Property Ownership, Tenure, and Conveyancing in Bermuda
Estates, tenure and title
Bermuda land is held under a system inherited from English law, with freehold (fee simple) and leasehold estates, plus Crown land and leases from the Crown. Candidates must understand the difference between ownership of the land and ownership of a building, condominium-style strata or unit title, and the rights and obligations created by easements, restrictive covenants and party-wall arrangements. Title is either registered under the Land Title Registration Act or unregistered and dependent on deeds, with a good root of title typically required for the latter.
Conveyancing steps
A typical transaction runs: agreement, deposit, investigation of title, survey, planning and works checks, requisitions, drafting and execution of the deed of conveyance or transfer, payment of stamp duty, and registration. The Conveyancing Act supplies default provisions where the contract is silent. Candidates should know that a deed requires signature, attestation and delivery, and that registration protects priority.
Traps to watch
Examiners test whether a covenant "runs with the land", whether an easement must be registered to bind a purchaser, and whether a lease exceeding a stated term must be registered. Do not assume that a boundary fence marks the legal boundary; the plan and register control. Watch for the trap that a purchaser of registered land takes free of unregistered interests - cautions and overriding interests may still bind.
Rule of thumb
If a right or burden is not on the register, ask whether it is overriding or protected; silence in the register is not always freedom from it.