Land Law terms

Absolute Interest: An unconditional interest in land, e.g. a lease for A to 99 years.

Absolute title: The best class of title available in registered land.

Adverse possession: If a squatter takes possession of land, with the intention of excluding the true owner and the world at large, then the squatter acquires title to land by adverse possession after, usually, 12 years under the Limitation Act 1980.

Assent: Document transferring property of a deceased person from the estate to the beneficiary. S36 Administration of Estates Act 1925 requires an assent to be in writing. It does not have to be by deed – which is noteworthy, because usually any document transferring a legal estate has to be by deed.

Assignment: A document (which must be a deed) transferring the remainder of a lease from

Bankruptcy: If an individual in unable to pay his debts, he may eventually be made bankrupt by the court. The effect is to prevent him from owning property, borrowing money or obtaining credit.

Charge: A financial debt or liability affecting the property.

Chargee: The name given to someone who has the benefit of a charge over the property (e.g. a mortgage lender).

Chargor:  A company or person who grants a charge or right in security or in favour of some other person (e.g. a borrower).

Chattels: Items of personal property, such as furniture and moveable goods. This is more commonly referred to as “fixtures and fittings”.

Completion: Finalising the purchase or sale of a property. The completion date is the date when the bulk of the purchase price is paid, the buyer received the keys, and the deeds are handed over. 

Contract: A legally binding agreement. This is the agreement between the buyer and the seller which sets out the terms of what has been agreed, such as full description of the property and surrounding land included in the sale, the price agreed, the full names of the seller and buyer, and will incorporate the fixtures, fittings and contents questionnaire referred to above together with details of what happens if things go wrong to protect both the seller and the buyer.

Conveyance: The document that transfers the ownership of freehold land from a seller to a buyer. It is equivalent to a Transfer but is only used in unregistered land.

Conveyancing: This is the transfer of the legal title to land and property from one person’s name to another.

Co-ownership: The situation where two or more people own the same parcel of land. Nowadays, the phrase usually refers to a joint tenancy or a tenancy in common.  

Covenant: An agreement or promise contained in a deed or document by which one party binds himself to do or not to do something. Covenants can be positive or negative by the nature (e.g. a positive covenant would be to keep the garden in a neat and tidy condition and a negative covenant would be not to keep pigs or poultry on the land.

Covenantor: The party who gives a covenant, so carries the burden of the covenant.

Deed: A document that is legally binding (e.g. Transfer or TR1).

Deposit: A proportion of the purchase price, payable by a buyer at the time of exchange of contracts to buy land or buildings. It is paid to the seller’s lawyer. It acts as a part payment and also a guarantee that the buyer will actually complete the transaction. If the buyer unjustifiably refuses to complete then the seller can keep the deposit. The sum suggested by the Law Society at this stage of the transaction is 10% of the purchase price. If however, the buyer is borrowing 95% of the purchase price then only 5% would be payable.

Discharge of Mortgage: The repayment of a mortgage or the document that confirms that the borrower has paid off all the money due to the lender in respect of the loan. The form used to discharge a mortgage can be a DS1, END, ED or, in case of unregistered land, the original mortgage deed is sealed by the lender.

Easement: An easement can be a right of way over a piece of land or even a right to light or air.

Escrow: An example of an escrow is where the transfer that has already been signed by the customer (who may be either the buyer or seller) is sent to the other lawyer in readiness for completion. It is sent to them “as an escrow” to allow them to get the transfer signed by their client ahead of completion.

Exchange of Contracts: The point in a conveyancing transaction when the terms of the contract become legally binding. At exchange, the buyer becomes the equitable owner of the property. The buyer’s lawyer will speak to the seller’s lawyer on the telephone and agree that exchange has taken place. Once this is done the contract will be dated, the completion date inserted and both the buyer and the seller will be bound by law to the contract and the facts referred to in the contracts.

Fixtures, Fittings & Contents: This is a list of items at the property which are being removed by the seller or which remain as part of the sale. This ensures that there are no disputes between the buyer and the seller as to what is to be left in the property on the day of completion.

Freehold: This is one of two legal estates created by the Law of Property Act 1925. It continues for an indefinite period – for all practical purposes ownership forever.

