Summary
Summary Intro to Estates and Third Party Interests in Land
- Module
- Land Law - MA in Law / GDL
- Institution
- Land Law - MA In Law / GDL
Introduction to Land Law
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1 Intro to Estates and Third Party Interests in LandWhat is Land?
Legally, it means the rights that confer upon a person a degree of control over a resource, eg leases, easements, and covenants. It need not be
land, eg a car or shares in a company
S205(1)(ix) of the Law of Property Act 1925;
““Land” includes land of any tenure, and mines and minerals, whether or not held apart from the surface, buildings or parts of buildings (whether
the division is horizontal, vertical or made in any other way) and other corporeal hereditaments; also a manor, an advowson, and a rent and other
incorporeal hereditaments, and an easement, right, privilege, or benefit in, over, or derived from land; “mines and minerals” include any strata or
seam of minerals or substances in or under any land, and powers of working and getting the sam.; and “manor” includes a lordship, and reputed
manor or lordship; and “hereditament” means any real property which on an intestacy occurring before the commencement of this Act might have
devolved upon an heir”
‘land’ includes the land itself, all buildings and mines and minerals (eg coal). Also, any right of ways and (fishing) rights
→ (note: all interests in coal are now vested in the Coal Authority under the Coal Industry Act 1994)
This definition isn’t exhaustive. Possession of law ‘extends upwards to infinity and downwards to the centre of the earth’;
‘Cujus est solem, ejus est esque ad coelum et ad inferos’
Until Bernstein of Leigh (Baron) v Skyways & General Ltd [1977];
- Old rule meant satellites/planes were committing trespasses
- Courts must balance rights of landowners and those of the general public who have interest in use of airspace
- The landowner’s claim to airspace should be restricted to such heights as is necessary for him to enjoy in an ordinary way the land that
he owns
Fixtures and Chattels:
Chattels = an item of movable property (furniture, pictures, books, a car)
Fixtures = treated as though it is part of the land to which it is attached. Fixtures are included in the purchase price of land
→ A contract for usually sale makes it clear which items are included in the sale and which are not. otherwise;
Two Tests to Identify a Fixture; Berkley v Poulett [1977]:
(1) The method and degree of annexation
Requires some degree of physical annexation to land. Whatever is attached to the soil becomes part of it (quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit)
If an object has been affixed to land in such a way that it cannot be removed without causing serious damage to the realty – usually a fixture
If an object is easily removed, it is easier to argue that it remains a chattel
(2) The object and purpose of the annexation
Looks at the reason for annexing the chattel
An object resting on the ground by its own weight alone can be a fixture if the purpose of placing it there was to enhance the reality
An object which is only lightly affixed, which can be removed without causing damage may be a fixture, if eg, it was placed in a room to make the
room beautiful as a whole
If the reason for annexing the chattel may be so that it ca be enjoyed better as a chattel – this object may be a chattel, despite the fact that it is
affixed to the land
→ The second test is the more important test
Berkley v Poulett:
The pictures: were fixed into recesses, but were chattels since they were pictures and no more
The sundial: small and detached from its pedestal years ago, so was a chattel
The statue: heavy but easy to remove, so a chattel not a fixture
The plinth: firmly placed into the ground, so a fixture
Note: two exceptions to the rule that you cannot remove fixtures;
1. A provision in the contract for sale that gives a right to remove fixtures
2. Where the person who has affixed the object is a tenant. A tenant does have the right to remove ‘tenant’s fixtures’; so trade, agricultural
or ornamental fixtures.
D’Eyncourt v Gregory [1866]
Freestanding items were considered to be fixtures as they were part of the architectural design of the property. Tapestries fixed into the walls and
a special portrait could be easily removed without damage, but were essentially part of the building itself
Garden statues were freestanding but fixtures since they were part of the architectural design of the property
Leigh v Taylor [1902]
Tapestries fastened firmly to the wall never lost their character as chattels. The only way they could properly displayed was for them to be fixed to
the walls in this manner
Elitestone Ltd v Morris and another [1997]
A bungalow with rooms resting on concrete foundation blocks set into the ground.
, HoL: a house constructed so as to be removable may well be a chattel. A house which is constructed in such a way that it cannot be removed at all,
save by destruction, cannot have been intended to remain as a chattel. It must have been intended to form part of the realty
Botham v TSB Bank plc [1997]
Fitted carpets and curtains were not fixtures. Light fittings were also chattels, as were as fires connected to the building only by a gas pipe. White
goods manufactured to standard sizes and fitted into standard sized holes were held to be chattels, although fitted kitchen units were fixtures
Concepts of Ownership
The Doctrine of Tenure – concerns the way in which land is held, from whom and on what terms. The origins lie in the feudal system of
landholding
Since Norman Conquest in 1066, all land belonged to the crown. People reward lesser subjects with land created a hierarchy, with King on top
This method became obsolete but still only the Crown owns land whilst everyone else is a ‘tenant’ holding either immediately or mediately of the
Crown
The Concept of the Estate
Don’t think of a person as owning land itself but rather as owning a period of time. An estate is a period of time, so is capable of division
So, a person owning an estate can create out of it a lesser estate, or shorter period of time, and confer the benefit of such lesser estate on others
Since the Law of Property Act 1925 there are only two estates in land which are recognised by the law today;
s1 Law of Property Act 1925;
Legal estates and equitable interests
(1) The only estates in land which are capable of subsisting or of being conveyed or created at law are-
a. An estates in fee simply absolute in possession;
b. A term of years absolute
S1(1)(a) recognises that an estate in fee simple absolute in possession is capable of existing at law – ‘legal freehold’ or ‘freehold estate’
‘fee’ denotes that the estates is capable of being inherited and ‘simple’ signifies it may pass to any class of heir. Thus, on the death of the estate
owner with heirs, the estate is unlikely to come to an end so is will last effectively forever
To have the fee simple estate is equivalent to having permanent ownership of the land
This person is free to do with it as he wishes; to sell it or to give it away
‘absolute’ means the estate is not determinable or conditional on any event.
‘in possession’ is entitlement to possession of the land now
If you hold a fee simple absolute in possession - the freehold estate - you have the equivalent to outright ownership of the land at the current time
If estate owner dies with no heirs, the property reverts to the Crown, so the Treasury Department which will resell the freehold
Note: new type of land ownership is ‘commonhold’; relates to separate ownership of units within a commonhold scheme (beyond Manual)
S1(1)(b) identifies a term of years absolute as the other type of estate that is capable of existing at law – ‘legal leasehold’ or ‘leasehold estate’
If a fee simple owner wants income from the land he may grant a tenant the right to use the land for a fixed or determinable period of time
The tenant’s interest will last for the duration of the lease and may be sold, given away or inherited
To qualify as a leasehold estate, the tenant must have exclusive possession of the property for a fixed and certain duration (Unit 3)
Exclusive possession means that the tenant must be able to exclude everyone from the property, including the landlord. The commencement date
and the duration of the lease must be clearly ascertained at the start of the lease. The lease must be ‘for a term certain’
A fixed term can be in years, or periodic. S205(1)(xxvii) of the Law Property Act 1925 defines ‘term of years’ as a term for less than a year or for a
year or years, and a fraction of a year or from year to year
Ownership doesn’t mean ownership of the land, but rather the concept of an estate or period of time in land
It is possible for there to be two legal estates in the same piece of land at the same time
Relationship between Common Law and Equity
The freehold estate and the leasehold estate are recognised at common law; they equate to legal ownership of land
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