This glossary of terms has been composed by FIRST STRATA to provide you with an easily accessible and comprehensive description of the many terms frequently used in all aspects of land sales.
We trust you will find it both useful and informative.
Private Automatic Branch Exchange. An automatic telephone system which accepts incoming calls and, via a switchboard operator, distributes them to the appropriate extensions. Cf PMBX.
See DESIGN AND BUILD CONTRACT.
A non-statutory body set up in 1968 as a “watchdog” empowered to regulate the conduct of takeovers and mergers of companies in the UK and some in the Republic of Ireland, so as to ensure fairness and “equality of treatment and opportunity for all shareholders” by ensuring that conduct is proper, honourable and ethical in accordance with rules established by the Panel and known as the City Code. Its members are drawn from the principal financial institutions.
An area of land, separately identifiable and usually in one ownership. The term is most commonly used in legal documents such as deeds and conveyances.
Under paragraph 15 of Schedule 5 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988, an area of land, which (i) has been provided by, or is under the management of, a relevant authority of two or more relevant authorities acting in conjunction and (ii) is available for free and unrestricted use by members of the public. It includes a recreation or pleasure ground, a public walk, an open space within the meaning of the Open Spaces Act 1906 and a playing field provided under the Physical Training and Recreation Act 1937.
The relationship between the number of car-parking spaces and the amount of accommodation available for other uses within a building or group of buildings.
See ORAL EVIDENCE.
A set of valuation tables, first published in 1913, based on the assumption that income is receivable in arrears at the end of each year and that interest is also payable annually.
When part of an asset is the subject of a disposal and the remainder is retained by the owner. For capital gains tax and certain other purposes it may be either:
a. where part of the asset is disposed of, or
b. where separate interest or right is created, eg on the grant of a lease or easement.
Under a building contract, a signed statement issued by an architect, surveyor or supervising officer where an employer wishes to take possession of a completed part of a large building contract. In such cases consequential procedure has to be considered and agreed for the issue of a certificate of interim practical completion and a certificate of making good defects for the remainder of the project as well as a certificate of making good defects for the part taken into possession. See BUILDING CONTRACT CERTIFICATES.
See SIDE-BY-SIDE LEASE.
Those persons who take part in a joint venture and share the risks and ultimate profits/losses. The respective rights and obligations of the participants will depend on the terms of agreement entered into and will not necessarily be the same.
Details of a property which is to be sold or let. They are usually prepared by an agent for distribution to those who, it is considered, might be interested, eg prospective buyers or tenants.
1. Under the Partnership Act 1890, “a relationship between persons carrying on a business together with a view to profit”. The legal rights and responsibilities of the partners are mainly governed by the Partnership Act with some derived from the Companies Acts and the relevant partnership agreement or agreements.
2. The relationship between two or more parties in a joint venture, eg a development involving a developer, local authority and a funding institution, where the financial success of each “partner” is dependent on the profitable outcome of the development.
See SPECIAL AREA.
Where a contract would otherwise only be enforceable if adequately evidenced in writing, a legal doctrine enabling one party to the contract to require its enforcement, despite the absence of written evidence, on the ground that something has been done which is tantamount to establishing that there must have been a contract: otherwise no such thing would have been done. For example, where someone claiming to be a purchaser enters and carries out alterations to a property with the knowledge and acquiescence of the owner, the court might hold this to be a sufficient act of part performance of an oral contract of sale.
Where part of a property is occupied by the owner or is vacant, the remainder being subject to one or more tenancies.
See ESTABLISHED CLAIM.
A wall separating the properties of two adjoining owners, each of whom has certain rights over the wall.
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Generally outside inner London, a document setting out the respective rights of the owners of properties separated by a party wall. It is drawn up by solicitors and is enforceable against purchasers when registered as a land charge. Cf PARTY WALL AWARD.
