Signing and witnessing the mortgage deed: who can witness and e-signing

A mortgage deed is the legal document that acknowledges the lender's interest in the property you are buying¹. It is not the same thing as the mortgage offer, and it is not the same thing as the mortgage agreement that sets out your monthly payments. Signing it is the step that turns an agreed loan into a charge registered against a specific address.

What you are committing to when you sign is the repayment of the capital you borrowed plus the interest on the loan, by monthly instalments, over a set term². Terms are commonly 25, 30 or 35 years, and typically up to 25 years³. The mortgage is secured on the property, which is what gives the lender the right to take the home and sell it if you do not keep up repayments⁴.

Because the deed creates a charge, the practical questions people ask are about witnessing, about whether it can be signed online, and about what happens if things go wrong later. This page covers each in turn, and where the rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What the mortgage deed does: it gives the lender a charge over the property

The deed is the document that records the lender's interest in the property, and it is what allows that interest to be registered¹. Where there is a mortgage, the lender keeps the title deeds until you pay it off⁸. That is the practical shape of the charge: the lender holds the paperwork and the registered interest until the debt is cleared.

The charge is not a formality that disappears if you sell. On a sale, the lender takes the money that is left on the mortgage first, and pays any money left over from the sale to the people named in the will⁹. If the sale does not cover what is owed, the lender can go further: a money judgment allows your lender to recover all of the money owed under the mortgage, not just the arrears¹⁰.

On a joint mortgage, both parties are named on the mortgage agreement and the property deeds, and are jointly responsible for making payments¹¹. The lender can pursue any one of you for the money if someone fails to pay¹³. That is a feature of how the charge is drafted, not a penalty applied afterwards.

There is one arrangement where the names on the deed and the names on the mortgage deliberately differ. On a joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage, both parent and child are named on the mortgage but only the child is named on the property deeds¹⁴. The parent carries the borrowing without owning the property.

What you commit to when you sign: capital and interest over a term of up to 25 years

Every mortgage involves repaying the capital sum you borrowed together with the interest on the loan². The Bank of England's own worked example uses a £130,000 mortgage paid off over 25 years¹⁵. Lenders offer different terms, usually 25 to 30 years¹⁶, and 25, 30 or 35 years are common examples³.

The term matters because it sets the monthly instalment and the total interest paid. It is also one of the few things that can be changed later. Under the Mortgage Charter, a borrower can extend their mortgage term, for example from 15 to 20 years¹⁷. Extending reduces the monthly payment but lengthens the period over which interest accrues.

The interest rate on the loan is separate from the deed. The deed records the charge; the rate is set by the product you chose, whether that is a fixed rate, a tracker or a standard variable rate. When a fixed rate period ends, the mortgage reverts to the lender's standard variable rate, which is typically higher. One published example shows an initial rate of 6.15% running until 31 December 2028 and reverting to a standard variable rate of 6.31% from 1 January 2029 [not cited: product-specific rate, see note]. The pattern, rather than the figures, is what matters when you sign: the rate you start on is not the rate you finish on.

Features your deed may cover: offset, flexible and cashback mortgages

The deed is a single document, but the mortgage behind it can carry features that change how it behaves. Three are worth knowing about before you sign, because each one affects what you can do later.

An offset mortgage links your savings to the mortgage so that the balance reduces the interest charged. You can access the cash when you need it, although some lenders may require you to keep a minimum balance¹⁸. Withdrawals stop the offsetting and repayments go up¹⁸. Offset mortgages will often allow you to make overpayments, though early repayment charges may apply¹⁸.

A flexible mortgage is the broader category: one that allows overpayments, underpayments or payment holidays within limits set by the lender. The trade-off is usually in the rate or in the charges attached.

A cashback mortgage pays a sum on completion, and the deal may tie you to the standard rate of interest for a number of years¹⁹. That tie-in is the thing to look for in the paperwork, because it can outlast the incentive period.

The rules that cover these products are broad. The MCOB sourcebook covers mortgage contracts including first and second charge mortgages and bridging loans, equity release products, home purchase plans and sale and rent back agreements²⁰. If your mortgage is one of those, the conduct rules apply to it.

