STANDARD NO. 308

 

PROBLEM:

If there is an instrument on record, whereby the obligee or the vendee must perform certain conditions or be considered in default, and the time fixed for performance has elapsed or no such time is designated, and no conveyance has been made of record to such party, when may the examiner consider such instrument as not encumbering the premises?

RECOMMENDATION:

After the expiration of the time for performance and absent notice on the part of the examiner that the obligee or the vendee or his successor in interest is in possession of the premises, the examiner should not consider such an instrument an encumbrance in the following instances where there has been of record for at least six years a subsequent conveyance to a stranger:
    1. If the instrument is not under seal, after the lapse of six years from:
    1. The date provided in the instrument for delivery of a deed or performance of conditions; or,
    2. If no such date be designated, then from the date when the last and final payment or installment of the purchase price was required by the terms of the instrument to be paid; or,
    3. If no such date be designated, then from the date of such instrument.
    1. If the instrument is under seal, after the lapse of twenty years from the date set forth above.

      2. Where there is no subsequent record of a conveyance to a stranger, a deed should be obtained from the obligee or the vendee presumed in default or successors in interest. Subsequent to the effective date (April 26, 1968) of 14 M.R.S.A. §6203-F, the interest of a defaulting purchaser of real estate under a contract of sale, including a bond for a deed, may also be barred by appropriate foreclosure proceedings.

    2. If the instrument is a support mortgage, the examiner should require an affidavit or other evidence that the condition is satisfied unless the mortgagee died more than 20 years prior to the date of the pending transaction.

DISCUSSION:

It is contemplated that this Standard be applied to a variety of instruments or obligations including contract of sale, bond for a deed, option without ascertainable time of termination, lease, support mortgage, and the like.

Contracts for the sale or transfer of real estate or agency contracts for such sale or transfer, within the purview of 33 M.R.S.A. §1, should not be considered as encumbering the premises after one year from the date the contract is entered into.

 

 

First adopted, as Title Standards Nos. 23 and 35, August 25, 1960; first adopted as Title Standard No. 52, August 28, 1962; amended, as Title Standard No. 52, June 19, 1975; and, first adopted, as Title Standard No. 309, December 7, 1983. Formerly Title Standards Nos. 23, 35, and 52.

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