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In registered conveyancing, the prospective purchaser of an EstateInLand applies to the land registry for a priority search shortly before handing over the purchase money to the vendor. When a priority search is registered, not only does it indicate the state of the vendor's RegisteredTitle, it prevents the proprietor dealing with the land during a certain period of time (currently 30 days).

Without a priority search procedure, the purchaser would be at risk if an unscrupulous vendor, for example, borrowed money under a Mortgage between the purchaser's search of the register, and the execution of the transfer.