The title industry has its own language. Many of its words and idioms are derived from the language of the law while others are common words given special meaning related to land titles. There are also words and phrases coined over the years by the title industry itself.
Glossary
U
USURY
(1) Any premium, profit, bonus, fee, or charge which is demanded, required, or extracted by a lender in excess of legal interest on money loaned.
V
V VENDEE
The purchaser under a sale contract of real estate.
VENDOR
The seller under a sale contract of real estate.
VOID
Binding on no one, kaput, constituting a nullity. Something which is conclusively of no effect, the defect of which is not subject to being waived, revitalized or cured by confirmation or ratification.
VOIDABLE
Sufficiently defective to make void, the deficiency, however, being curable by confirmation or ratification.
W
WAIVER
The voluntary and intentional relinquishment of a known right, claim, or privilege.
WAREHOUSING
In title industry parlance, the temporary funding and holding by a lending institution of mortgages originated by a mortgage broker until such time as the mortgage market improves or until the mortgage broker accumulates a sufficient amount of mortgages to interest a permanent mortgage purchaser.
WARRANTY
In a broad sense, it is an agreement or undertaking by a seller to be responsible for present or future losses of the purchaser occasioned by deficiency or effect in quality, condition, or quantity of the thing sold. In a stricter sense, it is the provision or provisions in a deed, lease, or other instrument conveying or transferring an estate or interest in real estate under which the seller becomes liable to the purchaser for defects in or encumbrances on the title. (See Title Covenants.)
WARRANTY DEED
A deed containing one or more title covenants. (See Title Covenants.)
WAY OF NECESSITY
Generally, an easement for a roadway which the owner of a landlocked tract is entitled to acquire across adjoining land in order to provide a means of ingress and egress with respect to the landlocked property.
WILL
(1) An instrument executed by a competent person, in the manner prescribed by law, whereby he makes disposition of his property to take effect on and after his death. (2) A holographic will is a will entirely written and signed by the testator in his own handwriting. In some states some of the legal requirements regarding the execution of wills do not apply in cases of holographic wills. (3) A nuncupative will is one made orally before witnesses, usually during the testator’s last hours of life. Under English law, sailors and soldiers may make nuncupative wills any time during their military service.
WRIT
A formal legal document issued by a court ordering or prohibiting the performance of some action. There are at least a hundred different kinds of writs each covering a different action or subject. In most writs, an officer of the court, such as a sheriff, is directed to serve the writ or carry out its directions.
WRIT OF EXECUTION
A direct command from the court to the sheriff to carry out the action required in the writ. It may be to hang a convicted criminal, or to seize property and sell it to pay a money judgment.
Z
ZONING ORDINANCES
Laws passed by local governments regulating the size, type, structure, nature and use of buildings. Zoning ordinances, often referred to as zoning laws and zoning regulations, are divided into two classes: (1) those which regulate the height or bulk of buildings within certain designated zones or districts in other words, those which relate to structural and architectural design, and (2) those which prescribe the type of buildings which may be constructed, and the use to which buildings within certain designated zones or districts may be put.
