A friend made this suggestion to me recently: he's looking at mortgaging a large piece of land. He plans to go ahead after a building surveyor takes a look and gives the okay. My friend said if I would like ti give hom some cash to help with the deposit that he would earmark a couple of acres to be subdivided later into my name. He's offering to sign a stat dec to ensure the agreement has legal weight. I know relatively little about property law. My question is, then, would a stat dec be sufficient for this purpose, and will it protect my interests if things were to go pear-shaped? What details would need to be included in the stat dec and how would it need to be worded? Or is there a different way to go about this to achieve the same result? My friend is also making the same offer to his partner's cousin, so there's the possibility that he will also have a stat dec written for a couple of acres for him. This may or may not be relevant but I've decided to include it.