Land Law: (Workshop #3)

Ownership of Estate

• owners of an estate in unregistered land proves (or ‘deduces’) his or her title to the estate by producing the title deeds to the property.

• deeds = documents by which the current owner and his or her predecessors have acquired the estate

• deeds include onveyances on sale; transfers by the personal representatives of a deceased owner to the person entitled under the will or on intestacy (‘assents’); mortgages affecting the property; and trust deeds

Checking for Encumberances

• the purpose of making these inquiries is therefore twofold:

  •to inform the purchaser about encumbrances she will be bound by whether she knows about them or not; and

  •to enable the purchaser to take ‘priority’ over (‘take free of’) certain encumbrances of which he or she is unaware.