LPC Basic property law - purely on positive covenants and pre-contract searches

What are the four steps that a seller's solicitor does upon completion of a conveyancing transaction?

Answer: 1. Obtains confirmation from seller's lender of the amount necessary to discharge any existing mortgage on the property as at the completion date. 2. Approves transfer deed, which is usually drafted by buyer's solicitor, and arranges execution of the transfer deed by the seller. 3. Replies to Completion Information and Undertakings form. These are further enquiries from buyer's solicitors dealing with practicalities relating to completion, eg discharge of any mortgage, amount required on completion from the buyer, and the lender account to which the purchase money should be sent. 4. On day of completion, receives balance of purchase money and dates the transfer deed.

In registered land, when will legal title to the property pass?

Answer: In registered land, legal title to the property will only pass upon registration, as effected at the Land Registry.

What is a 'report on title' in a conveyancing transaction?

Answer: A 'report on title' is a document prepared for one's own client.

If you are acting for the lender, and your client is to rely on a certificate of title, as prepared by the borrower's solicitors - whom should the certificate of title be addressed to? And why?

Answer: The certificate of title, provided by the borrower's solicitors to your client (the lender), should be addressed to the lender. This is to enable the lender to rely on it and to have some protection in an action for negligence against the borrower's solicitors if the certificate of title proves defective.

Why are many law firms and lenders now willing to use the City of London Law Society (CLLS) certificate of title as a standard form in commercial transactions?

Answer: This saves time and money, because there is no need to negotiate what form the certificate of title will take and it is also familiar to most solicitors.