Practice Guide for Second Mortgages – Addressing Deeds of Priority

The third publication in our Practice Guide for Second Mortgages addressing Deeds of Priority is now available to download.

Our experience is that often lenders do not know when deeds of priority are required. Most lenders assume that a deed of priority will be required by a first mortgagee or that they should require one if acting as first mortgagee, but as we have seen in our last publication, there are a number of jurisdictions in which a first mortgagee cannot force a second mortgagee to enter into a deed of priority.

Secondly, we find that a number of lenders, and sometimes legal practitioners, do not appreciate what a deed of priority can do, and this often results in a document that does nothing more than re-state the position at law.