Section 2 · Estate Agents Act 1979

Contents

2Interests in land.#

(1)Subject to subsection (3) below, any reference in this Act to disposing of an interest in land is a reference to—

(a)transferring a legal estate in fee simple absolute in possession; or

(b)transferring or creating, elsewhere than in Scotland, a lease which, by reason of the level of the rent, the length of the term or both, has a capital value which may be lawfully realised on the open market; or

(c)transferring or creating in Scotland any estate or interest in land which is capable of being owned or held as a separate interest and to which a title may be recorded in the Register of Sasines;

and any reference to acquiring an interest in land shall be construed accordingly.

(2)In subsection (1)(b) above the expression “lease” includes the rights and obligations arising under an agreement to grant a lease.

(3)Notwithstanding anything in subsections (1) and (2) above, references in this Act to disposing of an interest in land do not extend to disposing of—

(a)the interest of a creditor whose debt is secured by way of a mortgage or charge of any kind over land or an agreement for any such mortgage or charge; or

(b)in Scotland, the interest of a creditor in a heritable security as defined in section 9(8) of the ^noteConveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Defined terms · 26

Show every defined term

accounts regulations
has the same meaning as in section 14 above.
approved redress scheme
has the meaning given in section 23A(8)(b);
associate
has the meaning assigned to it by section 32 above and “business associate” has the meaning assigned to it by section 31 above;
business associate
has the meaning assigned to it by section 31 above;
client account
has the meaning assigned to it by section 14(2) above;
complaint
has the meaning given in section 23A(8)(c);
contract deposit
has the meaning assigned to it by section 12(2) above;
controller
means a person—
enforcement authority
has the meaning assigned to it by section 26(1) above;
estate agency work
refers to things done as mentioned above to which this Act applies.
general notice
means a notice published by the lead enforcement authority at a time and in a manner appearing to it suitable for securing that the notice is seen within a reasonable time by persons likely to be affected by it;
lease
includes the rights and obligations arising under an agreement to grant a lease.
mortgage
includes a debenture and any other charge on property for securing money or money’s worth;
ombudsman
means the independent person mentioned in section 23A(8)(a);
order
means an order under subsection (1);
practising solicitor
means, except in Scotland, a solicitor who is qualified to act as such under section 1 of the Solicitors Act 1974 or Article 4 of the Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, and in Scotland includes a firm of practising solicitors;
pre-contract deposit
has the meaning assigned to it by section 12(3) above;
prescribed fee
means such fee as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;
prohibition order
means an order under that section.
redress scheme
has the meaning given in section 23A(8)(a);
relative
means brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, lineal ancestor or linear descendant,... references to a spouse include a former spouse and a reputed spouse, and references to a civil partner include a former civil partner and a reputed civil partner;
residential property
has the meaning given in section 23C;
the court
means any court having jurisdiction to hear and determine matters arising out of the contract.
the duty
means the requirement under an order to be a member of an approved redress scheme.
the lead enforcement authority
has the meaning given by section 24A;
unfit
means unfit as mentioned in subsection (2) of section 3 and “prohibition order” means an order under that section.