The combination of a scarcity of land and the attractions of living in an island paradise, make Bermuda property prices among the highest in the world.

But when you buy property, how do you know that you have become its rightful owner?

You do so by ensuring that you have "good title" to your dream home, which means that you must determine that no one else has a claim to it.

In many countries around the world, good title can be determined by reference to a central land registry, which records the owners of all land in its jurisdiction. Once you are registered as the owner, the land registry provides you with a certificate of title that describes the land that you own with reference to an accurate plan.

Bermuda, however, does not have a central land registry. This means that it is up to your lawyer to research the history of the property that you intend to buy for the purpose of ensuring that a third party does not have a claim to it.

Each time a piece of property in Bermuda changes hands, the transfer is recorded in a Deed of Conveyance, or a Mortgage or some such document, depending on the nature of the transaction. These documents provide a history of the ownership of the property.

In theory, it should be possible to trace every transaction since the property was first acquired. But in practice, old deeds are often lost or destroyed, and it is impractical to expect a property owner to produce good title to his land since time immemorial.

For these reasons, an arbitrary time scale has been imposed. The result is that the seller of property in Bermuda must be able to produce title deeds that show good title going back at least 20 years and culminate in a document that transfers title to the property into his or her name. The risk of individuals fraudulently selling land that they do not own is thereby lessened.

But even where you are able to establish that the seller has good title to the property in question, there are other dangers that ought to be taken into account, such as the possibility that the seller is selling too little, or indeed too much, land.

When a property is transferred in Bermuda, the Deed of Conveyance should clearly set out the boundaries of the property by describing them by reference to an up-to-date deed plan showing the boundary measurements.

It is wise to have the boundaries of the property surveyed and staked by a qualified surveyor for this purpose. Quite often a new deed plan will also be required. While it is ultimately a question for negotiation as to whether or not the seller or the purchaser pays for the associated surveying costs, the standard practice is for the seller to pay such costs.

Your property attorney's job is to ensure insofar as possible, that when you as a landowner come to deal with your property following your purchase, you will be in a position to adduce good title and that the property will be easily transferable.

If you are a cash buyer, your attorney will not let you complete your purchase until he or she is satisfied that you will receive good title.

If you are purchasing the property with the help of a mortgage, the lender will require your attorney to provide them with a report advising them that title to the property is "good and marketable" before they will release any mortgage funds.

This might sound like a cumbersome process, but you must consider the danger of proceeding without having the historical title deeds to the property and its boundary measurements checked thoroughly.

Failure to proceed with such caution could result in title problems surfacing at an extremely inconvenient time, such as when you are about to sell the property.

Attorney Scott Swainson is Manager of the Property Department at Appleby Spurling & Kempe. You can write to him with your questions or comments at sswainsonask.bm. Copies of Mr. Swainson's columns can be obtained on the Appleby Spurling & Kempe web site at www.ask.bm.

This column should not be used as a substitute for professional legal advice. Before proceeding with any matters discussed here, persons are advised to consult with a lawyer.