Root of title

It is necessary to establish the “root of title” in order to establish the sellers right to sell the property. This means identifying a deed (such as a mortgage, transfer or conveyance) to use to commence the chain of ownership which will end with the current owner. The criteria for selecting a “good root” is

• the deed must be at least 15 years old
• the deed must deal with ownership of both legal and equitable title.
• the deed must legally and physically describe the property.
• the deed must contain nothing that casts doubt on the title. 

In addition it is a good idea to avoid using a gift or an assent. There are two reasons for this. First, it is likely that the title will not have been fully investigated by the donee/beneficiary (because he is not parting with any money in exchange for the land) and second, as the transfer/assent is for no consideration (no money) certain interests which would have been overreached on a sale will not be overreached where the transfer is not for value.

A good practice is to select the most recent deed of conveyance. Preferably involving a sale of the land for consideration. Any lack of a physical description or any covenants can be provided from previous conyances of the land as a pre-root documnt.

Unbroken Chain of Ownership

Once the root is established, it is then necessary to show an unbroken chain of ownership from the root to the seller. This means looking at who the transferee was in the root conveyance and if it was not the seller, finding the deed by which the transferee parted with possession. This process is repeated until the deed under which the sellers acquired the property is reached.