A Deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms, or confirms an interest, right or property and that is signed, attested, delivered and in some jurisdiction sealed. It is most commonly associated with transferring title to property.
A Deed of Assignment is an important legal land document that records a sale of land and transfers interest and title in real property from one party to another starting from the commencement date stipulated in the document. It is a document usually demanded by the buyer of the real property at the conclusion of a property transaction and for it to be valid and binding on parties to the transaction. It must contain certain information. A deed of assignment is considered a must for the transaction of ownership in land.
The main purpose of a deed of assignment is to transfer an interest or assign the title of property from the seller (an assignor) to a new buyer called (the Assignee). It could also serve as evidence and a good root of title to the land especially if for any reason in the future the transfer is contended by any of the parties to a transaction. A deed of assignment also serves the important purpose of clearly highlighting the terms upon which a sale is made. A deed is not exclusive to an assignment. It could also be used for the purpose of a Lease. The terms agreed upon for the transfer or lease of a property could be expressly stated in a deed and same becomes binding once it is signed, sealed and delivered by both parties.
It is now important to know the parts of a deed of assignment. This will help any person who plans or who gets or is involved in any transaction as it pertains to land and is at the stage of documentation. The documentation stage comes up after proper verification of title documents have been carried out by the buyer of a property or the individual who intends to lease or invest in a property. Such individual must have made his/her intention of purchasing the property known and might have paid the consideration sum to the owner of the property. There are parts to a deed of assignment and all parts are very important and vital to make such document binding and useful for future purpose.
A deed of Assignment has four major parts. The Introductory part, the Operative Part, the Miscellaneous part, and the Concluding part. The introductory part enumerates the preliminary matters such as the commencement date, parties in the transaction, and recitals. The parties mentioned in the deed must be legal persons which can consist of natural persons and entities with corporate personality, the name, address and status of the parties must be included. The proper descriptions of the parties are assignor (seller) and assignee (buyer). Another major aspect of the introductory part is the Recital. The recital gives the material facts constituting the background to the current transaction in chronological order. It gives an historical background as it pertains to facts which occurred with the property and which reveals that the title to be passed is a good root of title. A good example of how a recital is couched is:
“WHEREAS the Owonikoko Family as beneficial owners of a large parcel of land, lying and situate at Owonikoko Village, Oke Ile, Ekiti State since time immemorial by virtue of Native Law and Customs.
The family was excised hectares of land and their right of occupancy to the land re-instated by virtue of a Lagos State Government published official gazette
The family has been in undisturbed and quiet possession of the large expanse of land, exercising all acts consistent with the ownership thereof without let or hindrance including surveying and selling parts of it, free from all encumbrances.”
The Operative part of a deed of assignment has the testatum, consideration clause, receipt clause, description of the property and terms of the transfer. The operative part is where the interest or title in the property is actually transferred from the assignor to the assignee. It is the most important part or the engine room of a deed of assignment. It is drafted thus:
NOW THIS CONTRACT WITNESSES AS FOLLOWS (the Testatum)
In consideration of the sum Fifty Million Naira (N50,000,000) only, paid by the assignee to the assignor (consideration clause), the receipt of which the assignor acknowledges (receipt clause) the assignor as beneficial owner do hereby agree to assign and transfer all that property situate, lying and being at Owonikoko Village, Oke ile (description of the property) to the assignee free from any encumbrance.
The Miscellaneous part contains all of the covenants agreed upon by the parties and some of them include covenant for indemnity, acknowledgement for production of title documents and undertaking for custody and so on.
The final part of a deed of assignment is the Concluding part. This is the key aspect of the whole transaction. The parties must show testimonium, execution and attestation. The testimonium shows that all parties are involved in the transaction. The Execution means signing by the parties. The parties sign in their capacity whether as an individual, illiterate, corporate body etc. The type of party involved determines how they will sign. Where a company is a party to such transaction, two directors or a director and a secretary sign on behalf of the company. Where an illiterate is a party, he/she signs using an illiterate jurat and a family head or family representative sign on behalf of a family. The Attestation refers to the witnessing of the execution of the deed by witnesses.
The Concluding part also makes provision for endorsement for the Governor’s consent in line with the provisions of Section 22 of the Land Use Act which states that the Governor’s consent must be first had and obtained before an assignment, or transfer in any form of the residue of a statutory right of occupancy is made.
Every part of a deed of assignment is important to make it a whole and binding document. Before signing a deed of assignment or lease or mortgage, all parts must be properly inspected to make sure that every important detail is inserted. This will make such document tenable for future purpose.
