ValuQ Property Glossary
Titles, planning and property law
What you legally own, what binds it, and what you may do with it. The terms of ownership and planning, including the Scottish system's own vocabulary.
64 terms · Last reviewed 24 July 2026.
Title
Title is the legal right of ownership in a property, and proving good title is the core of every conveyance.
In registered land the title is the Land Registry's record, guaranteed by the state. Everything a buyer's solicitor does traces back to checking it.
Related: Official copies, Classes of title
Title deeds
Title deeds are the historic paper documents proving ownership, largely replaced by the Land Registry's digital register.
For registered property the register is the proof and old deeds are background. They stay useful for boundaries, rights and covenants the register summarises.
Related: HM Land Registry
Official copies
Official copies are the Land Registry's certified current record of a title: ownership, charges, rights and restrictions.
A few pounds to obtain and the first thing every conveyancer pulls. Anyone can download them for any property, including yours.
Related: Title plan
Title plan
The title plan is the Land Registry map showing a property's general boundaries edged in red.
General is the operative word: it is not a precise boundary survey, and fence-line disputes are rarely settled by it alone.
HM Land Registry
HM Land Registry is the government body recording ownership of land in England and Wales, whose register is the definitive proof of title.
Registration is compulsory on sale, and the register is public. Scotland has its own Registers of Scotland.
Related: Registration gap
Registered vs unregistered land
Registered land has its ownership recorded at the Land Registry, while unregistered land still proves ownership through a chain of old deeds.
A small minority of land, typically long-held, remains unregistered. Selling it triggers compulsory first registration and a slower, deed-hunting conveyance.
Related: Epitome of title, First registration
Classes of title
Also known as: absolute title, possessory title, good leasehold
Classes of title are the grades of ownership guarantee the Land Registry gives: absolute is full, possessory and qualified are weaker, and good leasehold lacks proof of the landlord's own title.
Lenders can balk at anything below absolute. Weaker classes can often be upgraded after years of quiet possession, or insured around in the meantime.
Related: Indemnity insurance
Epitome of title
An epitome of title is the chronological bundle of deeds proving ownership of unregistered land, presented to the buyer's solicitor.
It must start from a good root of title. Assembling it is why unregistered sales reward starting the legal work early.
Related: Root of title, Registered vs unregistered land
Root of title
A root of title is the starting deed from which unregistered ownership is proven, at least fifteen years old and dealing with the whole property.
The anchor the epitome hangs from. A defective root means indemnity insurance or registry work before the sale proceeds.
Related: Epitome of title
Deducing title
Deducing title is the seller's solicitor formally proving the seller owns what they are selling.
Instant for registered land, archaeological for unregistered. It is step one of every contract pack.
Related: Contract pack
First registration
First registration is recording unregistered land at the Land Registry for the first time, compulsory on sale and voluntary any time.
Owners of unregistered property can register voluntarily at a discount before selling, which removes a chunk of future conveyancing friction and protects against deed loss.
Related: Registered vs unregistered land
Covenant
A covenant is a binding promise attached to land, obliging its owner to do or not do something.
Written into deeds generations ago, covenants pass with the land to every new owner. What they permit and forbid outlives everyone who agreed them.
Related: Restrictive covenant, Positive covenant
Restrictive covenant
A restrictive covenant forbids specified uses of land, such as building additions, running a business, or keeping certain animals.
Breach can be insured against where historic, or consent sought where the beneficiary is known. Extensions and covenants collide constantly; check before designing.
Related: Indemnity insurance, Planning permission
Positive covenant
A positive covenant obliges an owner to actively do something, classically maintaining a shared fence, road or drain.
Unlike restrictive covenants they do not automatically bind future owners, so deeds use chains of fresh promises, the deed of covenant, to keep them alive.
Related: Deed of covenant, Estate charges on freehold estates
Easement
An easement is a legal right one property enjoys over another, such as a right of way, drainage, or access for repairs.
Easements run with the land on both sides, benefiting one title and burdening the other. The register usually records them; usage sometimes creates them.
Related: Right of way, Prescriptive rights
Right of way
A right of way is the easement allowing passage over someone else's land, on foot or with vehicles, along a defined route.
Private rights of way serve particular properties; public ones serve everyone. Which one crosses your garden matters enormously.
