Associated Documents and Title Registers

Associated Documents and Title Registers

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Article Summary

The distinction between a Title Register and a Conveyancing Deed should be understood, as many people believe the two terms relate to the same document. The purpose of this article is to inform you of the many types of Associated Documents and to explain how different they are to the Land Registry Title Register.

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Distinction between Associated Documents and a Title Register

A distinction between a Title Register and a Conveyancing Deed should be understood, as many people believe the two terms relate to the same document.

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Associated Documents

Associated Documents are created during a conveyancing transaction for many different purposes, some examples of which follow. Save for the Transfer Deed, most of the other Associated Documents were created during the property's pre-registration status and their content is no longer legally required, although usually desired for their more detailed content.

Many of a property's Associated Documents have been copied by the Land Registry and can be obtained using our Associated Documents Search.

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Examples of Associated Documents

Transfer Deed

When a property is purchased the purchaser's solicitor creates a Transfer Deed, which is a legal Deed executed by the vendor and, sometimes, the purchaser. The Deed is required in order to conform with section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 to satisfy the law of contract relating to land. The Transfer Deed will provide the names and addresses of the parties to it, i.e. the purchaser and vendor, the names and addresses of the conveyancers, the consideration paid, eg. purchase price, the address and/or description of the property, and any particular terms relating to the contract to purchase, such as the creation of a new covenant or easement. The Transfer Deed is sent to the Land Registry on completion of the purchase, together with an application to register the property. If this is the first time the property has been registered, all the other Deeds and Documents that form a good root of Title, will also be sent to the Land Registry. Upon receipt of the foregoing the Land Registry will either create a new Title Register or else print a replacement Title Register with the new details in it.

Conveyance

A Conveyance is the older version of a Transfer, and relates to the purchase of land prior to registration of title.

Epitome of Title

The Epitome of Title describes a parcel of Deeds and documents that have been appended together, usually in date order, to comprise documents forming a good root of title.

Abstract of Title

An Abstract of title is a written copy of the salient parts of a Deed or bundle of Deeds that form a good root of Title, similar to an Epitome.

Lease

A Lease is similar to a contract for the sale of land and is prepared by the vendor's solicitor rather than the purchaser's solicitor. A Lease is created where a freeholder wishes to divide a property into smaller units, e.g. flats, and sell or rent each unit individually. It is far more detailed than a contract and regulates the relationship between the purchaser of the property and purchaser's of other properties deriving title from the same freehold property. In most cases a Lease will include a detailed Lease Plan, illustrating the precise extent of unique ownership and also the shared ownership, i.e. common parts of the property such as entrances, gardens, bin stores and parking spaces. Leases are sold separately to the Associated Documents.

Obtain Lease

Declaration of Trust (Trust Deed)

A Declaration of Trust, or Trust Deed, is created in order to establish a Trust relationship with the owner of a property, by appointing trustees to hold the property on behalf of a beneficiary. It confirms the true ownership of the property, which may not be apparent from a look at the Title Register. For example, the Title Register will only show the names of 4 persons as owners, whereas there may be more than this in actuality. A Trust Deed would confirm this. Another common example of a Declaration of Trust is where joint parties convert their ownership to a tenancy in common. A Trust Deed is created to confirm the Tenancy in Common, and to show the relative proportions of the property owned by each of them.

Wayleave

A Wayleave is a legal contract created between a landowner and a third party, permitting the third party access to and permission to carry out work on the landowner's land.

Easement Deed

Easement Deeds are Deeds created with the specific intention of creating a right in favour of a private landowner over an adjoining landowner's property, such as a right of way, or a right of access. Easements are usually created at the time of sale, particularly where part only of the property is sold, but are sometimes created separately at a later time, if the need arises. Easement Deeds often have a detailed Deed Plan attached to them, to clearly illustrate the location of the rights over the adjoining property.

Deed of Release of a Restrictive Covenant

Where the Restrictive Covenant has been created that affects a parcel of land and the landowner has successfully obtained the Coventor's permission to release or remove the covenant, a Deed of Release is created.

Deed of Assignment

An Assignment on Sale, or Deed of Assignment, is the legal Deed created to convey the transfer of a Lease.

Associated Documents Search

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Title Register

The Title Register, together with the Title Plan, are the two documents of Title that authenticate ownership, replacing the old-style conveyances and Transfers as evidence of ownership.

As stated above, the The Register is created by the Land Registry from the documents sent to it by the purchaser's conveyancer, and shows succinct details of the property, its ownership and matters that affect the property and ownership, such as covenants, easements, mortgages, etc.

Learn more about Title Registers.