Frank had paid off his mortgage on his first home fairly quickly.  Soon after, he decided to put the property on the market for sale. He was confused when he saw a copy of the title to his property showing a mortgage to his bank still listed on the title.  He thought that once he had paid off what he owed the bank that they would automatically remove the mortgage from the title. This is not correct, but is a common misconception.

A mortgage is a charge over a property, that remains on a given title until it is specifically discharged.  What Frank has paid off is the loan that was secured by the mortgage.

A mortgage is discharged by way of a document provided by the bank to your lawyer, who needs to electronically register that discharge.

While many people like to see their title clear of a mortgage, one benefit of leaving the mortgage on the title is that if you wanted to borrow more money from the bank in the future, you can generally avoid the costs of having to register a new mortgage.

If you have paid off the loans secured by your mortgage and would like to have the mortgage discharged from the title, you should contact your lawyer to arrange this.