Conveyancing is the process of moving the legal ownership of property or land from one person to another. It is stated in S.23 that the legal owners of the land have absolute power, subject to any restrictions. In explaining the procedures needed to transfer estates in land, it is helpful to set out the four basic steps to convey a property, which is negotiation and agreement, formation of contract and exchange of contracts, transfer or conveyance of the Legal Estate and registration .
The negotiation and agreement step does not have any effect in law because the buyer can view the property and decide to buy it resulting in a “subject contract” where it is not a legally binding agreement; either party is free to …show more content…
The purchaser would then need to deposit 10% and agree on a completion date. After the exchange, both parties are bound by the contract of transfer of property thus if any party backs out the deposit is lost . The court will typically order specific performance (equitable remedy) for the discretion of goods. In Patel v Ali , the Patel family agreed to sell their home but the contract to sell the house was delayed due to Mr Patel’s bankruptcy, Mrs Patel developed bone cancer in which her leg had to be amputated and affected her looking after her children, becoming dependant on mostly family and friends. Specific performance was sought but was disallowed due to difficulty of moving house for Mrs Patel. Goulding J believed if specific performance was granted it would be ‘hardship amounting to injustice’ and were awardee damages …show more content…
For unregistered lands, the seller must give a narrative base of title doing a reversal no less than fifteen years . Conveyances may also show third party rights binding on the land known as covenants and easements. The disadvantages of unregistered land are the uncertainty of good tittle and lost or fraudulent conveyances.
Land registration Act 1925 introduced registration of title, now replaced by Land Registration Act 2002 . The land registrar will examine all of the documents sent in the application for first registration and register the purchaser with one of the possible grades of title known as absolute, qualified and possessory.
To conclude, Mr.Wraight should be aware of the formalities used in the transfer of land since they provide written evidence of a transaction; they also notify parties when the transaction will have legal effect and clarify any terms of parties. Mr Waight can proceed to the transferal through the four stages where the parties are not bound until exchange of contracts which is the second stage, meaning that the purchaser may be open to gazumping. A contract for the sale must comply with s.2 of Law Property Act 1989. Once the contracts have been exchanged both parties are bound and will be liable for breach of contract if they do not proceed. The formal transfer of title is made on completion through a deed. The final stage involves