Conveyancing Jargon Buster [A to L]

When you choose Furley Page to help you buy or sell your home, our legal team explain the conveyancing process to you.  The legal system is filled with new terms, so it can be helpful to have something to refer to.  We hope you find our Conveyancing Jargon Buster useful. It is organised across two pages alphabetically.  For further advice on buying or selling your home contact our Residential Property team.

Absolute Ownership :  Unconditional and unrestricted ownership.
Abstract of Title :  A summary of the title deeds and documents which proves title in unregistered land.  Nowadays an Epitome of Title is normally used.
Adverse Possession :  The possession of property without the permission of the owner. If this continues for a sufficient time, not secretly but openly for all the world to see, but excluding others from it’s use the owner may be prevented from claiming it back.
Adverse Rights :  Sometimes used to refer to the rights which someone other than the owner may have over land.
Alienation Clause :  Provision in a lease which restricts the tenant’s rights to assign or sub-let.
Apportionment :  The process of adjusting the purchase price of land to take account of outgoings that affect it.  In leasehold property, rent and service charges are normally paid in advance, so on completion of the sale the buyer will have to pay to the seller an extra sum equivalent to the payments in advance made by the seller.
Appurtenant :  A right benefiting a piece of land (eg, an easement) can be said to be ‘appurtenant’ to that land.
Arms Length :  A transaction between parties who are not associated in any way.
Assent :  A document Transferring land or buildings to a beneficiary of an estate.  In Scotland, this is called a Docket on Confirmation.
Assign :  To transfer a right in property over to another. Usually used to signify the transfer of a lease.
Assignee :  The person who receives the property being assigned.
Assignor :  The person who transfers the property.
Attestation Clause :  The words at the end of a document, such as a Deed or Will, recording he formal verification of the document’s execution by the witness or witnesses.
Attorney :  A person who has the formal authority to act on behalf of someone else.
Base Rate :  The interest rate set by the Bank of England.  A committee now meets once a month to consider changes to the rate which then, in turn, affects the rates set by banks and building societies.
Beneficial Joint Tenants :  People who own property jointly in equal shares.  If one dies, his share passes to the others by survivorship.  In other words, no matter what his Will might say, his share will go to the surviving owner(s). See our pages on Joint Ownership and Buying a Property with Somone Else.
Beneficiary :  A person entitled to all or part of an estate under a trust.  Such trusts may arise under a settlement, a Will or intestacy, an insurance policy and similar arrangements.  See Wills, Tax and Estate Planning.
Breach of Contract :  A failure by someone who as entered into a contract to perform his terms.
Break Clause :  A clause in a lease which allows one party to terminate the lease before its normal expiry date.
Building Regulation Approval or Consent and Certificate or Completion  :  Confirmation that the plans for proposed building work show that it will comply with the Building Regulations.  All building work has to comply with prescribed standards and the local authority is charged with ensuring compliance.  National House-Building Council [NHBC] will often undertake such responsibility in relation to a new house to be covered by its structural insurance.
Burden of a Covenant :  The obligation to comply with a Covenant.
Caveat Emptor :  Let the buyer beware – emphasising that it is the buyer’s responsibility to discover problems with the property, not the seller’s to disclose them.
Chancel Repair :  A liability dating back to medieval times, on land/home owners to contribute to the costs of the repairs to the Chancels of Churches.  The Church must note any interest in land or properties with HMRC by October 2013 after which land will no longer be at risk, if that interest has not been noted.  Some solicitors and lenders require insurance  against potential liability.
Charge :  An interest in land securing the payment of a debt; a mortgage.
Chattels :  Items of property other than land, eg, furniture.  They will be excluded from the sale of land – unless there are specific provisions in the contract to the contrary.
Common Land :  Common land is land which is either subject to rights of common or open waste land.  Rights of common include a right to pasture, to fish (piscary), to cut turf (turbary) and to take wood (estovers) but they all share the characteristic that something is taken from the land.  A town or village green is different in that it usually describes land over which people can pass without being entitled to remove anything.
Common Parts :  The parts of a development used in common by all the occupiers, eg, the hallways and stairs in a block of flats or the car park in a business park.
Contract :  An agreement between two or more parties.  It does not have to be in writing to be enforceable and can be oral or even implied from the parties’ conduct.  However, to be enforceable the parties must have intended that their arrangements should give rise to a legal relationship (unlike, say, accepting a social invitation) and must give some value, not necessarily in money; this value is called consideration.  However, contracts for the sale of land must be written and include all agreed terms between the parties and will not be binding until formal exchange of contracts has been effected.
Conveyance :  The document used to transfer ownership to another. Usually used in unregistered land.
