14. Mortgages

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses mortgages. A mortgage is a proprietary interest that can be legal or equitable in status. The equity of redemption encapsulates the rights of a mortgagor and includes the equitable right to redeem and the ability to have certain clauses struck out from a mortgage agreement. The mortgagor of a dwelling house has special legislative protection. Where a mortgage is obtained under undue influence, be it actual or presumed, it may be set aside. The mortgagee has various remedies available to it should the mortgagor fail to meet the mortgage payments, dependent upon the status of the mortgage. A property may be subject to more than one mortgage and where this is the case and the property is sold, proceeds from the sale will be applied in order of priority.

13. Freehold covenants

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses freehold covenants. Freehold covenants are promises extracted by one freehold owner (the covenantee) from another freehold owner (the covenantor), whereby the latter promises either to do (positive covenant) or not to do (negative covenant) something over his land. The land burdened by the promise becomes the servient tenement. The land benefiting from the promise becomes the dominant tenement. Covenants commonly arise when a freehold owner is selling off part of his freehold to another and wishes to maintain some degree of control over the land being sold in order to preserve the value and enjoyment of the land he is retaining. Covenants may be enforceable between successors in title to the original covenantee and covenantor but only where certain requirements have been met.

12. Easements and profits

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses easements. An easement gives either a positive or, less often, a negative right of use over land of another (the servient land), which must be seen to benefit a dominant piece of land. A right that is capable of being an easement will only become an easement where it has been acquired by one of the recognised methods of acquisition. Easements may arise through express or implied acquisition. Implied acquisition may arise by virtue of necessity, common intention, operation of s 62 Law of Property Act (LPA) 1925 or under the rule in Wheeldon v Burrows (although the latter two methods will not operate in a reservation scenario). Alternatively, an easement may have been acquired out of long use, known as prescription, of which there are three modes: common law, lost modern grant, and the Prescription Act 1832. An easement can be either legal or equitable in status, depending upon which formalities have been satisfied. The status of an easement will determine the relevant rules governing the enforcement of that interest against a third party.

9. Trusts of land

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses trusts of land. The creation of concurrent interests in land generally now occurs by way of a trust of land, governed by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TLATA) and replacing their forerunner, trusts for sale. Trusts of land may be expressly or impliedly created and, where implied, may be resulting or constructive trusts. Key provisions of TLATA 1996 include: ss 6–8 governing the extent of trustees’ powers over the trust property; s 11 governing the circumstances in which trustees have a duty to consult beneficiaries when exercising their powers; ss 12–13 governing the rights of beneficiaries to occupy the trust property; and ss 14–15 governing the right of an interested party to make an application to the court for an order to resolve a dispute over trust land.

8. Adverse possession

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the concept of adverse possession. An owner of an estate in land (paper owner) is under no obligation to make use of that land; mere neglect will not end ownership. However, where that land is adversely possessed by another for the required period, the paper owner will lose his title to the land. Through his acts of adverse possession, the adverse possessor acquires a better title to the land than the paper owner. This is so even if such acts stem from an initial wrong, such as a trespass.

7. Covenants in leases

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses leasehold covenants. Leasehold covenants are promises made between a landlord and his tenant, regulating the relationship between them and the way in which a leasehold estate is enjoyed. The covenants may be either express or implied. The nature and extent of liability imposed by express covenants will be a matter of negotiation between the parties. Implied covenants, which can occasionally be expressly excluded from the lease (where it is allowed), may impose burdens on either the landlord or the tenant. Covenants, whether express or implied, may be either positive (e.g. to repair) or negative (e.g. prohibiting change of use to the property). Covenants may be enforceable against successor owners of both the leasehold and reversionary interests.

4. Unregistered land

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses unregistered land. This is land where title has not been registered at the Land Registry. Proof of ownership comes from an examination of title deeds relating to that land. Identification of any third party proprietary interests burdening a piece of unregistered land cannot be discovered by a search of the land register. Rather, an examination of the title documents and various registers is required to discover their existence. The most important is a search of the Land Charges Register which is made against the names of previous owners, not the property address. Legal interests over unregistered land bind the world, with the exception of the puisne mortgage, which requires registration as a land charge to be binding. Interests covered by the Land Charges Act 1972 must be registered as the appropriate land charge to bind a purchaser. Failure to register such an interest appropriately means that the interest will not bind certain types of purchasers of the land.

1. Introduction: proprietary rights

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses proprietary rights. These govern people’s ability to use and enjoy both land they physically possess and land physically possessed by others. Whilst technically all land is owned by the Crown, holding an estate in land, and in particular a freehold estate that gives one rights to possess, enjoy, and use the land forever, is tantamount to actual ownership. The other type of proprietary right is an interest in land. Whilst an estate gives one a slice of time to use and enjoy land one physically possesses, an interest gives the right to use and enjoy land physically possessed by another. Proprietary rights can be either legal or equitable in status.

5. The freehold estate

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the freehold estate. The freehold estate is the larger of the two estates in land that has legal capacity and a person who holds a freehold estate over land is tantamount to being the owner of that land. The legal freehold estate is technically known as the fee simple absolute in possession and the characteristics of a legal freehold estate can be found from interpreting this technical definition. A contract for the transfer of a freehold estate must meet the requirements under s 2 Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989. A valid and specifically enforceable contract for the transfer of a freehold estate will give the purchaser an equitable interest in the land to be purchased, known as an estate contract.

6. The leasehold estate

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the leasehold estate. A lease is one of the estates in land capable of being legal. Without both certainty of term and exclusive possession there can be no lease, although the presence of both does not necessarily mean that a lease exists. Formalities for the creation of a legal lease differ depending upon the duration of the lease. Where these formalities have not been met, an equitable lease may exist provided there is a valid contract capable of specific performance. An equitable lease is not as good as the legal equivalent. The most common types of leases are fixed term and periodic. The process of terminating a lease by forfeiture varies depending upon the type of covenant breached.