The Glossary of Property Terms

Geoffrey Parsons

• Publisher: Estates Gazette
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138135994
• eBook ISBN: 9781135323899
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Commercial Law
• Index: Law

The Glossary of Property Terms has helped define the property industry since its first publication in 1989. This second edition remains the glossary for all in the landed professions and related endeavours. It has been expanded to include recent additions to the property vocabulary and existing terms have been revised and amended where necessary to reflect correct common useage. This highly practical guide contains some 3, 200 terms and definitions as well as nearly 760 abbreviations. This fully updated edition reveals the meanings and nuances of many terms recently introduced into the vocabulary of property. In addition, terms which have a more historic significance have been retained, but amended as appropriate. A must have book for property professionals and students alike.

A

A & S fees In insurance, these are architect’s, surveyor’s, consulting engineer’s, legal and other fees necessarily incurred in the reinstatement of a damaged or destroyed property.

a coelo usque ad centrumBy custom, a phrase indicating that a right of ownership in land will theoretically extend both up to heaven and down to the centre of the earth.

a fortiori With stronger reason.

a/c 1. air conditioning. 2. account.

A1 Briefly, in the Use Classes Order, shops used for all or any of the purposes given where the sale, display or service is to visiting members of the public.

A2 Briefly, in the Use Classes Order, use for financial services, professional services (not health or medical or other services) or any other service (including betting office) appropriate to a shopping area.

A3 Briefly, in the Use Classes Order, use for the sale of food or drink for consumption on and off (hot food) the premises.

AAA An indication that an organisation or a financial asset possesses the highest credibility and financial standing in the view of one of the well-known credit rating agencies, such as (in the USA) Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s. Usually called ‘triple A rating’.

AAD Certificate/CAAD See CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT.

AAI See AREA OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE.

AAIV Associate of the Australian Institute of Valuers

AAR average annual return.

ab initio From the beginning. For example, a contract is void ab initio if it is (or should be) known to both parties that it is illegal from the start.

abandonment 1. Surrender of a legal right, especially a right of ownership of property. 2. Relinquishment of a claim or part of a claim in a civil action or appeal.

abatement 1. Reduction or cancellation of a debt. For instance, a lease usually provides for abatement of rent if the building demised is damaged or destroyed by fire. 2. Removal or termination of a nuisance, especially the right of an aggrieved person himself to terminate the cause of the nuisance. If necessary, he may enter the property from which the nuisance arises, subject to giving notice, where possible, and not causing unnecessary damage.

abatement notice A notice served on the owner or occupier of a property from which a private nuisance arises warning him of the intention to enter on the land in order to abate the nuisance.

ABI Association of British Insurers.

abortive expenditure Money which does not achieve the purpose for which it was spent, ie it has been wasted. A typical example is expenditure on professional fees for work done on a development scheme which does not mature.

absolute See FEE SIMPLE ABSOLUTE IN POSSESSION; TERM OF YEARS ABSOLUTE.

absolute covenant In a legal document, a positive or restrictive undertaking which is neither conditional nor determinable during its lifetime. Cf QUALIFIED COVENANT.

absolute title The right of ownership of a legal estate in registered land, it thereby being guaranteed by the state that no one has a better title, subject to any minor interests or overriding interests. Cf GOOD LEASEHOLD TITLE.

abstract of title In establishing a person’s ownership of an interest in land, a summary of the evidence which has been extracted from the title deeds and other relevant documents as required by a purchaser or mortgagee.

abstraction of water The taking of water from a natural source of supply, eg a river. A licence is usually required from the relevant body but not: a for moderate quantities;

b when required for domestic or agricultural use (other than for spray irrigation); or

c when removed in the course of land drainage or for fire fighting.

abut To adjoin or border on, to the extent of touching physically.

abutment A point at which one building provides lateral support to another. See RIGHT OF SUPPORT.

abuttals The boundaries of a plot bordering and physically touching an adjacent property. See BOUNDARY.

AC 1. Appeal Cases (House of Lords and Privy Council decisions in The Law Reports). 2. alternating current.

ACA 1. Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. 2. Association of Consultant Architects.

ACC Association of County Councils.

acceleration In relation to property, the coming into possession of a future interest in land earlier than specified in the document creating the interest, eg where a tenant surrenders a lease, thereby accelerating the reversion to the landlord.

acceleration clause 1. A clause used in a mortgage deed which gives the right, in certain specified circumstances, to demand repayment in full of the outstanding debt earlier than the due date. 2. A clause in a deed or contract which provides for the early termination of an existing interest in land, in certain specified circumstances, thereby advancing the future interest. See ACCELERATION.

acceptance The written or oral agreement to the terms of an offer which creates, or may lead to the creation of, a legally binding contract, usually subject to the satisfaction of other requirements. See TACIT ACCEPTANCE.

access agreement Under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, section 64 and the Countryside Act 1968, section 18, an agreement drawn up between a local planning authority and a person having an interest in land, being open country, which provides the public with certain rights of access. Cf ACCESS ORDER.

access audit For the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, an initial survey of a building to ascertain what needs to be done to meet the requirements for access by those with disabilities.

access order 1. Under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 section 65, an order made by a local planning authority, subject to confirmation by the appropriate minister, requiring a person having an interest in land, being open country, to provide the public with certain rights of access. Such an order can be made only where a local planning authority is unable to secure an access agreement. 2. An order made by the court under section 2 of the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 allowing a person entry to adjoining or adjacent land to carry out basic preservation works to his land.

accident book A record which (under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974) must be maintained by the occupier of a building and in which brief details of all accidents sustained by those employed within the building must be kept.

accommodation agency A business which provides details of residential accommodation to let, usually looking to the prospective tenant for a fee or commission. The activities of such firms are restricted by the Accommodation Agencies Act 1953, which makes it an offence to demand or accept any payment merely for registering or undertaking to register a person’s residential tenancy requirements or for supplying or undertaking to supply addresses or other particulars of houses to let.

accommodation land 1. Land which, while having potential for development with buildings, is meanwhile put to temporary use. 2. Sometimes understood to mean land close to a market town and used by a butcher or another person for holding animals temporarily prior to their disposal.

accommodation works 1. On the acquisition of a property, or part of a property, by an authority having powers of compulsory purchase, works carried out by the authority to other property belonging to the same owner, so as to mitigate loss or damage to the latter property resulting from the acquisition. Typical examples would be the erection or reinstatement of a fence or wall or the diversion of drains or other services. The term is also applied colloquially to works carried out ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction to the First Edition
• Introduction to the Second Edition
• Editor’s Note
• Notes on Compilation and Usage
• Glossary of Property Terms and Abbreviations
• Appendix - Terms grouped by subject-matter