As part of a real estate transaction, solicitors undertake title investigation. The official copy register of title must be investigated and reported back to the client about any issues.
The Register is kept at the Land Registry and shows the true state of the title. It has three sections: property, proprietorship and charges registers.
Property
describes the estate in land which is registered i.e. freehold or leasehold
Postal address
Shows the physical area of the land which is subject of the registration usually by reference to the title plan
Details of any rights which benefit the land e.g. right to us pathway over adjacent land
Proprietorship
Class of title
Name and addresses of the registered proprietors
Any restrictions on the proprietors’ powers to deal with the land
Any personal covenants given by the current registered proprietors
Charges
Details of charges or encumbrances which currently affect the title
Burden of easements or covenants which bind the land
Positive covenants e.g to repair a fence or restrictive covenants
Details of mortgages of the land
FLA entry (married couple)
As part of the LPC, we studied the various entries that could appear on the register and what advice we would give to the client followed by the actions taken by the solicitor. This was usefully explained to us using ‘IDEA.’ Below I share some of the entry examples as ‘issues’ followed by the description and explanation of the issue to the client. Lastly, what action is required by the solicitor to ensure risk is minimised on the client’s behalf and issues are dealt with pre-exchange of contracts. This is very similar to what is done in practice. I write various reports on title to the client which requires a detailed summary of the Title and action taken which are raised as enquiries by the other side’s solicitors.
For the LPC, I created various checklists – this was extremely useful for revision because I knew I had a complete set of examples and action to be taken and this is a favourite exam question! Below are some parts of the tables I created for this topic.
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