Module 3 · Chapter 8

The Report on Title and the Bank

Before exchange, the buyer's solicitors report on the title twice: to the client, which decides whether to buy, and to the bank, which decides whether to lend. Both reports describe the same title.

≈ 11 min read 8-question test

In this chapter

  • How to write a report on title the client can act on
  • What a certificate of title tells the bank, and why the bank relies on it
  • The bank's conditions, from the covenant policy to the money arriving

8.1The report on title in one paragraph

Fellgate's directors must decide whether to pay £4,000,000 for Beckside Works. Most of the papers behind that decision were read by their solicitors, not by them. The report on title is the buyer's solicitors' written report to their client on what it is buying. It sets out each finding from the title, the searches, the survey, the seller's replies and the draft Contract.

Beside each finding, it says what the client must do. Joanna Metcalfe, the partner, signs it and sends it to Fellgate's two directors a week before their board meeting.

Key point

Every finding answers two questions: what does this mean for Fellgate, and what must Fellgate do?

Also in this chapter

  1. Writing a finding the client can act on
  2. Why the bank cares about the title
  3. What a certificate of title tells the bank
  4. How the bank accepted the covenant
  5. The bank's name on the policy and the reliance letter
  6. Buildings insurance from completion
  7. The board's approval and the last check
  8. Your job

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