Related: Easement, Shared driveway
Wayleave
A wayleave is a utility company's contractual right to run equipment, such as poles or cables, over or under private land, usually for a small annual payment.
Common in rural titles. Distinct from an easement in being personal to the company and terminable, at least in theory.
Related: Easement
Prescriptive rights
Prescriptive rights are easements earned by long use: openly, without permission, for twenty years or more.
The path used since the 1980s can become a legal right even though nothing was written down. Proving it runs on statutory declarations and old photographs.
Related: Statutory declaration, Adverse possession
Overage clause
Also known as: clawback, uplift clause
An overage clause entitles a seller to extra payment if the land later gains value in a defined way, typically by winning planning permission.
Standard when selling land with development potential. For buyers it is a charge on tomorrow's upside; for sellers it is insurance against selling the goldmine as a field.
Related: Planning permission
Ransom strip
A ransom strip is a sliver of land deliberately retained to control access to adjoining land, priced accordingly when that land needs it.
A few feet of verge can hold a development to ransom, hence the name. Title plans reveal them; assumptions do not.
Boundary
A boundary is the legal line dividing one property from the next, defined by the deeds and only generally shown on the title plan.
Precise boundaries are determined from deed wording, plans, features and history. Most disputes cost more than the land is worth, which is the first thing any good adviser says.
Related: T-marks, Title plan
T-marks
Also known as: fence ownership
T-marks are deed-plan symbols showing which owner is responsible for a boundary feature, the T sitting on the responsible side.
Where deeds are silent there is no default rule about which fence is yours, whatever neighbourhood lore says.
Related: Boundary
Party wall and the Party Wall Act
A party wall is a wall shared between two properties, and the Party Wall Act 1996 sets the notice and agreement process before works affecting one.
Loft conversions, chimney removals and extensions near the line all trigger it. Buyers ask for party wall awards where past works needed them.
Related: Load-bearing wall
Adverse possession
Adverse possession is acquiring ownership of land by occupying it exclusively and without permission for the statutory period.
For registered land the occupier applies after ten years and the registered owner gets the chance to object, which usually defeats it. The moved fence absorbing a strip of field is the everyday version.
Related: Prescriptive rights
Title defect
A title defect is any flaw in the legal ownership record: missing rights, breached covenants, absent documents or doubtful boundaries.
Most defects are cured with indemnity insurance in days rather than fixed in months. The premium usually lands on the seller.
Related: Indemnity insurance
Restriction on title
A restriction on title is a Land Registry entry preventing certain dealings, such as a sale, being registered unless its conditions are met.
The Form A restriction, signalling co-ownership as tenants in common, is the one conveyancers meet daily. Others protect lenders, trusts and charging orders.
Related: Tenants in common
Home rights notice
Also known as: matrimonial home rights
A home rights notice is a spouse's registered right to occupy the family home they do not own, blocking its sale over their head.
A Family Law Act protection that appears on the title and must be addressed, not ignored, before completion. Standard territory in divorce sales.
Related: Occupier consent form
Indemnity insurance
Also known as: indemnity policy
Indemnity insurance is a one-off policy covering financial loss from a specific legal defect, bought instead of fixing the defect itself.
Missing building regs, breached covenants and lost documents are its daily diet. One premium, no excess, lasts forever, passes to successors. It pays money; it never makes the problem itself go away.
Related: Title defect, Regularisation certificate
Deed of variation
A deed of variation is a formal document changing the terms of an existing deed or lease by agreement.
Fixing an onerous ground rent clause or updating shared-access terms both arrive as deeds of variation. Both sides sign; the change binds successors.
Related: Onerous lease terms
Deed of covenant
A deed of covenant is a new owner's direct written promise to observe existing obligations, commonly required on leasehold and estate purchases.
The mechanism that keeps positive covenants running from owner to owner. Managing agents charge a fee for it, which the buyer usually pays.
Related: Positive covenant, Estate charges on freehold estates
Declaration of trust
Also known as: deed of trust
A declaration of trust is the document recording who really owns what shares of a property, and on what terms, behind the legal title.
Essential for unequal deposits, parental money and friends buying together. Cheap to write on the way in, priceless on the way out.
Related: Tenants in common
Statutory declaration
Also known as: statement of truth
A statutory declaration is a formal sworn statement of fact, used in property to evidence long use, boundaries or lost documents.
