Title

A title is a record of ownership of a property. The evidence for ownership is found in the title deeds. It is possible to own the title to a portion of a property or to the full property. It is also possible to own the title for a piece of land. Owning the title means you should be able to make changes to the property if you wish (unless it is a listed building, in which case different rules apply).

Some people get titles and deeds mixed up. While they are connected and are both very important, they are different from each other. For example, let’s say you want to buy a house. The current owner has the title to that property. To buy it, the title must be transferred from the current owner to you to complete the purchase. For this to occur, the seller and the buyer both need to sign legal paperwork known as a deed. This will form part of the chain of evidence that denotes who currently owns the property.

If you purchase the property via a mortgage, your lender will have a deed against it. That means they have a claim to the property title until you have cleared your mortgage. Hence why keeping up with repayments is vital, otherwise you could lose your home. Even though you are registered as owning the property, the lender has a hold over it because they need to be sure they can get back their funds if you do not pay back the mortgage.

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