Meaning of “good marketable title”

A case centring on solicitors undertakings in land deals and the meaning of the term “good marketable title” is set to be heard in the House of Lords. Lords Browne-Wilkinson, Clyde and Hobhouse have referred for further hearing an application by Barclays Bank to challenge a ruling that solicitors it sued for breach of undertakings were not liable. In the action, dismissed by the High Court in February 1996, Barclays sued a firm of solicitors claiming they had failed in their undertakings to facilitate completion of contracts for purchase of the land in question. The High Court decision was upheld by the Appeal Court in May 1998. The action revolves round the term “good marketable title.” The bank claims that the term means a freehold title free from encumbrances and that the solicitors failed to ensure that it obtained this. However, the courts so far have held that the term applies to a title that, though technically defective, is one that a purchaser is bound to accept. They have ruled that the expression is compendious, describing the title and not the property and that in those circumstances the solicitors were not in breach. The obligation was qualified and not absolute, as the bank had contended. PLS News, 22/12/98