Yes, it really is worth writing to the present address. I have my Deeds going back to 1823 and they are absolutely fascinating. I can compare the Deeds to the censuses to see who else was living in the house, what the house was sold for, etc. You can get your deeds registered now, I considered it but it means that they take your Deeds from you and they are then destroyed and modern ones issued. People sell old documents on the internet, others frame them and have them on the wall. Each country is different for absolutely everything from birth, marriage and death certificates, censuses and census rules, deeds, leases, Wills, etc. etc. I love South African death records...ours are pretty useless most of the time and only ever any good if the death was accidental, murder, etc. in which case the records are often in the newspapers many of which are available for the 19th century. Liz www.btinternet.com/~e.newbery OPC for Street, Somerset ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charani" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 7:54 PM Subject: Re: [B&D] Property records in England > David and Mary Bossenger wrote: >> Thank you to all who have replied. >> I can see that the answer is not as simple as it would be in South >> Africa >> where we practice mainly Roman-Dutch law with a large English influence. >> Records of all title deeds are kept in the local Deeds Office and copies >> are >> issued to each new owner after cancellation of the previous deed. >> Property >> transfers cannot take place without a Deeds Office clearance and we have >> lawyers who specialize in property conveyancing. > > If you can locate the deeds you're looking for, then you can often get > a detailed list of previous owners if the property has changed hands > a number of times, plans of the property, details of any restrictions > various owners have applied and so on. House history can be very > interesting. > > If you give us the date you're interested in and the address, then we > can see what we can do to help. > >> My question as someone who is ignorant of English property law was to me >> simple and was thus couched in simple general terms. I now understand >> that >> English law is different and I can now also understand how "Gezumping" >> (sp) >> can occur. The practice is unheard of in SA. > > TBH, gazumping shouldn't be allowed over here either. > > -- > Charani (UK) > OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM > Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM > http://wsom-opc.org.uk > http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >