When purchasers have committed to a property, what is their right to protect their interest called?

The right that purchasers have to protect their interest in a property after committing to it is known as equitable title. When a buyer enters into a purchase agreement, they obtain equitable title, which grants them certain rights to the property, even though legal title has not yet transferred to them. This means that the purchasers have a claim or an interest in the property and the benefits of ownership, like acquiring a future legal title, as long as they fulfill their obligations under the contract.

Equitable title arises because the buyer has a contractual right to obtain legal title once certain conditions are met, such as the completion of payment. This legal concept ensures that the buyer's interests are protected, preventing the seller from selling the property to someone else while the transaction is pending.

The other options—legal title, adequate title, and constructive title—do not accurately describe the buyer's rights in this context. Legal title refers to actual ownership and the rights that come with that ownership, adequate title is a less common term and can relate to the sufficiency of title for transferring property, and constructive title generally refers to a situation where a party is treated as having title even if it hasn't been formally transferred. Thus, the term that best captures the concept of a purchaser's rights before