Just like in any other jurisdiction around the world, there is also a procedure for the registering of title. Ahead of doing this, there will be a call for certain documents such a deed of conveyance or any other document that has something to do with the transfer of property from one person to another. This will be forwarded to the local administration for review. The problem here is that the administration sometimes does not make reference to these documents for the purposes of authentication. Therefore, complications may arise because there was no valid title to the property or even that there is no validation of title. Although some states have updated their laws to make registration of land simple so as to avoid conflicting interests by individuals on the same portion of land, this still poses great monetary difficulties to those who go without title insurance.
What then is title insurance? The barest meaning of title insurance means security to a purchaser, that he or she is taking an absolutely free and new interest in property. This can be better understood by bringing in some aspect about man to authenticate ownership of property. For ages, man has developed all means of asserting his interest and ownership in property. Keep in mind that property has been and will always be at the centre of the life of man. Man has always been in need of property for shelter, for feeding and for the provision of so many other basic necessities. This has brought up the notion of acquiring a title on land and people have found out that this is what will be needed if they have to assert full rights on land or if they will have to exclude others from the land that they possess.
Across the globe, the issue of acquisition of land has been under serious considerations. Many nations have taken possession of land and have had title over such lands on hidden pretexts. Most of such practices were common in the olden days. But today, they have become the foundations of the creation of so many countries. Examples of this are countries such as the United States, Australia, the Caribbean and a lot more others. Most of these lands were gotten either through subjugation or through seizure. In other cases, if intruders found out that the land was not occupied by any indigenous people, the land was simply declared “terra nullius”, which is a Latin maxim for “no man’s land”. In such a case, an intruder will simply declare his right to settle on and own that piece of land.
In other countries like Orkney and the Shetland Islands, the indigenes have proclaimed their land to be of ‘alloidal title’. This means that they do not recognise any superior authority over their land. They believe that their land is without any external control and that they are the rightful heirs by virtue of their natural right. In countries such as England, there is no piece of land which is not owned on behalf of the Crown acquiring a reversionary ownership on it. However, if we look back to the issue of succession of ownership upon the death of the owner or the fact that the owner is free to transfer land to another person, we will still trace ownership of land as originally belonging to the Crown.
To assert ownership will mean the production of documents which may relate to so many years back. This is the more reason why most jurisdictions have come up with ways to help people better have valid interest and title on land. Remember that people must use these in their daily affairs.
People have used land and are still using it to act as guarantee for loans. If this security is absent, the real estate market will also fall. That is why the issue of title insurance must come in. The main objective of this is to protect the interest of the buyer from unforeseen claims that may come from third parties.
Therefore, title insurance can simply be understood that at the same time as the interest of the owner and that of the buyer may be present, there should be security to make sure that the interest of both parties are taken care of.
