Assent of personal representatives, At Common Law the personal estate passing by the will of a deceased person, including chattels real vested in the executor, virtute officii. The property passed to the legatee as soon as the executors assented to the bequest. The transfer was made not by the mere force of the assent but by virtue of the will, Attenborough v. Solomon, 1912 AC 76, and the assent might be given to one executor. No formalities were required. The assent might be implied, for instance, in the case of lease holds, by letting the person entitled into possession or the receipt of rent and profits, but the assent was required to be definite and unambiguous. When given it related back to the date of death and as a rule it could not be withdrawn [but see Whittaker v. Kershaw (1890), 45 CD 320]. This is still the law in regard to pure personalty, excluding chattels real. Before the (English) Land Transfer Act, 1897 (60 & 61 Vict. c. 65) real estate passed to the heir-at-law of the deceased or to the person entitled in reversion or remainder subject to the personal representatives' legal or equitable powers of sale (if any) and the (English) A. E. Act, 1925, in furtherance of the Property legislation of 1925, and extending the (English) Land Transfer Act, 1897, introduced an important change in the meaning of a personal representative's assent. Under s. 36 of the A.E. Act, 1925, the legal estate which was vested in the deceased in real estate, including chattels real, cannot pass to the person entitled under his will or intestacy unless the personal representative has given his assent in writing (a deed is not required), naming the person in whose favour the assent is given and signed by all the personal representatives, or representatives who have proved the will [s. 2(2), ibid.], or to whom letters of administration have been granted, and since the will of itself can only pass or affect equitable interests an assent which satisfies the requirements referred to or a conveyance to the like effect by the personal representative now forms as essential link in the devolution, after death after 1925, of title to legal estate, the probate or grant of letters of administration (and not the will) being the only relevant link in the chain of title, although persons affected by equitable interests in the land are of course still bound by the terms of the will or of any other instrument creating or affecting the equities. Notice of the assent or conveyance maybe required by the transferee thereunder to be stated or annexed to the probate or letters of administration (s. 36 (6), (bid.), and the same section provides for the protection of purchasers. Consult Wolst. And Ch. Conv. Acts, and Wms. on Executors, and see VESTING ASSENT.
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