When someone is arraigned and charged in court with a criminal offence, the court in its own discretion sets a bail amount that the defendant can pay to secure temporary freedom for the duration of the trial. The bail paid to the courts ensures that the defendant shows up for court hearings and failure to do so means that the defendant forfeits the bail and the court can issue a warrant of arrest for the defendant.
For cases where the defendants are unable to raise the bail amount in cash, they can use property they own as bail bond. For one to use property as bail bond, the property must be valuated by a registered property valuer. The valuer usually does a title search on the property to ascertain whether the property in question has any encumbrances or not. He or she then ascertains the market value of the said property. This is the value the property can fetch on a willing seller, willing buyer basis.
The valuer will then compile a report which is sent to the court. This report usually contains the title search the valuer did. It also includes the Certificate of Title of the property and the market value ascertained. The Court will most of the time accept a letter written by a licensed valuer having all the above details. It is worthy to note that the court will take physical possession of the Certificate of Title. This title is returned to the property owner at the end of the trial. If the defendant skips any court hearing date without the permission of the court then the court can dispose the property and the proceeds are forfeited to the state.
When engaging a property valuer for bail application, ensure that the valuer is licensed so that the correct market value is ascertained. The court will likely not accept a report from a valuer who is not licensed and may therefore mean that the defendant stays in jail for longer until another report is sent to the court by a licensed property valuer. A bail application report contains the condition and value of the property. Our valuers are registered that is why our applications are legal and has standing with government authorities, and in court.
It is important to have a professional valuer because he or she is in charge of the accuracy of the information in the application. The client is offering a commercial or residential property, it is also very important to have a recognized valuer because of the amount of cash entailed. The home mortgage lending institutions demand an independent unbiased evaluation of the value of a resident or a property, you will find out that the results of these are not the same as the results you get from an online property appraisal calculator or a property representative price quote.
The value calculated by one of our certified practicing valuers is the reasonable market worth. The valuation for bail application is done using various techniques. The property evaluation can sometimes result in 2 different values for the exact same property the vacant value and the enhanced value. Even the exact same home might be assigned different values in a domestic area as well in a commercial zone.
If the property is encumbered with a mortgage there are different requirements for lodging property as bail security if entered at the Supreme Court:
If the property is already encumbered by a caveat, it also requires one different document including the 4 documents for lodging property as bail security:
A copy of the caveat to check the value of the interest claimed by the caveator and the reason for the caveat.