Title Insurance

Title insurance is a specialist insurance product that protects property owners (and their lenders) against financial loss arising from defects in the property's title that were not discovered or could not be resolved during the conveyancing process.

Common situations where title insurance is used in property investment: - **Missing planning permission or building regulations**: An extension or conversion was built without consent. Rather than seeking retrospective permission (which may take months and may fail), the insurer provides cover against the financial consequences of enforcement. - **Restrictive covenant breach**: A covenant in the title restricts certain use, and it is unclear who can enforce it. Insurance covers the risk of enforcement action. - **Defective title**: Historical title problems that cannot be fully resolved (e.g., old mortgages that were never formally discharged, missing sellers in the chain of ownership). - **Flying freeholds**: Parts of one property overhanging or underlying another, creating unusual ownership structures.

Title insurance is typically a one-off premium (covering the property indefinitely against the specific risk insured), ranging from £100 to £1,000+ depending on the risk insured. It is frequently used in investment property transactions where resolving the underlying issue is impractical within the transaction timeline.

Critically, title insurance covers the financial consequences of a risk, not the risk itself. It does not resolve the underlying legal issue.