When you've paid your mortgage in full, you can arrange to have your standard security discharged and removed from our registers.
What is a standard security?
When you take out a loan to buy a property, the lender will want to ensure they can get their money back if you encounter problems in repaying the loan.
The lender will need you to offer the property you are buying as security against the loan.
The legal document that results from this is known as a standard security.
The lender will need this to be registered in the Land Register.
A standard security is an important document. It allows the lender to take control of the property should you fail to meet your obligations under the loan. This allows the bank to sell your property.
Once you’ve met the repayment terms of a standard security, the security can be cleared from our registers. This is done by discharging your standard security.
The preparation of deeds is a legal process. We strongly recommend that you contact a solicitor.
How it works - with a solicitor
Most discharges follow the same route:
- Your mortgage lender writes to you to say that your mortgage has been paid off
- You instruct your solicitor to prepare an application to discharge the standard security
- Your solicitor sends the discharge to your lender for signing
- Your lender signs the discharge, confirming that you've paid your mortgage in full, and returns it to your solicitor
- Your solicitor sends the signed discharge to us, along with the necessary application form and fee
- We check and process the application, then update the relevant register, removing your standard security
- We tell your solicitor that the standard security has been discharged
How it works - without a solicitor
For some transactions, you can submit the deed yourself.
The submitting party must ensure that the property transaction and deed meet the appropriate legal requirements.
We cannot give you any advice on how to draw up a deed. We advise you to consult a solicitor about any transaction you are undertaking.
You will need to establish if the property is on:
- the land register
- the sasine register
You can search the land register by postcode for free.
If you can't find the property you're looking for, you can ask us to conduct a search.
Once you have established the register, you’ll need a discharge deed to remove the charge.
You will need to include the appropriate forms and fees:
If you are not a conveyancing solicitor, you will also need to submit an identification form (non-interactive) (pdf, 194KB) | identification form (interactive) (pdf, 1.5MB)
Once your application is ready to be submitted, contact customer services.
Mortgages and discharges over property in England and Wales are registered by H M Land Registry.
We recommend that you obtain independent legal advice when registering a standard security. A lender will likely insist that you use a solicitor to complete the registration process.
Fees
Our fee for registering a Discharge of a standard security is £80.
Your solicitor will also charge a fee for preparing your application and sending it to us.
Find a solicitor through the Law Society of Scotland.