when issues arise with communications. Given the number of queries I get on the subject, I find it hard to understand why.
The situation with deeds should be very simple. When you finish paying your mortgage, you should get a letter from the lender confirming payment has been made in full, thanking you for your business and making themselves available for other banking services you might require (assuming they're half-decent at their own marketing) and, most importantly, letting you know how to access the title deeds to your property.
And it will come as no surprise to find that Permanent TSB’s standard operating procedure follows broadly those lines.
“For mortgages where we hold the title deeds,” the bank tells me (an interesting line in itself as I cannot imagine any residential mortgage for which they would not ensure they hold the deeds), and where the bank has no other active mortgages for which those same deeds are the security, they do send out a letter to the customer “with an options form to be completed to confirm where the title deeds are to be sent to (ie, the customer’s nominated address or their solicitor’s address)”.
Now, as they hold the title deeds, you’d assume they would know the address to which any such letter should be sent but you say you never received any letter. You’re not alone – although, to be fair, I have no reason to doubt either the bank’s standard operating procedure on this, or their assurances that most people do get the letters. In your case something clearly went wrong.
Where they exacerbated things was in ignoring your calls.
Permanent TSB says the process is quite automated and the situation you outline should never have arisen. They’re puzzled by how it would happen but have apologised nonetheless.
That brings us to the €35 charge and, on this, there is certainly no apology. The bank notes that the charge is a standard fee, which is outlined in the acceptance of loan offer, ie, the form you would have signed accepting their offer of a mortgage when you first took out the loan. It is contained within a border and is followed by that well-known admonition: “Warning – your home is at risk if you do not keep up the payments on a mortgage or any other loan secure don it.” And yes, we’ve put that in quieter text even though it always seems to be in shouty bold type and capitals, just in case you miss it.
The Permo tells me that the €35 fee is standard practice in the industry and they believe all lenders charge a fee. I cannot say for sure, but if it was on the loan offer document you signed, as a general rule you are probably stuck with it.
That letter you should have received but didn’t (at least until you wrote to them), asking for your instructions on where to send the title deeds, also asks for the fee.
I think, given that you did not get the letter and that the bank did not respond to your calls until you wrote formally to them, that it should consider waiving the fee in this case as a gesture of goodwill. I suggest you write again to them, politely and in those terms.
If they still stand their ground, I would advise you to get on with your life and pay it. But I’d also move your accounts elsewhere. After all, no-one wants an unresponsive bank and, whatever happened, it does appear that there were a series of system faults at Permanent TSB’s end in this case.
Finally, will they store the deeds for you? No, they won’t. As I said before, most banks are getting out of this service so it will be up to you to arrange secure storage of the deeds with your solicitor or somewhere else.
Send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or by email to dcoyle@irishtimes.com. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice.
