Beneficial Owner in United Kingdom

Definition of Beneficial Owner

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Beneficial Owner : An owner who is entitled to the possession and use of land or its income for his own benefit. Under the Law of Property Act 1925 a person who for valuable *consideration conveys land as beneficial owner gives implied covenants (1) that he has the right to convey it; (2) for quiet enjoyment (i.e., that the transferee takes possession free from adverse claims to the land); (3) that the land is free from encumbrances other than any specified in the conveyance; (4) for further assurance (i.e. that the transferor will do anything necessary to cure any defect in the conveyance); and (5) when the land is leasehold (a) that the lease is valid and subsisting and (b) that the covenants in the lease have been performed and the rent paid. When the owner of a legal estate is not the beneficial owner (e.g. a mortgagee, trustee, or personal representative) his only implied covenant in a conveyance of the land is that he has not himself created any encumbrance.