What is an Absolute Title in England and Wales?

When a property is registered at the Land Registry, the legal owners are given a title type that confirms their ownership. In England and Wales, there are 4 main types of title ownership: Absolute Title, Possessory Title, Qualified Title, and a Good Leasehold.

If you have to prove you own the property to register it at the Land Registry without the title deeds, you will usually be granted a possessory title. At a later date, it will likely be upgraded to an absolute title.

Having an Absolute Title is the best type of property ownership because all mortgage lenders will lend on an absolute title but may not on others. The reason is that the others don't guarantee the title/land ownership. In contrast, an absolute title is like saying to a mortgage lender, "the Land Registry can absolutely prove who the property owner is" .

The risk for buyers is that they assume that by buying a property through a solicitor, they'll end up owning the title in full, which isn't always the case. We explain in more detail how to find out what type of title you have, what the greatest risks are and the cost of upgrading your title to absolute.

Title absolute meaning

In simple English, your land title is your legal proof that you own it, and if it's absolute, it's 'proof against the world' that the Land Registry are satisfied with your ownership credentials. This is important because it means that the Land Registry can safely guarantee you as the owner against the risk of anyone else claiming a right to your land.

It has also been called a non-legal term known as a perfect title because it gives the owner an unequivocal right of ownership and cannot be disputed or challenged by anyone else. Something that a Possessory, Qualified and Good title cannot.

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What do you need to get an absolute title registered?

Strictly speaking, the Land Registry grants title absolute if, when the title is first presented for registration, the person applying for registration can show an unbroken chain of ownership going back at least 15 years.

With leasehold titles, any applicant must prove the landlord's right to grant the lease. If the landlord's title is already registered, then the applicant only needs to produce official copies of the registers of that title. Otherwise, he'll have to deduce the landlord's title in the same way as his own, i.e. by demonstrating 15 years of ownership. The majority of titles are title absolute. Still, in a shrinking minority of cases, the Land Registry won't award it essentially because of some evidence lacking or a defect in the title.

What happens if you can't prove an absolute title?

If you are registering a property for the first time with the Land Registry, you would have to go through a process called proving the Epitome of Title. The long and the short of it is that if you can't locate the original title deeds anywhere, you can't get title absolute.

What happens if there is a defect in the title when registering?

There can be many defects in the title, both financial and non-financial, and sometimes the word 'encumbrance' is used here. It means pretty much the same thing: title absolute means your property is unencumbered in comparison.

Any title with a lien against it cannot be absolute. A lien is a legal term when a property owner grants rights to a creditor (someone you owe money to) that involves the property. So if you don't pay back your mortgage lender from whom you've borrowed money to help you buy a property and to whom you've given a charge - or lien - over your property, the lender may be able to seize the property or force a sale to get the money back.

An example of another financial defect includes outstanding taxes on a property that remains uncollected - this would impair any sale to a new owner until the matter was resolved.

An example of a non-financial defect would be where a spouse holds some claim to a property – for example, during divorce proceedings – the seller does not hold the absolute title over the property, making a sale difficult.

What rights does Absolute Title provide?

An absolute title has no outstanding disputes or hindrances that might otherwise affect you as the owner's ability to use or dispose of the property as you see fit.ou are free to sell the property at your discretion, which could give the buyer absolute title upon completion of the transaction, dependent on how the purchase was structured.

The seller of a property can only transfer the portion of an absolute title if you held it in the first place. In other words, a buyer cannot obtain an absolute title through a seller who does not possess it.

Additionally you take the land free of any matters (such as rights, covenants, easements which are not registered against the title (except for overriding interests).

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How do you find out if you have an Absolute Title over a property?

This information - and many other essential identifying data about a property, its exact address, location and ownership and much more - can be found in the Land Registry's Official Copy of the Register of Title of the property.

You find it in section B, the proprietorship register. Apart from telling you who the current owner is and providing information about anything that affects the right of disposal, it also states the class of title. When you come to sell a property, your solicitor will, at the start of proceedings, obtain an office copy entry which has all the information described - they need to be sure of the quality of ownership you have over the property you want to sell. Read more - How Do I Prove I Own My House?

Can you upgrade your class of title?

You can upgrade your title at the Land Registry by using the UT1 Form, pay the fee, and post to the Land Registry. Possessory and qualified freehold titles will always be considered for upgrade to absolute.

Within the UT1 you need to:

• Confirm the legal capacity you are applying to upgrade the title. For example, you are the proprietor.
• Confirm under what basis you are making an application.
• Confirm there have been no adverse claims to the title ownership.

You won't need to pay a fee to update a possessory title if the application is made when registering the property purchase. Read more - Upgrading the class of property title at the Land Registry.