Grantor: A person who grants an estate or interest in land.

Insolvency: A person or company becomes insolvent if they are unable to pay their debts as the debts fall due. It may lead to bankruptcy in the case of an individual, or to liquidation in the case of a company.

Joint Tenants: If land is owned by more than one person, the interests in the land are separated. The co-owners will hold the legal interest and if one party dies, it will pass to the survivor.

Land Registry: This is a government authority which registers the transfer of all property in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Every transfer must be forwarded to the Land Registry after completion. Once the registration has been completed the Land registry will issue a Land Certificate or a Charge Certificate depending on whether there is a mortgage involved. If there is a mortgage this Charge Certificate will be sent to the lender for them to keep, but if there is no mortgage then the Land Certificate can be forwarded to the buyer for them to keep. 

Lease: This is one of two legal estates created by the Law of Property Act 1925. The lessor grants the lease to the Lessee for a specified period of time (e.g. weekly, 10 years, 999 years). The lessee is granted exclusive possession, subject to the terms of the lease.

Lessee: Tenant.

Lessor: Landlord.

Licence: There are different types of licences, but basically this is a consent or permission to enter land (e.g. a theatre ticket). Superficially, a licence may sometimes appear similar to a lease: the distinction between the two is of crucial importance because whereas lessess often qualify for statutory protection in the form of security of tenure and perhaps rent control, al licensee has no such protection.

Licensed Conveyancers: Those authorised by the Council of Licensed Conveyancers to practice conveyancing.

Lien: A right which one person may possess over the property of another to secure payment. For example, if a seller of land is not paid in full, he has a lien over the land in respect of amount due.

Mortgage: Security over land for a loan. If the loan is not repaid, in addition to suing under the covenant to repay, the mortgagee has various rights against the land that can be used to attempt to collect the money owed: e.g. the mortgagee may be able to take possession of the land and sell it.

Mortgagee: Lender under a mortgage, e.g. bank, building society.

Mortgagor: Borrower.

Puisne mortgage: A legal mortgage that is not protected by the deposit of title deeds with the mortgage. As the first mortgagee invariable requires deposit of the deeds as part of his security, a puisne mortgage is invariably a second or subsequent mortgage. In unregistered land, the puisne mortgage must be protected as a C(i) entry at the Land Charges registry.

Registered Land: Land where the title is recorded through registration at the land registry. Interests that may exist against registered land can be classified as registered interests, minor interest and overriding interests. Contrast unregistered land.

Registration: A method of protecting rights in the land by entering them in an official record. (1) In unregistered land, various rights (mostly equitable interests) need protection by registration against the name of the estate owner at the Land Charges Registry. (2) In registered land, the title to the freeholder or leasehold land is registered at the land registry; and interests in the land are protected by registration against the title number (although some interest are overriding and so do not need to be protected by registration.

Restrictive covenant: A promise by deed not to do a particular act, e.g. not to build an extension to a house without first obtaining the covenantee’s consent.

Solicitor: A lawyer regulated by the law society.

Sub-lease: A tenant can grant a sub-lease for a term that is shorter than the residue of his own leasehold interest.

Tenancy in Common: Equitable co-ownership, where the beneficial interest of the tenant can be left by will. There cannot be a tenancy in common-law; it can only exist in equity.

Tenancy: Lease. Often, the word tenancy is used to describe leases with very short terms.

Tenant: (1) Lessee. (2) A general term for someone who holds land, e.g. a joint tenant (who may, or course, hold a freehold or leasehold estate.

Title Deeds: These documents act as evidence that the person selling the property does own it and sets out any rights or obligations which have to be complied with. We need these documents to enable us to register the new ownership on their records.

Trust of Land: The principal method by which land is held on co-ownership situations since the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. The legal estate in the land is held by trustees, who have the power to sell the land and power to retain the land. The equitable interest is held by the beneficiaries, who may be joint tenants or tenants in common, or have successive interests in the land. The trust of land is a replacement for the trust for sale.

Unregistered Land: Land where the title is not yet registered with the Land Registry.

Terms taken from http://www.oysterestates.co.uk/jargon-buster