Mortgages - The Letting Site.co.uk
A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan or finance. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed. In other words, the mortgage is a security for the loan that the lender makes to the borrower.
The term comes from the Old French "dead pledge," apparently meaning that the pledge ends (finishes) either when the obligation is completed or the property is taken through foreclosure.
In most jurisdictions mortgages are strongly associated with loans secured on real estate rather than other property (such as ships) and in some jurisdictions only land may be mortgaged. Arranging a mortgage is seen as the standard method by which individuals and businesses can purchase residential and commercial real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately.
In many countries it is usual for home purchases to be funded by a lenders mortgage. In countries where the demand for home ownership is high, strong domestic financial markets have developed, as seen in Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia and the USA.
History
At common law, a mortgage was a conveyance of land that on its face was absolute and conveyed a fee simple estate, but which was in fact conditional, and would be of no effect if certain conditions were met usually, but not necessarily, the repayment of a debt to the original landowner.
Hence the word "mortgage" (a legal term in French meaning "dead pledge"). The debt was absolute in form, and unlike a "live pledge" was not conditionally dependent on its repayment solely from raising and selling crops or livestock or simply giving the crops and livestock raised on the mortgaged land.
The mortgage debt remained in effect whether or not the land could successfully produce enough income to repay the debt. In theory, a mortgage required no further steps to be taken by the creditor, such as acceptance of crops and livestock in repayment.
The difficulty with this arrangement was that the lender was absolute owner of the property and could sell it or refuse to reconvey it to the borrower, who was in a weak position. Increasingly the courts of equity began to protect the borrower's interests, so that a borrower came to have an absolute right to insist on reconveyance on redemption. This right of the borrower is known as the "equity of redemption".