Title deeds not updated after death of owner

After the death of my Father the title deeds for my parents house weren’t updated. The deeds were only in my Father’s name. My mother has now passed away and I’m having issues selling the house as the title deeds are not in my Mother’s name and I’m told the house is therefore not part of her estate. What’s the simplest way out of this? Can the house be retrospectively transferred to my Mother (as that’s what my Father’s will stated]?

Graham - sorry to read of your losses here. You can't retrospectively transfer the ownership to your late Mother as sadly she is now deceased.
The property remains part of your late Father's estate so you need probate for him and you can then sell as his executor.
The alternative is if your Mother applied for probate for your late Father then you can apply for probate for her and create what's known as a chain of representation with both probates

 
Hi Adam,

I found this post after researching a similar case we are experiencing just now. This has given me some clarity on what may happen with my now late Aunts house. Out of curiosity I reached out to a lawyer because we feel my cousins have been very private about my late Aunts will - which apparently confirms the house is left wholly to them based on the outcome of my late grandmothers will. When my grandmother died, she left my mother (who is still alive) was left money and my aunt was left money and the house in her will. We feel this is really unfair as of course the house has increased in value and my mum will not see any of that inheritance from what was her childhood home.  My aunt only lived in the house for 8 years before we lost her unexpectedly.

My solicitor advised me to get a copy of the Title Deeds to the house - which she did on my behalf.  Funnily enough, the property is still in my late Grandfathers name.  My cousins are now in the process of selling the property (they are unaware of the title deeds at this stage). I assume this will rear its head when they come to the Title Deeds and see that the house was not in fact in my late Grandmother or Aunts name.  My query is whether or not my mother has a stake in the property because she is now the only surviving beneficiary of my Grandfathers estate. We are still waiting on seeing all three wills to see what they say regarding beneficiaries etc. 

Hi Gemma - we don;t deal with the beneficial ownerships so whether she has a 'stake' or not is one to seek legal advice on.
We register the legal ownership and if the register refers to her late Grandfather then it remains as part of his estate. Probate will be needed for him and if that already exists and say it was his widow and she has died, then probate will also be needed for her. This can create a 'chain of representation' then then enables her executor(s) to deal with (sell) the property for example.
But it really all comes back to the wills as to whether such a chain can be created and indeed what happens to any 'stakes' in the beneficial ownerships

Many thanks.

We are getting the probates for all to see what it brings up and I will subsequently get legal advice on that thereafter. 

HI My dad passed away in 2019 he was the sole owner of his house he shared with my mum for 54 years. She is his surviving spouse how do i change the deed as its not changed automatically x

Hi Claire - see our online assisted guidance which asks you a series of Qs the As to which will then link you to the required forms/guidance needed to transfer the ownership as appropriate
HMLR Guide: Start - External  · HM Land Registry

Hi, we are in a similar situation. My Dad died in 2015. My Mum has recently died. The house deeds were in my Dad's name and never changed to my Mums. My Dad did not have a Will so I applied for a Letter of Adminstration. My Mum did have a Will and I have probate for that. The solicitor is saying that my Dad's letter of Administration is invalid as it states that it "is limited until further representation be granted" and as it was not finalised I need to apply again to create a chain of executorship before the house sale can go through. Can anyone confirm if this is correct please before I spend another £300?

Hi Sarah - we can't confirm anything with regards what's needed to enable you to now deal with the property/estate as appropriate.

From a purely registration point of view if the property was registered in your Dad's name then we would need probate/letters of administration for him.