The tool that turns twenty years of quietly using the path into something a registrar can act on.
Related: Prescriptive rights
Joint tenants
Joint tenants co-own a property as a single whole, with each owner's interest passing automatically to the survivors on death.
The default choice of many couples: no will needed for the house to pass. It also means no shares to leave to anyone else.
Tenants in common
Tenants in common co-own a property in defined shares, equal or not, each share passing under its owner's will rather than automatically.
The structure for unequal contributions and blended families, paired with a declaration of trust. It is what the Form A restriction on a title signals.
Related: Declaration of trust, Restriction on title
Transfer of equity
A transfer of equity is changing who owns a property without a full sale, adding or removing a name from the title.
Divorce, marriage and family restructuring drive most of them. Any lender must consent, and stamp duty can arise where money or mortgage debt changes hands.
Related: TR1 transfer deed
Deed of gift
A deed of gift is the formal transfer of property for nothing in return, usually within families.
Gifts can be unwound by insolvency rules and scrutinised in care-fee assessments, which is why recipients' buyers and lenders ask questions of gifts made in recent years. Advice first, generosity second.
Related: Concessionary purchase
TR1 transfer deed
The TR1 is the Land Registry form that legally transfers ownership, signed by the seller and dated at completion.
The single document that actually conveys the property; everything else is preparation for it.
Related: AP1, Completion
AP1
The AP1 is the application form the buyer's solicitor sends to the Land Registry after completion to register the new ownership.
The final procedural step of a purchase, queued behind the registry's processing times.
Related: Registration gap
DS1 (mortgage discharge)
The DS1 is the lender's confirmation that a mortgage has been repaid, removing its charge from the title.
The seller's solicitor undertakes to redeem and obtain it, which is how a buyer safely pays for a property that still shows a mortgage on the register.
Related: Undertaking, Legal charge
Assent (AS1)
An assent is the document transferring a deceased person's property from their estate to a beneficiary, using form AS1 instead of a sale transfer.
The route when an inherited home is kept rather than sold. Selling to a third party uses the ordinary TR1 signed by the personal representatives.
Priority search (OS1)
A priority search is the pre-completion Land Registry search that freezes the title for the buyer, blocking rival registrations for thirty working days.
It guarantees the register the buyer relied on is the register they get. Completion is timed inside its protective window.
Related: Registration gap
Bankruptcy search (K16)
A bankruptcy search checks whether a buyer or borrower is subject to insolvency proceedings, run for the lender before completion.
Routine, instant, and occasionally the source of last-minute drama when a common name throws up a match that needs disproving.
Registration gap
The registration gap is the period between completion and the Land Registry formally registering the new owner.
The buyer owns in equity from completion and the priority search protects them through the gap, however long the registry's queue runs.
Related: Priority search (OS1), AP1
Probate and grant of probate
Also known as: grant of representation, letters of administration
Probate is the legal authority to deal with a deceased person's estate, issued as a grant of probate where there is a will and letters of administration where there is not.
An estate's property cannot be sold without the grant, and GOV.UK advises not marketing until it is issued. Grants of probate averaged five weeks from application in early 2026; administration cases take longer.
Related: Assent (AS1), Probate fee · Selling an inherited house →
Lasting power of attorney
Also known as: LPA
A lasting power of attorney is the legal authority letting a chosen person make decisions, including selling property, for someone who has lost capacity.
A property and financial affairs LPA must be registered before use, and attorneys selling a home act under duties to the owner. Buyers' solicitors verify the LPA as part of title.
Planning permission
Planning permission is the council's consent to carry out development, from extensions to whole new buildings.
It concerns what may be built; building regulations concern how safely. A property's planning history surfaces in the local authority search, unresolved breaches included.
Related: Permitted development, Building regulations approval
Permitted development
Also known as: PD rights
Permitted development rights allow specified smaller works, like many rear extensions and loft conversions, without a planning application.
Limits on size and position are precise, and conservation areas or Article 4 directions can remove the rights entirely. Within the rules, a lawful development certificate is the proof worth having.
Related: Lawful development certificate, Article 4 direction
Lawful development certificate
Also known as: LDC
A lawful development certificate is the council's formal confirmation that works or a use are lawful, either as permitted development or through the passage of time.
