(Oxford) Land Law Comprehensive Notes 2025.(Oxford) Land Law Comprehensive Notes 2025.(Oxford) Land Law Comprehensive Notes 2025.(Oxford) Land Law Comprehensive Notes 2025.
Leases – proprietary rights, interests in land; legal estates in land; not landlord/tenant
law- statutory – however elements overlap
Legal estate in land – substantive elements – how they exist and are
protected? Issues:
1) Lease v License; why is that significant?
- what is a tenancy? what rights come from that?
- short tenancies? landlords avoiding statutory
obligations? How can leases be terminated?
Creation, protection, enforcement and effect on 3rd parties
- Leases binding on 3rd parties = proprietary rights
- License personal and binding on party to whom made not 3rd parties
Exists as legal estate in land – fee simple absolute in possession and term of years
absolute (leasehold)
Leases v licenses v easements – easements and covenants – overlap- lease license
easement – occupy or use something; distinguish between them legally using above
substantive criteria
Leases are contracts with contractual obligations; bargaining powers between landlord
and tenant who are parties to the contract
Statutory obligations limiting freedom of contract – public law elements, not existing to
private contracts but to leases
Finite time provided; only length but have to be specific; freeholds forever. One day less
than freehold leasehold
Leases – freehold first, lease comes out of freehold for duration of time; reversion back to
freehold
Proprietary right – certain obligations of landlords and tenants – legal estates binding 3rd
parties – tenant gets significant protection
Terminology – get language correct; lease – landlord lessor retains freehold reversion
tenant lessee get or take grant lease out of freehold – leasehold from free
Landlord retains freehold reversion – can sell freehold reversion at anytime but will be
subject to lease
Co-ownership – overreaching possible; but overreaching can not happen with leases –
leases binding!
Subletting – can sell proportion of lease to 3rd party without landlord intervening –
,value, new tenant steps into shoes of old tenants – co sign remaining portion of lease
Different types of leases – raising different obligations or requirements – i.e. assured
shorthold tenancy 99 years but different responsibilities or obligations
,Definition of lease – s. 205 term of years – any fixed period – one day less than freehold; 6
months notice period can be flexible
Tenant v lodger (license – no exclusive possession) – landlord retains control over
property- control person has over; exclusive control and possession – element of
control important*
Lease creation – different ways – legal deed contractual or equitable leases subject to
registration of equitable interests laws obligations to be binding have to register – must
be made by deed legal lease legal interests bind everyone
Substantive different – rules for equitable leases trigger application of sch 3 para 2
Essentials of Lease defined by statute as terms of year absolute – court defined perimeters
in Street v Mountford of what constitutes a lease; 3 things identified:
1) duration of lease must be identifiable time – fixed whatever – look at lease –
straightforward but what constitutes identifiable time – grey areas of course
2) Exclusive possession – defining feature, distinguishes lease from license, note
wording exclusive possession not occupation
about possession reflects proprietary right to exclude world including landlord; Breach
of implied covenant, compensation? License personal right so no exclusive possession
Tenant lease exclusive possession v license no exclusive possession and referred to as
lodger
Rent is not a central characteristic of a lease – lodgers still pay some form of payment of
rent – without rent, gratuitous relationship not contractual relationship but gratuitous
relationship – no consideration
Absence of rent charges relationship – contractual element – rent is consideration and
maintains contractual relation
Nomenclature – names – courts look at substance not form – Street v Mountford – calling
lease license does not make it license – exclusive possession – lease – irrelevant what
landlord wants to call it
Tenants protected – landlords cannot avoid statutory obligations – landlords =
politicians/journalists/lawyers will try to circumvent rules or laws – do not want to be
bound by all these statutory obligations
Fixed or periodic tenancies – max certain duration expressly stated at time lease created
– fixed – start or end dates – what constitutes start or end dates – or fixed dates?
Chandler – lease for duration of war – not permitted; no certainty of time, identifiable –
fixed at time when lease agreed not afterwards, past consideration not good
consideration
Prudential Assurance v London Residuary – council granted lease dependent on would
terminate whn road widened in front of property – council notifies tenant will terminate
, lease because want to develop road transpired do not want to redevelopment road but
just want tenant out
Widening or development of road may or may not happen can not identify time
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