Property Law and Practice 2020/2021

Rodell

Sujets

• Droit et juridique
• Property law

Informations

• Publié par: College of Law Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 0001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781913226701
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

PROPERTY LAW AND PRACTICE

Published by
College of Law Publishing,
Braboeuf Manor, Portsmouth Road, St Catherines, Guildford GU3 1HA
© The University of Law 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or by any means, including photocopying or recording, without the written permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the publisher.
Crown copyright material is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 913226 62 6
Typeset by Style Photosetting Ltd, Mayfield, East Sussex
Tables and index by Moira Greenhalgh, Arnside, Cumbria
Preface
This book is intended as an introduction to property law and practice for those studying on the Legal Practice Course. It is hoped, however, that it will also be of use to others wanting an introduction to property practice and procedure. Its approach is essentially practical, and it does not pretend to contain a detailed analysis of the underlying law. Some background law is included, but it is assumed that readers will have the basic knowledge of land law and contract on which an understanding of property law and practice depends.
In the interests of brevity, both solicitor and client are referred to throughout the book in the male gender. Users of the book are requested to read ‘he/she’ every time the masculine pronoun is used, and to accept our apology for omitting specific references to both female solicitors and clients.
We should both like to acknowledge the debt we owe to Neil Duckworth, co-author of previous editions of this book, whose support and advice to students and colleagues alike was unfailing. He is much missed.
Thanks also to all our colleagues and students at The University of Law for their assistance, some of it unwitting.
The law is generally stated as at 1 May 2020.
Clare Harris
Birmingham
Anne Rodell
Guildford
Acknowledgements
The Standard Conditions of Sale and the Standard Commercial Property Conditions are reproduced for educational purposes only by kind permission of the Solicitors’ Law Stationery Society Limited and The Law Society of England and Wales.
We also acknowledge with thanks the kind permission of The Law Society to reproduce the following:
• the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol;
• the Law Society’s formulae for exchanging contracts by telephone, fax or telex;
• the Law Society’s code for completion by post;
• the form of undertaking to discharge building society mortgage.
Contents
PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CASES
TABLE OF STATUTES
TABLE OF STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS, CODES, RULES, CONDITIONS AND GUIDANCE
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
Part I ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION TO PROPERTY LAW AND PRACTICE

1.1 What is ‘Property Law and Practice’?
1.2 Approach taken by this book
1.3 The relationship of conveyancing and land law
1.4 Registered and unregistered land
1.5 E-conveyancing
1.6 Practitioner texts
Chapter 2 OUTLINE OF A SIMPLE TRANSACTION

2.1 How a conveyancing transaction works
2.2 Outline of a simple transaction
2.3 Linked transactions
2.4 The Conveyancing Quality Scheme and the Law Society Conveyancing Protocol
Chapter 3 UNDERLYING LAND LAW PRINCIPLES – RIGHTS AND INTERESTS

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Legal estates, legal interests and equitable interests
3.3 Formalities
3.4 Protecting third-party interests
3.5 Easements
3.6 Covenants
3.7 Trusts of land
3.8 Co-ownership
3.9 Mortgages
3.10 Adverse possession
3.11 Further reading
Chapter 4 UNDERLYING LAND LAW PRINCIPLES – REGISTERED AND UNREGISTERED LAND

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Unregistered land
4.3 Registered land
4.4 Further reading
4.5 Example of a registered title
Chapter 5 CONDUCT ISSUES RELEVANT TO CONVEYANCING

5.1 Introduction
5.2 Acting for seller and buyer
5.3 Acting for joint buyers
5.4 Acting for borrower and lender
5.5 Acting for joint borrowers – undue influence
5.6 Confidentiality
5.7 Contract races
5.8 Withdrawal of papers
5.9 Undertakings
5.10 Dealing with non-solicitors
5.11 Money laundering
5.12 Mortgage fraud
5.13 Property and title fraud
5.14 Data protection
Chapter 6 PROPERTY TAXATION

6.1 Capital gains tax
6.2 Value added tax
6.3 Stamp duty land tax
6.4 Annual tax on enveloped dwellings
Chapter 7 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING, BUILDING REGULATIONS AND RELATED MATTERS

7.1 Town and country planning
7.2 Listed buildings and conservation areas
7.3 Building regulation control
7.4 Restrictive covenants and planning and building regulations control
7.5 Transactional matters
7.6 Environmental issues
7.7 A planning case study
Part II THE CONVEYANCING TRANSACTION: INITIAL STAGES
Chapter 8 MARKETING THE PROPERTY AND TAKING INSTRUCTIONS

8.1 Marketing the property, Energy Performance Certificates and the minimum energy efficiency standard
8.2 Purpose of taking instructions
8.3 Matters on which instructions must be obtained
8.4 Acting for the seller
8.5 Acting for the buyer
8.6 Instructions in special cases
8.7 Specimen instructions
Chapter 9 FINANCE FOR THE BUYER

