From fundamental concepts, sale and purchase of land, co-ownership, trusts and estoppel, this revision notes provide concrete framework to tackle examination questions, with clear summary and analysis of various case laws. It is recommended to be read together with Land Law: Revision Notes (2), whi...
1. Land
CPO s2 Interpretation
“"land" (土地) includes-
(a) land covered by water;
(b) any estate, right, interest or easement in or over any land;
(bb) the whole or part of an undivided share in land and any estate, right, interest or
easement in or over the whole or part of an undivided share in land; and
(c) things attached to land or permanently fastened to anything attached to land.”
CPO s16(1) What an assignment is deemed to include
“(1) Unless the contrary intention is expressed in the assignment, an assignment shall
operate to assign, with the land, all rights, interests, privileges, easements or
appurtenances in, over, belonging or appertaining to that land or at the time of the
assignment used, held, occupied or enjoyed with that land and things attached to the
land or permanently fastened to anything attached to the land.”
Hamp v Bygrave (1983)
The purchaser claimed that a number of items, most of them garden ornaments,
passed as fixtures with the conveyance of the freehold.
degree of • none of the items was fixed or attached to the land or any structure
annexation which was itself attached to the land
• each rested by its own weight either on the land itself or on some sort
of plinth
• degree of annexation with all the items by their own weight suggests
that they were chattels
purpose of • the particulars of sale expressly referred to each of the disputed items
annexation as part of the property to be sold
• in the course of the discussions the defendants suggested that one
way of reducing the purchase price would be to exclude those items
or some of them
• Mr Bygrave authorised his solicitors to say that the sale included all the
garden ornaments then on the property, and at that time all the
disputed items were on the property and in their places
• Clear inference to be that the defendant regarded all the disputed items as features
of, and part and parcel of, the garden
Berkeley v Poulett (1976)
Earl Poulett agreed to sell his estate to the plaintiff including a mansion. Prior to the
completion, the Earl removed a number of treasures from the house and sold them.
The treasurers were a number of pictures, a white marble statute and a sundial. The
plaintiffs argued that they were fixtures.
degree of • if an object cannot be removed without serious damage to, or
annexation destruction of, some part of the realty, the case for it having become a
fixture is a strong one
purpose of • the paneling was Victorian, the pictures a heterogeneous collection.
annexation According to Sotheby’s export they were of different dates in the 17th
and 18th centuries, of different styles, different hands, the sort of set
anyone could put together at any time
• matter put on the plinth was very much the taste of the occupier of the
house for the time being know that at one time the object on the plinth
had been a sundial At the time of the sale it was this statute of a Greek
athlete…but the object it carried could be whatever appealed to the
occupier for the time being. Sundial or statue…
• they were not fixtures
Irene Loong v Pun Tsun Hang [1959]
Whether the air-conditioners seized by the bailiff were fixtures. Window-type air-
conditioners are intended for installation within the circumference of an existing window
frame.
degree of • the removal of a unit was merely a matter of taking out the nuts and
annexation bolts and (where they were used) the wood-screws, but this method
provided the necessary rigidity
purpose of • intended to be a permanent item in the equipment of the dance-hall
annexation • an air-conditioner cannot be enjoyed separately from a room or
building. Clearly the purpose of installing these particular machines
was to improve the premises by rendering the atmosphere inside them
more conducive to the practice and enjoyment of the art of dancing
and not got the better enjoyment of the machines as chattels
• fixtures
Penta Continental Land Investment Ltd v Chung Kwok Restaurant Ltd [1967]
degree of • three machines bolted or screwed to frames, but which frames are not
annexation themselves attached to the building, but merely rest by their own
weight…upon the floor adjacent to the restaurant
• to remove the latter if it would necessary to cut the pipes with a
welding torch, but this is by no means a difficult operation
purpose of • P: machines would be of little use if not annexed to the ducts
annexation throughout the building
• equally of little use if not connected to the electricity supply which
drives them
• they were chattels
• not unfair as the defendant was in default of the rent and the plaintiff was merely
trying to get his rent by seizing the air-conditioners
Oriental Leasing (Hong Kong) Ltd v NP Etches [1985]
Air-conditioner case.
degree of • free-standing
annexation • connection for the purpose of motive power is not a connection which
would…make the thing which is free-standing a fixture
purpose of • whether something is placed there for the betterment of the building
annexation as a whole and the occupants thereof; or as an object therein to be
admired
• such an integral part of the whole of a fixture that they could not
themselves lose the character of a fixture by nature of their attachment
• Penta: air-conditioners…put in a garage adjoining a restaurant and they were
attached to pipes which connected them to the building next door
• these cooling towers cannot cool anything, unless they are connected to something
to cool…as this one is connected, by a pipe to the mains (which puts water in) and
by the other pipes taking water out to other parts of the system – fixtures
Elitestone Ltd v Morris & Anor [1997]
The object in question was a bungalow.
degree of • it could not be taken down and re-erected elsewhere. It could only be
annexation removed by a process of demolition
• If a structure can only be enjoyed in situ…at least a strong inference
that the purpose of placing the structure…was that it should form part
of the realty at that site
purpose of • a house which is constructed in such a way that it cannot be removed
annexation at all, saved by destruction, cannot have been intended to remain as a
chattel
• Mr. Morris’s bungalow was built, and as each of the timber frame walls
were placed in position, they all became part of the structure, which
was itself part of the structure, which was itself part and parcel of the
land
• part and parcel of the land
Goldful Way Development Ltd v Wellstable Development Ltd [1998]
An enclosure in the paved backyard of a detached house was held to be a fixture as
well as part and parcel of the land
degree of • the fact that the structure cannot be removed except by destruction
annexation • the soffit of the roof of the enclosure was secured to the external walls
of the house
purpose of • it is clearly not possible to demount this enclosure and move it for
annexation reassembly and to be enjoyed in a new location
• one side of this enclosure compromises of glass panes which start
only halfway up the garden wall on one side of the house
• as such it can only be enjoyed in situ and its design is “made to
measure” for the use and enjoyment of that particular place
• an object which is brought onto land may be classified under one of three broad
heads. It may be: (a) a chattel; (b) a fixture; or (c) part and parcel of the land itself.
Objects in categories (b) and (c) are treated as being part of the land
• (threefold classification)
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