Property Law and Practice notes - BPP Law School - High Distinction Level notes! In-depth and necessary notes. I've done all the reading and made the notes so you don't have to! I've set out the reading in a more manageable manner, with structure, colour codes and examples.
Same search's are carried out – just the way they are carried out if different
Compulsory Registration-
The buyer’s sol should check whether the title to the property has been registered
A sale or mortgage of unregistered land triggers the first registration of the title
Some locations have been subject to compulsory first registration for a long time and all areas
were declared to be subject to compulsory first registration on 1 December ‘90
If there has been a sale or mortgage after 1 December 1990, the seller must apply
retrospectively for their title to be registered before the sale to the buyer can proceed.
If there has been a sale or mortgage of the property since the relevant date, title to the property
should already have been registered.
So check when the location of property became subject to compulsory registration
o raise an enquiry with the seller’s solicitor requiring the problem to be rectified by the
seller, at their expense
Property then proceeds as a registered land sale
Epitome of title-
In unreg land – the title info is not held by official copies in the land Reg, but in other title deeds
showing:
History of the land
Who's owned it
How co-owners hold the beneficial title (if co-owned)
Rights and encumbrances that affect/ are attached to the land
The seller may have many deeds of varying degrees of usefulness relating to the property
The relevant documents = the epitome of title
o On sale, seller is to show this to the buyer = deducing title
o Only copies of the title documents are provided
Epitome of title contains:
a front sheet
o detailing the documents comprised in it (Please note that this front sheet is not part of
the epitome – it is prepared by the seller’s solicitor and no detail in it should be relied on
all of the copy documents attached to it.
Only on completion will the seller give the buyer the originals
--
Deducing title to unregistered land -
, How is it done-
Seller’s sol will collect and examine all the docs in the epitome of title – and deduce whether he has the
title to sell
Which documents go in the epitome? -
The documents must show that the seller has both legal and beneficial title in the property - to ensure
the buyer is registered with ‘absolute title’
Epitome should contain:
Conveyance to the current seller – should be dated before 1 st Dec 1990
o ‘Root of title’
the root of title must be 15 years old at exchange of contracts: see s.44(1) LPA
1925. However, in practice, where title remains unregistered, the conveyance of
the land to the seller will always be at least 15 years old. This is because, as
noted above, any transfer for value of land in England and Wales since 1
December 1990 will have triggered compulsory first registration and that date is
clearly now more than 15 years ago.
Copies of any document cross references in the root of title which satisfy s45 LPA ‘25
o S45 – basic position is buyer is not entitled to see pre-root docs Subj. To s45(1)(b)(i)-(iii)
which sets out exceptions:
A power of attorney under which any abstracted document has been executed
Pre-root doc referred to in the root conveyance (eg: covenants imposed by pre-
root conveyance) or a pre-root conveyance
Copies of other relevant docs that relate to the land
o Eg: assent, grant of probate , current leases affecting the land
If the seller did not acquire the land by way of conveyance – copies of those documents
copies of documents evidencing any change of name of an estate owner who is revealed by the
epitome of tile to have owned the land in the past
o Eg: marriage certificate, deed poll, statutory declaration
Copies if legal mortgages (normally only post-root mortgages) together with evidence of their
discharge (although in most cases there will not be any evidence of the discharge of the seller’s
mortgage as this will not be discharged until completion, as with registered land).
Where the current seller acquired title by way of an assent (i.e. inherited the land) or a deed of gift
before 1 April 1998, this would not have triggered compulsory first registration, since transfers of land
otherwise than for value did not trigger registration until this date. In this case, the epitome will include
the conveyance to the previous estate owner (which will be the root of title) together with the deed of
gift or (where the seller acquired the land by way of an assent) an official copy of a grant of probate.
-
Documents NOT included in epitome?-
Docs relating to equitable interests which will be overreached on completion (e.g. trust deeds);
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