Legal Definition and Related Resources of Conveyancing

A term including both the science and act of transferring titles to real estate from one man to another. It includes the examination of the title of the alienor, and also the preparation of the instruments of transfer. It is, in England and Scotland, and, to a greatly inferior extent, in the United States, a highly artificial system of law with a distinct class of practitioners. A profound and elaborate treatise on the English law of conveyancing is Mr. Preston’s. Geldart and Thornton’s works are important works; and an interesting and useful summation of the American law is given in Washburn on Real Property.

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This definition of Conveyancing is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

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English Legal System: Conveyancing

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Conveyancing :

The procedures involved in validly creating, extinguishing, and transferring ownership of interests in land. Only a practising solicitor or *licensed conveyancer may charge a fee for undertaking the most essential parts of such transactions. Under the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 land contacts must be made in writing. Apart from preparing the deeds or other documents by which the transaction is effected, certain investigative steps are usually required. For example, the sale and purchase of a residential house in England or Wales will generally involve the following.

(1) Preparation of a contract by the vendor’s solicitor defining the terms of the transaction, describing the property concerned, and disclosing *land charges and other interests in it that will affect the purchaser. In the case of registered land, this will be accompanied by office copies (*office copy) of the registered title.

(2) Written inquiries by the purchaser’s solicitor seeking assurances from the vendor that matters which may not be apparent from inspection of the site will not impose any unforeseen liability on the purchaser. These questions generally cover such potential problems as disputes over boundaries, the construction or treatment of buildings, compliance with planning and rating authorities’ requirements, and liability for maintenance of shared facilities (such as boundary walls). If the Law Society’s “Transaction” protocol is used, the vendor supplies a Seller’s Property Information Form, which gives details of the property and replaces the standard *preliminary inquiries.

(3) *official search by the purchaser’s solicitor in the local land charges register to ensure there are no undisclosed charges of a local or environmental nature that could bind the purchaser. The local authority is also asked to disclose other information, such as proposals for building new roads near the property. Other searches may be carried out at this stage, for example commons registration searches. If the land appears to be unregistered, there will be an official search of the *index maps, to check that it has not, in fact, been registered.

(4) If the purchaser is raising a *mortgage loan towards the price, his solicitor or other agent will ensure that the funds will be available at the appropriate time and that any conditions imposed by the mortgagees can be satisfied.

(5) The purchaser’s solicitor may then negotiate alterations to the draft contract with the vendor’s solicitor, in order to ensure its compliance with the purchaser’s requirements and to cover points arising from the earlier inquiries and search. For example, if an unforeseen local land charge has been discovered, a term may be inserted requiring the vendor to clear it before the transaction is completed.

(6) When there is a chain of sales and purchases dependent on one another, the solicitors for the parties involved liaise with one another through all steps of the transactions, particularly in arranging a date for completion, to ensure that the various completions coincide.

(7) The parties become legally committed to buy and sell respectively upon *exchange of contracts. It is then usual for the purchaser to pay a percentage of the price to the vendor’s solicitor as stakeholder.

(8) The vendor’s solicitor next prepares and delivers an epitome or *abstract of title to the purchaser’s solicitor, who studies it to ensure that the vendor’s title is proved in accordance with the contract. (It is increasingly common to deliver an epitome of title before exchange of contracts.) As final checks on the vendor’s title, he conducts an official search in the *Land Charges Department (for unregistered land) or HM *Land Registry as appropriate, and raises *requisitions on title requiring the vendor to clear any defects or adverse interests revealed by the abstract or search. An official certificate of search from the Land Registry will reveal any entries on the vendor’s title effected since the date on which the office copies were issued, and will give the purchaser priority against any further entries provided he registers his new title within the time shown on the certificate.

(9) The purchaser’s solicitor prepares the deed (usually a conveyance, transfer, or assignment) by which the property is to be transferred to his client, and has its terms approved by the vendor’s solicitor. He also ensures that the purchaser’s mortgage deed (if any) is in order.

(10) In preparation for completion, the purchaser’s solicitor arranges with the necessary parties for the funds to be available on the completion date and ensures that the necessary deeds will be executed by the time completion takes place.

(11) On completion, the purchaser’s solicitor checks the vendor’s original *title deeds against the epitome (or abstract) of title, and takes possession of them together with the deed of transfer. In the case of registered land, he will take the land certificate, or accept an undertaking from the vendor’s solicitor to forward it when it is made available following redemption of any mortgage. He hands over the price, and the transaction is then legally completed.

(12) After completion, the transfer deed is produced to the Inland Revenue, and any stamp duty paid, by the purchaser’s solicitor on his client’s behalf. He also gives formal notice of the transaction when appropriate; for example, when a leasehold interest is purchased, the lessor must usually be notified. Whether or not land was registered before the transaction, it will need to be registered on completio Therefore, the purchaser’s solicitor lodges the relevant deeds with HM Land Registry for registration of his client’s title, within the priority period conferred by the official search certificate.

These basic steps in respect of the sale and purchase of a house are common to many other conveyancing transactions, although the complexity of the particular requirements varies according to the nature of the transaction

See also electronic conveyancing.