Summary
Summary fixtures and fittings
- Module
- Property Law
- Institution
- University Of Winchester (UoW)
fixtures and fittings
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Fixtures and FittingsThink about your home, everything in it will either be considered a fixture or a fitting
The characterisation of items is very important
Depending on whether something is a fixture or a fitting, it will determine its ownership when property changes hands
Fixture = Forms part of the land and therefore belongs to whoever owns the house. If you sell the house, you cannot
take the fixtures with you
Fittings = Personal Property - Belongs to you and therefore you can take it with you
Imagine
You go over to view this house
You really like the car, you also like the flowers and bushes out front, the windows and the door
Based on this, you decide to purchase thee house
You arrive on the move in date- all the things you like are now gone
Is there anything you can do?
Well, it will largely depend on whether the items classified as a fixture or a fitting
In answering this, we will be asking few key questions
- Does an item form a part of the land?
- Has it become so attached that it should remain with the land?
A chattel = a piece of personal property (e.g, phone, watch, book)
A chattel may be on the land but may not belong to the landowner
(a friend might have lent you a book, or parked their car at your house)
The distinction between fixtures and fittings is therefore significant as it not only indicates ownership, but who may be
entitled to keep the property if the land changed hands.
So what is a fixture?
A chattel which is considered to have become part of thee land, and therefore belongs to the landowner
It stays with the land - even when the landowner changes
Section 62 LPA 1925;
a) A conveyance of land shall be deemed to include and shall by virtue of this act operate to convey, with the land,
all buildings, erections, fixtures… known as part of parcel of or appurtenant to the land or any part thereof
Fixtures pass automatically to a purchaser of the land
So what are fittings?
A chattel which remains a chattel
A personal property which does not form part of the land itself
Fittings do not pass to the purchaser of the land - unless specifically specified during conveyance - the seller would take
it when they move out and the purchaser would not expect them to be included in the sale
At first it seems easy, however the distinction between fixtures and fittings is not always clear cut
‘Quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit’
Whatever is attached to the soil, becomes part of it
, Picture your home once again, think about all the items in the room you're in now
If you had to consider what would likely amount to a fixture vs a fitting, some things would be very simply;
The wall, the roof, the window = you would most likely be able to easily conclude that this is in fact a fixture
Your phone, your laptop, your clothes = personal property and therefore a fiting
But some might be more problematic = what about the lights or the carpet
Now think about a building site
Everything which makes up a building once started as chattels - and would be classified as fittings
But once something is done to them, their status may change
- Take a brick - a fitting
- Now a house - a fixture
Whether they become part of the land, or will be classed as fixtures, depending on what you did with them
But not always a clear distinction
- What is it that you have to do to the chattel to make it a fixture
Fixtures and Fittings; ‘dry stone’ wall analogy
Holland v Hodgson
This case is not about a dry stone wall ***
A useful dictum
Blackburn J used this analogy to demonstrate how tricky it can be in some circumstances to distinguish a fixture from a
fitting
Normally, bricks which are ‘cemented in’ to form a wall will become part of the land (i.e; a fixture) - this is not
particularly controversial
“There is no doubt that the general maxim of the law is, that what is annexed to the land become part of the land;
But it is very difficult, if not impossible, to say with precision what constitutes an annexation sufficient for this purpose.
It is a question which depends on the circumstances of each case”
“Thus, blocks of stone placed on the top of another without any mortar or cement, for the purpose of forming a dry-
stone wall would become part of the land..
Though the same stoned, if deposited in a builders yard and for convenience sake stacked on the top if each other in the
form of a wall, would remain chattels”
There are two tests used to determine whether something is a fixture or a fitting;
1) The degree (and method) of annexation (i.ee how the item is attached to the land)
2) And the intention (purpose) behind that annexation
**in your exam you will have to apply both in order to collect all the marks**
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