If repayments stop: repossession and the court order the lender needs

If you miss your mortgage repayments and cannot agree a repayment plan, your mortgage lender might start court action to repossess your home¹⁶. For a mortgage or secured loan on the home you live in, the lender will normally need a court order to do this⁴. At a court repossession hearing a judge decides if your mortgage lender can repossess your home²¹.

The court has real power to stop it. A court can often stop repossession of your home if you show that you can repay the arrears by the end of the mortgage term²². A court can also make a suspended possession order if you can keep to a repayment plan, for example by paying £50 a month on top of the normal mortgage payment²³.

If the case does go ahead, the lender must give you a list of all your missed payments, the total amount of your missed payments, and the remaining amount to pay on your mortgage²⁴. When faced with repossession, it is important to go to court on the given date and time¹⁹. At the hearing, you or your solicitor, barrister or advice worker should be able to provide an explanation about why you are behind in your mortgage payments, details of your financial and other relevant circumstances, and your best realistic proposal to sort out the situation¹⁹.

If the home is sold, the lender takes what it is owed and you would get any money left over²⁵. If the sale does not cover the debt, the shortfall can still be pursued.

Where the court order is not needed

The protection that applies to your own home does not apply everywhere. On most business mortgages, for example buy-to-let or commercial mortgages, the Law of Property Act 1925 gives the lender the right to repossess the property or land without a court order by appointing LPA receivers⁶. That is a different process from the county court route, and it does not require a judge to agree first.

A landlord is in a similar position to a residential borrower: in most cases the landlord cannot repossess the home without a court order, except where abandonment is believed²⁷. If you rent a home and your landlord's lender is repossessing, the rules that protect you come from the tenancy, not from the mortgage.

There are other forms of secured lending where the same warning applies. On a secured loan, your home may be repossessed if you miss payments²⁸, and if you cannot repay what you owe, the lender can repossess the house⁴. A bill of sale works differently again: the lender does not have to go to court to repossess the goods²⁹.

The general principle is that security follows the asset. If the loan is secured on the place you live, the lender normally needs a court order. If it is secured on a business asset or on land you do not live on, it may not.

What happens to the charge on a buy-to-let or land that is not my home?

On a buy-to-let, the property is the security but it is not your home, and the protections built around the home you live in do not follow. The lender can appoint receivers and repossess without going to court⁶. If you do not pay, the lender may decide to take you to court to evict you, and you may have to pay expensive legal fees for yourself and your lender on top of everything you originally borrowed²⁶.

The same applies to land. Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland is charged regardless of whether there is a document setting out the terms of the transaction, whether any document was executed in Scotland, and whether any party was present or resident in Scotland at the effective date³⁰. The point is that the tax and the charge attach to the transaction and the land, not to where you happen to be standing when you sign.

If you are selling a property you cannot keep up with, some lenders agree to pay your selling fees, pause court action to give you time to sell, lower your mortgage payments, or give you a deposit and rent in advance to rent a home²⁹. These are voluntary arrangements, offered by some lenders, not entitlements.

Before you sign: where to get independent help

Anyone considering being a guarantor is advised to get independent legal advice and to talk to a mortgage adviser before agreeing³¹. That advice is not a formality. On a joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage, the non-proprietor must provide evidence of receiving independent legal advice prior to completion of the mortgage, and that evidence should be a solicitor's letter⁷.

Lenders also impose their own requirements around who does the legal work. One building society may use a borrower's nominated solicitor or licensed conveyancer if the firm is on its panel of approved firms, managed by LMS; otherwise the society appoints its own and the borrower pays the cost³². The same lender will need to confirm identity prior to completion of the mortgage, to comply with legislation³³.

Free, impartial help exists. MoneyHelper provides guidance on dividing the family home and mortgage during divorce or dissolution³⁴. If you are behind on payments, a court duty help desk can assist at the hearing³⁵. If you are considering a Support for Mortgage Interest loan, you will have to agree to have the loan secured on your home, so it is a good idea to get independent financial advice first³⁶. The Department places a charge, or in some cases a mortgage, over the property to secure the loan, or may secure it as a statutory charge later³⁷. For help and support on that, you would need to speak to an independent financial adviser³⁸.

In Scotland, the Home Owners Support Fund is available where your bank or mortgage lender wants to begin repossession proceedings in court³⁹. In Northern Ireland, the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme operates separately⁴⁰.