Not compulsory, but it converts your own opinion about permitted development into a document a buyer's solicitor will accept without argument.
Related: Permitted development
Building regulations approval
Building regulations approval certifies that works meet safety and construction standards, separate from and additional to planning permission.
Structural work, electrics, windows and boilers all fall within it. Historic works without sign-off are among the most common conveyancing snags, usually solved by indemnity insurance or regularisation.
Related: Completion certificate (building regs), Regularisation certificate · No building regs for your extension? →
Completion certificate (building regs)
A building regulations completion certificate is the council or approved inspector's confirmation that finished works complied.
The document buyers' solicitors ask for whenever the TA6 mentions works. File it with the deeds the day it arrives and future-you says thank you.
Related: Building regulations approval
Regularisation certificate
A regularisation certificate is retrospective building regulations approval for works done without consent, granted after inspection.
It can involve opening up finished work for checking. The alternative most sales take is indemnity insurance, which is faster but certifies nothing about safety.
FENSA certificate
A FENSA certificate is proof that replacement windows or doors were installed by a scheme member self-certifying building regulations compliance.
The standard answer to the solicitor's question about window works since 2002. Lost ones can be re-issued from the FENSA register cheaply.
Related: Building regulations approval
Enforcement notice
An enforcement notice is the council's formal demand to remedy a planning breach, up to and including demolition of unauthorised work.
Notices bind the land, so a buyer inherits the problem. The local authority search is where they surface.
Related: Planning permission, Local authority search
Listed building
A listed building is one on the national heritage list, requiring listed building consent for alterations affecting its character, inside and out.
Unauthorised works to a listed building are a criminal matter, and liability passes to new owners. Special insurance, specialist surveyors and patience are all part of the deal.
Related: Conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation area is a designated neighbourhood where the council controls demolition, trees and certain alterations to preserve its character.
Permitted development shrinks inside one. The trade-off is the protected streetscape that made the area worth conserving, and often worth paying for.
Related: Article 4 direction, Permitted development
Article 4 direction
An Article 4 direction is a council order removing specified permitted development rights in a defined area, making a planning application necessary for works that would otherwise be automatic.
Common in conservation areas and streets under development pressure. The local authority search reveals it; assumptions about PD rights do not survive contact with it.
Related: Permitted development, Conservation area
Caveat emptor
Also known as: buyer beware
Caveat emptor, buyer beware, is the principle that the buyer is responsible for discovering a property's condition and defects before purchase.
It is why surveys and searches exist. Its hard edges are softened by the seller's duty to answer enquiries honestly and by consumer protection rules on material information.
Related: Misrepresentation, Material information
Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation is a false statement that induces a purchase, giving the buyer a claim for compensation or, rarely, unwinding the sale.
TA6 answers and replies to enquiries are the usual battleground: the neighbour dispute denied, the flood not mentioned. Honesty in the forms is the seller's entire protection.
Related: TA6 Property Information Form, Replies to enquiries
Missives (Scotland)
Missives are the formal letters between Scottish solicitors that negotiate and conclude a house sale.
Scotland has no exchange of contracts; the missives are the contract, built offer by qualified acceptance until concluded.
Related: Conclusion of missives (Scotland)
Conclusion of missives (Scotland)
Conclusion of missives is the moment a Scottish sale becomes legally binding, typically far earlier in the process than an English exchange.
It is why gazumping barely features in Scotland: commitment lands weeks sooner, with penalties for walking away after it.
Related: Missives (Scotland), Settlement (Scotland)
Disposition (Scotland)
The disposition is the Scottish deed transferring ownership, delivered at settlement and registered in the Land Register of Scotland.
Scotland's equivalent of the TR1, within its own registration system.
Related: Settlement (Scotland)
Home report (Scotland)
A home report is the seller-commissioned pack required before marketing most Scottish homes, containing a survey and valuation, an energy report and a property questionnaire.
The reverse of the English model: the seller provides the survey upfront, and buyers bid informed. Its single survey is relied on by buyers and, usually, their lenders.
Settlement (Scotland)
Settlement is the Scottish completion: the price is paid, the disposition delivered, and the keys handed over.
Same substance as an English completion day, reached by a differently ordered road.
Related: Disposition (Scotland), Completion
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