9.1 Introduction
9.2 Sources of finance
9.3 Amount of the loan
9.4 Types of mortgage
Chapter 10 ADVISING JOINT BUYERS

10.1 Advising the client
10.2 Suitability of each method
10.3 Recording the method of co-ownership
Chapter 11 FIXTURES AND FITTINGS

11.1 Fixtures and fittings – introduction
11.2 Difficulty of distinguishing between fixtures and fittings
11.3 Need for certainty in contract
11.4 Apportionment of purchase price
11.5 Fittings and contents form
Chapter 12 SURVEYS

12.1 When should a survey be commissioned?
12.2 Reasons for a survey
12.3 Types of building survey
12.4 Factors indicating desirability of a full survey
12.5 Additional types of surveys
12.6 Flats and other attached properties
12.7 Surveyor’s liability
Chapter 13 ACTION FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

13.1 After the interview: both parties
13.2 For the seller
13.3 For the buyer
Part III THE CONVEYANCING TRANSACTION: PROCEDURE LEADING TO EXCHANGE
Chapter 14 DEDUCTION OF TITLE

14.1 Deduction of title
14.2 Time for deduction
14.3 Seller’s obligations
14.4 Method of deduction for registered land – official copies
14.5 Method of deduction for unregistered land – epitomes and abstracts
14.6 Leaseholds
Chapter 15 INVESTIGATION OF TITLE – HOW TO INVESTIGATE TITLE

15.1 Introduction
15.2 Reasons for investigating title
15.3 Investigating title in registered land
15.4 Unregistered land
Chapter 16 INVESTIGATION OF TITLE – PARTICULAR PROBLEMS AND WORKED EXAMPLES

16.1 Particular problem areas
16.2 Trustees of land
16.3 Personal representatives
16.4 Co-owners
16.5 Disposing lenders
16.6 Discharged mortgages
16.7 Attorneys
16.8 Transactions at an undervalue
16.9 Restrictive covenants
16.10 Execution of deeds
16.11 Verification of title
16.12 Raising requisitions
16.13 Worked example of investigation of a registered title – 10, Bladen Road, Overton, Cornshire
16.14 Worked example of investigation of an unregistered title – 15, Mill Street, Torridge, Huntshire
Chapter 17 SEARCHES AND ENQUIRIES BEFORE CONTRACT

17.1 Reasons for making searches
17.2 Who should make the searches and enquiries?
17.3 How are the searches made?
17.4 Which searches should be made?
17.5 Local land charges search
17.6 Enquiries of local authority
17.7 Pre-contract enquiries of the seller
17.8 Water and drainage enquiries
17.9 Environmental searches and surveys
17.10 Chancel repair searches
17.11 Central Land Charges Department search – unregistered land
17.12 Bankruptcy search
17.13 Company search
17.14 Flood search
17.15 Index Map search
17.16 Inspection of the property
17.17 Location specific searches
17.18 Results of searches
17.19 Imputed knowledge
17.20 Relying on searches made by a third party
17.21 Conclusion
Chapter 18 THE DRAFT CONTRACT

18.1 Introduction and context
18.2 Preparing to draft the contract
18.3 Seller’s capacity
18.4 Elements of a contract
18.5 The particulars of sale
18.6 The standard conditions
18.7 The special conditions
18.8 Matters to be covered by special condition
18.9 Unfair contract terms
18.10 Buyer’s consideration of the contract
18.11 Contract drafting: worked examples
Chapter 19 CONDITIONAL CONTRACTS AND OPTIONS

19.1 Use of conditional contracts
19.2 Requirements for a valid conditional contract
19.3 Drafting
19.4 Options
19.5 Protection of conditional contracts and options
Chapter 20 THE MORTGAGE

20.1 The mortgage offer
20.2 Terms of offer
20.3 Conditions attached to offer
20.4 Instructions to act
20.5 Conflict of interests
20.6 Reporting to the lender
20.7 The mortgage documentation
20.8 Protecting the security
Chapter 21 THE DEPOSIT

21.1 Need for deposit
21.2 Preliminary deposits
21.3 Amount of deposit
21.4 Funding the deposit
21.5 Clearing funds
21.6 Capacity in which deposit is held
21.7 Methods of payment of deposit
21.8 The deposit cheque bounces
21.9 Interest on the deposit
21.10 Buyer’s lien
Chapter 22 INSURANCE

22.1 Risk in the property
22.2 Insuring the property
22.3 Property at seller’s risk
22.4 Property at buyer’s risk
22.5 Maintenance of seller’s policy
22.6 Other types of insurance
Chapter 23 PREPARING TO EXCHANGE

23.1 Introduction
23.2 Matters to be checked
23.3 Reporting to client
23.4 Signature of contract
Chapter 24 EXCHANGE OF CONTRACTS

24.1 The practice of exchange
24.2 Authority to exchange
24.3 Methods of exchange
24.4 Standard Conditions of Sale
24.5 Insurance
Part IV THE CONVEYANCING TRANSACTION: AFTER EXCHANGE
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