A transfer of ownership is any means by which ownership of a property changes hands. These include purchase of a property, assumption of mortgage debt, exchange of possession of a property via a land sales contract or any other land trust device. For example, if a person were to give someone a car as a gift, a transfer of ownership would need to be done so that the title was in the new owners’ name.
Source: http://dictionary.findlaw.com/definition/transfer-of-ownership.html