09/03/2021
WHEN A DEED OF CONVEYANCE IS MORE THAN A RECIEPT.
In every day property acquisition, the most important piece of document involved in cementing the transaction is a Deed. It could either be one of Conveyance, assignment, Transfer, Gift or in some cases a Power of Attorney. Irrespective of which mode is utilized, the paramount effect of its ex*****on is the capacity of the Deed to transfer interest and/or title from one person to the other.
Now whatever form is adopted, the contents of same are most important. While simple English language can express the intent of the contracting parties, the indispensability of legal coinage or writing effected in most of these documents are of significant and far reaching effect. While a seamless transaction may not show if there are loopholes in such drafting, the reverse will be the case if problems arise along the line after ex*****on of the Deed. The effect of the wordings of the Deed becomes of paramount importance in such cases.
A Deed which is simply a document effecting transfer of interest usually bears and contains provisions similar to a regular contract stipulating liability of parties in effect of a breach of the contract mostly reflected in terms of when a Vendor’s title is defective or is shown to be defective later either by omission, commission, by operation of Law or legal process.
The standard of liability usually involves a refund of the purchase price. But inherently provided are damages payable by the defaulting party mostly to the tune of whatever improvement that has being erected on the land by the Purchaser and taking into effect the prevalent price of such property at the time the defect in title becomes apparent. Like all contracts freely entered into the Vendor is bound by the provisions stated therein and except as to what will amount to an assessed damages, restitution and refund the liability is strict and uncontestable.
The intention behind such drafting is to protect innocent purchasers from being taken advantage of by unscrupulous persons who will fleece them of their hard earned monies in the hope that the worst that could happen will be a simple refund of the purchased price at their convenience. However, a failure to observe these set of rules of drafting by a draftsman will effectively make an argument for liability, aside the refund of the initial exact sum paid, a herculean task and which can only be decided by a Court of Law and the discretion of the adjudicator.
While some jurisdictions have strict laws that forbid the drafting of any legal instrument touching on land by anybody other than a legal practitioner, other jurisdictions have no such enabling enactment and thus no law forbids the drafting of a simple legal document evidencing sale of real property by even the parties themselves.
The core difference however is that such documents cannot enure for the purposes of registering such titles with requisite Government agency and also the protection of the interest of a purchaser can only be secured when the draftsman is one knowledgeable in the intricacies of legal drafting and specifically employed by the Purchaser to protect his interest as in all property transaction, the only interest that needs protecting is always the Purchaser’s than the Vendor.
* Ejiro Ekewedaye Esq., a legal practitioner is the Senior Partner at WhiteHall LP and also the Chief Legal Counsel to
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