Counterpart Lease :  A lease is normally drawn up in two identical copies: the lease signed by the landlord and the counterpart singed by the tenant.  Each party then keeps the part signed by the other.
Covenant :  An agreement, usually under seal, by which someone undertakes to do not to do some specified thing.  Examples occur in leases and in conveyances, where the seller covenants that he has good title and the purchaser may covenant not to build.
Covenantee :  The person to whom the promise is made, ie, taking the benefit of the covenant.
Covenantor :  The person making the promise, ie, bearing the burden of the covenant.
Deed :  A document executed in accordance with various formal requirements.  It must be signed and witnessed and then delivered.
Defective Title Insurance :  Insurance taken out to protect a buyer and/or lender against the consequence of a specified defect in title up to the financial limit specified in the policy.
Demise :  A lease/ the grant of a lease.  Sometimes used to indicate the property granted by a lease.
Deposit :  A sum of money put up as security for the performance of some commitment, as at exchange of contracts for the purchase of a property.
Disbursements :  Payments made by a solicitor on behalf of the client, e.g., search fees.
Easement :  An entitlement to exercise some right over another’s land e.g. a right of way, a right of light or a right of support.
Encumbrance :  A right of interest over or in land possessed by someone other than the owner of the land, e.g. an easement, or lease or a mortgage.
Engrossment :  The final version of a document which will be signed by the parties.  Traditionally prepared on better quality paper than mere ‘drafts’ of the document.
Epitome of Title :  A chronological list of the documents which prove title to unregistered land.  It will usually be accompanied by photocopies of the documents.
Escrow :  A deed which has been signed but only delivered conditionally.  It will not become operative until the condition (eg, the payment of money) has been fulfilled.
Exchange of Contracts :  The point at which the parties to a written contract become legally bound.  For instance, contracts for the sale of land are usually prepared in two parts, one signed by the seller and the other by the purchaser.  The purchaser’s signed part is sent to the seller’s solicitor with the deposit and exchange takes place when the seller’s signed contract is put in the post or otherwise delivered to the buyer’s solicitor.
Execute :  To sign a legal document following the procedure required for a Deed or a Will.
Fair Wear and Tear :  Damage caused by the ordinary operation of natural causes.  Sometimes in a lease a repairing obligation does not include damage caused in this way.
Fixtures :  Items fixed to land which become part of it and will pass to a buyer on a sale unless specifically excluded by the terms of the contract.
Flying Freehold :  A part of a freehold property which lies over land belonging to someone else.
Freehold :  The absolute ownership of land and rights over land for an indefinite time.  [Contrast Leasehold [and Lease] where the ownership is limited in time.]
Gazumping :  The acceptance by a seller of a higher offer despite having previously accepted a lower one from another buyer.  In England and Wales, a seller is entitled to do this provided contracts have not been exchanged. The position is different in Scotland.
Gazundering :  The submission by a buyer of a lower offer despite having previously agreed a higher price.  In England and Wales, a buyer is entitled to do this provided contracts have not been exchanged; the position is different in Scotland.
Good Leasehold Title :  One of the classes of title conferred by Land Registry.  It guarantees the ownership of the lease but not that the landlord had the right to grant that lease.
Ground Rent :  A rent, substantially below the market rate, payable by a tenant usually of a long lease for which a capital sum (premium) was paid at the beginning.
Habendum :  The part of a deed which describes the property being transferred.
Head Lease :  A lease granted directly by the freeholder.  Used where the tenant under that lease has then granted a sub-lease of all or part of that property.
Holding :  The are of land demised to the tenant.
Implied Terms :  Terms which are not expressly stated in a contract but are derived from custom and usage or are necessary to make it work from a business point of view.
Indemnity :  An undertaking by one person to be responsible for future loss.  Most insurance policies and many guarantees come within the definition of indemnity.
Indemnity Covenant :  A promise to indemnify someone against a possible future loss or expense.  Often included in a transfer to protect a seller against a possible breach of obligation by the buyer for which the seller could be liable.
Home Information Pack :  See Home Information Pack [HIP] page.
Joint and Several :  An obligation entered into by two or more persons under which they are ‘severally’ or individually liable (eg, for the full amount of a debt) as well as jointly liable with the others.
Joint Tenancy :  See Beneficial Joint Tenants
Laches :  Delay in enforcing a right.
Landlord :  The grantor of a lease.
Lease :  Used interchangeably to mean a leasehold interest in land and also the document creating the interest.
Lien :  The right to hold onto another’s property.
Life Interest :  The right to receive the income from, or to enjoy the occupation of, property for the lifetime of the life tenant.  When a life tenant dies, the property does not pass with his estate but goes to the beneficiaries identified by the document that set up the trust.  However, the value of the property may be charged to inheritance tax on the death of the life tenant.

Continued on Conveyancying Jargon Buster [M to Z]