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 to ensure that a third party does not have a claim to your home.

Each time a piece of property in Bermuda changes hands, it 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 land was first acquired.

But in practice, old deeds are lost or destroyed, and it is impractical to expect a property owner to produce good title to his land since time immemorial.

For that reason, an arbitrary time scale has been imposed, with the result that sellers of property in Bermuda must be able to produce the title deeds to the property going back at least 20 years, and culminating in a document which transfers the land 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 land, there is one more danger that must be addressed, and that is the possibility that the seller sells you 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 on a metric scale, and by reference to an up-to-date plan of the land.

But that document does not refer to the deeds of adjoining properties, and this may create difficulties at some point in the future. To avoid such difficulties, it is wise to have the boundaries of the property staked, and new plans prepared. It is a question for negotiation as to who pays for this.

Your property attorney's job is to ensure that when you, as a landowner, come to deal with the land in the future, you have a clean title that is easily transferable.

If you are a cash buyer, your attorney will not let you go ahead with the transfer until he or she is satisfied that it is safe to do so.

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 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 deeds to the property checked thoroughly.

Failure to proceed with such caution may put off problems that will surface later at a most inopportune time, perhaps when you come to sell the property in the future.

Attorney Martin Mitchell is a member of the Property Department at Appleby Spurling & Kempe. You can write to him with your questions or comments at mmitchell y ask.bm. Copies of Mr. Mitchell'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.