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Land law: DR traps
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David Burrows
Solicitor Advocate
A transfer of land is an inescapable consequence of most family breakdowns. Avoid the following traps:
- Any agreement on transfer of freehold property must be drafted in a form which complies with s 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989. If there are heads of agreement compliant with s 2 problems with a resiling spouse or his bankruptcy will not upset the deal.
- A sealed order takes effect on decree absolute. Any order should have immediate effect (subject to DA) otherwise a supervening bankruptcy of the transferor vests his share in his trustee.
- A transfer on Mesher terms must be outright subject to a charge back; emphatically not a variation of the proprietary trusts. If the latter a bankruptcy trustee can force a sale what ever the Mesher triggers may be.
- It is possible for the parties to agree or the court to order a form of index-linking which will make simple the defining of the amount to be redeemed under a charge and may remove later sources of friction.
- MCA 1973 s 24A deals with orders...
Read the full article here.
