The court considered the nature of title which could be imposed on a reluctant purchaser of land. One of the title deeds was not properly stamped. This defect was considered a matter of importance to the purchaser because if the title were subsequently challenged, he would not be able to produce in evidence the improperly stamped deed as part of the chain of title. For this reason he might have difficulty in selling the property without making special conditions.
Held: Luxmoore J said: ‘The purchaser having bought under an open contract was entitled to have a good marketable title which, as I understand it, is a title which will enable him to sell the property without the necessity of imposing special conditions of sale restrictive of the purchaser’s rights.’
Luxmoore J
[1936] Ch 713
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Barclays Bank Plc v Weeks Legg and Dean (a Firm); Barclays Bank Plc v Lougher and Others; Barclays Bank Plc v Hopkin John and Co CA 21-May-1998
The defendant solicitors had each acted for banks in completing charges over property. They had given the standard agreed form of undertaking to secure a good and marketable title, and the banks now alleged that they were in breach because . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Leading Case
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.229220