Upon a man’s death, his wife discovered that his ownership of a plot of land that he had purchased from his cousins was not registered. The cousins had avoided signing the agreement even though the consideration had been paid.
The court ruled that ownership of the land was transferred due to the existence of a sales agreement in accordance with the law. The Land Law states that a real estate transaction must be in writing and concluded with registration. However, a written document containing the details required for a real estate sale transaction may in certain cases, even if not ultimately signed, be recognized as meeting the legal requirement of writing. Here, the sellers avoided signing the agreement even though the money was paid and the buyer received the land for his use. Therefore, despite the agreement being unsigned and lacking registration with the Land Registrar, the transaction was completed and ownership of the land must be transferred.
