Conveyancing: The Gap Between Agreeing and Owning

A price agreed on a house is often treated as the moment of purchase. In many systems it commits nobody to anything.

Agreement in principle and legal commitment

Some jurisdictions treat a property agreement as binding only once specified formalities are complete, typically written and signed documents. Until then either party can walk away.

Others bind the parties much earlier, sometimes at the point of a signed preliminary contract with a deposit. The difference in exposure between these systems is considerable.

This single structural difference explains why practices that seem normal in one country appear reckless in another. It is the first thing a cross-border buyer should establish.

Investigation of title

The buyer's lawyer examines what is actually being sold: ownership, boundaries, rights benefiting and burdening the land, and any restrictions. The seller's information is checked against public records.

Searches with authorities and utilities reveal matters not visible on inspection, such as planned works, contamination or drainage. Their scope varies by location and by lender requirement.

Enquiries and what a seller must reveal

Sellers are typically asked a standard set of questions about disputes, alterations, guarantees and services. Duties to volunteer information vary substantially between systems.

Answers given become part of the record and can support a claim if untrue. That is why replies are often carefully qualified.

Physical condition is generally the buyer's own concern, addressed through a survey rather than through enquiries. The two exercises answer different questions.

Money, lenders and the sequence of steps

Where a mortgage is involved, the lender's requirements shape the timetable and sometimes the title work itself. The lender is protecting its own security, not the buyer's expectations.

Deposits, transfer of funds and the discharge of existing loans have to be sequenced precisely. Most delays in a transaction come from this coordination rather than from legal analysis.

Completion and registration are not the same event

Handing over money and keys completes the transaction between the parties. Recording the change in a public register is usually a separate step that may take considerably longer.

Until registration is complete, the buyer's position against third parties can be different from their position against the seller. Because formalities, timing and the point of commitment differ so much between jurisdictions, a property purchase is a transaction to run through a qualified local lawyer.