When you own a property entirely, you will possess both the deed and the title. But a title is distinct from a deed. Mixing the two up can cause problems if you don’t know what you are using.
Title deeds
Dear ABC Attorneys, I have bought a piece of land. People told me I have to make sure I have a title deed. What is it?
When you are purchasing real estate, you will quickly hear a number of terms thrown around. Most people tend to assume that property deeds and titles are the same thing, but they actually refer to two separate legal concepts.
When you own a property entirely, you will possess both the deed and the title. But a title is distinct from a deed. Mixing the two up can cause problems if you don’t know what you are using.
A title is a legal way of saying that you own a right to something. It is a prime concern of everyone at the time of purchasing of a property. Every property has a title. The title is the evidence of the right of ownership or the ground for rights of ownership. It is acquired by transfer or by the operation of law. For real estate purposes, title refers to ownership of property, meaning that you have the right to use that property. It may be a partial interest in the property or it may be the full.
However, because you have a title, you can have access to land and potentially modify it as you see fit. Title also means you can transfer that interest or portion that you own to others. However, you can never legally transfer more than you own. Deeds, on the other hand, are actually legal documents that transfer the title from one person to the another. It must be a written document. In order to avoid fraud or forgery, sometimes a deed is referred to as the vehicle of the property transfer. Transfers can be less than the title that you actually have. Deeds must be recorded to the registrar of documents to make it fully binding in Tanzania.
Essential elements of a deed
While different jurisdictions have their own requirements, most deeds must contain several essential elements to be legally operative:
• It must be in writing. While most deeds are completed on printed forms.
• All essential elements must be included.
• The grantor and grantee must have legal capacity of granting and receiving the property.
• The grantor and grantee must be identified in such a way as to be ascertainable.
• The property must adequately have to be described.
• Operative words of conveyancing must be present. All standard form includes the necessary legal language that actually transfers the property.
• The deed must be signed by both parts.
• The deed must be delivered to the grantee.
A title deed is a legal document that proves ownership of land and legal rights to it. Such deeds are necessary in situations, where people want to transfer ownership of their property. Those documents are prepared by lawyers they include conveyancing, wills, contracts for sale, mortgages and leases.
Investigation of title is very essential since the ownership of property is required to be complete, fair and free from any doubts, risks and interest. To ensure this, an investigation is much needed so that a purchaser can take all necessary steps at the time of acquiring property to obtain a good and clear title of the land. When search is conducted unto the property of the person, who owns it. It is called the investigation off title. It is also popularly known as ‘search’ into the ownership of the property.
The investigation is carried out broadly to ensure that the property is indeed in the name of the person selling, is free from mortgages and encumbrances, that the property tax has been fully paid up to date and that the property is not engaged in any legal conflicts. The object of investigation of title is to ascertain the ownership and title of a given property, in most cases immovable in nature.
Attributes of ownership
1) Right to have and to get possession;
2) Right to prevent interference with others
3) Power of alienation
4) Liberty of using the object according to the owner’s will
5) Liberty of changing its form or even modify it.
Hallow! We are students from The Open University of Tanzania. We want to know the differences between ownership and possession of property in the Tanzanian law
The origin of ownership is in possession. Actually, possession implies a right to retain it until the contrary is proved and to that extent possessor is presumed to the owner. The concept of ownership gives birth to ‘title’ and the idea of title as the better right to have possession than the other, would be the owner. All titles to land are ultimately based on possession. This is the position almost to all Commonwealth countries, Tanzania in particular. A person can have control over land if it is under his or her possession. It directly means the word ‘possession’’ and word ‘ownership’ go together. Possession is the most important component of the ownership. If owner is not in touch with land and somebody else is having control over it. In the circumstances, the owner loses ownership. There are legal provisions for granting ownership to the person having control on land for long period.
