A guide to understanding property documents
Hopefully the glossary of terms below will help you to understand the range of documents we have available, but if you have any queries please contact the team.
Abstract of Title – a summary of the deeds and documents that make up the title of land. An extremely useful document that can provide summarised content of a large number of documents and consequently people. Some of our Abstracts give details of marriages, deaths, current tenants of properties and occupations. As these are summaries, they do not contain the signatures of the original parties.
Agreement – Most of the Agreements we hold are in the form of a contract at the time that property was being bought or sold. These include details of occupations, relationships, and original signatures. Useful documents when researching the history of properties, some of the Agreements in our collections relate to the sale of whole streets of houses in the late 19th century.
Appointment – A Deed of Appointment will appoint, and sometimes remove, Trustees. Appointments can provide details of deaths and marriages, as well as original signatures.
Assent – This is a deed that transfers ownership of property following the death of the owner. Assents can provide details of death, previous ownership (in a similar format to an Abstract of Title), current occupants of a property, and original signatures.
Assignment – This is a deed that transfers ownership of property. Assignments can provide names, occupations and addresses, as well as original signatures.
Conveyance - This is a deed that transfers ownership of property. Conveyances can provide names, occupations and addresses, as well as original signatures. Some Conveyances relate to a large number of properties and consequently they contain the names, and addresses of a large number of occupants – not just the property owners.
Deed – A Deed of Gift will normally be from one family member to another, transferring ownership of property. A Deed of Gift can provide details of death, previous ownership (in a similar format to an Abstract of Title), current occupants of a property, and original signatures.
Some of the other deeds in our possession include Deed of Surrender, Deed of Grant and Deed of Variation. All of these documents can provide names, occupations and addresses, as well as original signatures.