If there's a caveat/condition re the Letters of Administration then that can impact depending on what the limitation actually means. There are scenarios where a chain of representation can be created but again that's a probate/letters of administration point that you'd need legal/wider advice on 

If you are looking for wider advice then you could try online forums such as Money Saving Expert but a legal rep familiar with probate/letters of administration would be best

Hi so my mum died nearly 4 years ago and me and my sibling own her share of her house 
her husband is in a life rent and was the executor of her estate and he also owns a third of the house
it states in her will all transfers of title deeds has to be taken out the estate and not her other property which was left to me and my sibling
He tried to bully me into paying a third of legal fees as my mum had left him all the money from the estate 
which we were shocked to hear as my mum had came into this money through my dads life insurance policy and to leave it all to her controlling husband that says it all but he was controlling and mad eher change her will a few times 
anyways he still hasnt changed the title deeds to mine and my siblings name 
i thought this was illegal to have a deceased person on title deeds?
hes sending me abusive messages as i said he if  doesnt change it im going to a lawyer as i worry what will happen when he dies and how this will be so confusing and stressful and difficult id imagine cos both owners are dead
hes had 4 years to do this 
i have blocked him due to obvious reasons 
im i correct in saying this is illegal?
thanks 
 

Hi Cheryl - I'm sorry to read of the issues you are facing.
It's not 'illegal' to have a deceased person name don the deeds/title register. Very sadly a death is factual and as such can be proven at any point so updating the register is not always necessary or needed until such time as for example the property is sold/transferred
The key here is ensuring that your/your sibling's beneficial interest in the property is protected. I would rely very much on your legal advice here as to how to ensure that is the case and how you both might realise your beneficial shares in light of the trust created.

HI, this is something similar to what im dealing with currently. My mother passed away suddenly in september and she lived on her own in a property she (i assumed) inherited from her husband, my step father,who passed away in 2019.
ive been granted the administration of her estate as the only child so cleared the property for selling. went with an estate agent and agreed an offer on the property. the issue now is there's no deeds on the system just a title number.
I assume this is because my step dads family was likely the only owners of the property as i know he was born in that property in 1939 and his mum and dad had it before then. he has no children or family of note and always said me and my mum was his only family. The solicitor im dealing with is unsure as what to do next as she hasnt come across this type of case before. any advice would be helpful if someone has been through something similar,thanks x

Hi Christopher - you say 'just a title number' - if it's registered then that's all you need to check and confirm how it's registered and who the legal owner is shown as - Search for land and property information - GOV.UK
Have you done that yet?
The original deeds/documents are not required if it's registered 

Hi Adam, thanks for the very quick reply. My solicitor told me there isnt any traceable deeds on the system but the house has a title number but there's no name on the property and its currently with land registry for them to look into but its been 4 weeks and ive heard nothing. Its also been suggested that i will have no legal right to the property if it wasnt transferred to my mother it could go to the state as my step dad had no blood relations.
Obviously this is a worrying time as this isnt what either of them would have wanted.

I should have said also that when i search on land registry it says "no information" for this property.

Christopher - so there's a pending application to register it for the first time? If so what's the provisional title number?
If you don't know that then what's the address?
You should be relying on your solicitor here to clarify what's been applied for and how. And also what can then happen next. 
Issues around wills, next of kin and inheritance wouldn't involve us. If a legal owner dies then the property forms part of his estate. Probate or Letters of Administration are then required for someone to be able to deal with the estate/property. 
If Mum inherited but it wasn't transferred, then the legal ownership is still with his estate. What happens next relies on the law around inheritance/wills etc 
 

I can only guess that the house hasn't been registered as its always been passed down through generations. records show that my step dads mum was the owner in 1960 as her husband died in 1940. I'll get back in touch with my solicitor and try and get an answer from them,which has been incredibly hard to do so far. thanks for your advice. 

Hi. My father died recently. I am the only child and executor of the will.  have been granted  probate and therefore  inherited his house, which has no mortgage.
The title deeds are still in joint names with my mother who passed away several years ago.
what do i need to do in order to transfer the deeds to myself, and is this necessary if at some point I wish to sell the house.

Hi Diane - I am sorry to read of your loss. 
Our online assisted guidance will help you understand how you can apply to update the register if you are going to transfer the property as the executor to yourself as the beneficiary. HMLR Guide: Start - External  · HM Land Registry
Any application should also include a certified copy of your Mother's death certificate as well if they are both still on the register.
A buyer can often rely on the probate and death certificate to complete on a purchase without the register being updated beforehand. If you are not selling then I would recommend updating the register now