Estates Flashcards
What does it mean when someone holds a fee simple in reversion?
This indicates that person holds the fee simple but that there is some prior estate which must come to an end before X will be entitled to the present possession of the land.
Landlord and Tenant Amendment Act 1860/Deasy’s Act
The Act made contract law the basis for tenancies and abolished any feudal rents paid by services to a landlord, or by payments in kind.
It provides that all leases of over twelve months must be evidenced in writing in order to be enforced.
What are the three kinds of notice within the Doctrine of Notice?
SECTION 86 in the Land Act
a) Actual Notice - within one’s knowledge
b) Imputed Notice - within the knowledge of one’s agent (e.g. solicitor)
c) Constructive Notice -would have been known had the purchaser undertaken proper and reasonable inquiries and inspections
Northern Bank v Henry [1981]
A family home was purchased in the husband’s name using funds provided by the wife’s father. Following the couple’s separation, the wife claimed an equitable interest in the property, asserting that the funds used for its purchase were effectively hers. HUSBAND WAS NOT LIVING IN PROPERTY
The husband, without the wife’s knowledge or consent, mortgaged the family home to Northern Bank to secure his personal debts. The central question was whether Northern Bank had constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest, which would affect the validity of the mortgage.
The Court held that Northern Bank had constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest. A prudent lender should have inquired about the actual ownership and occupancy of the property, especially since it was the family home. Such inquiries would have revealed the wife’s interest. Due to the bank’s failure to make reasonable inquiries, it was deemed to have constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest. Consequently, the mortgage was not enforceable against her share of the property.
Henchy J quote about prudent man vs reasonable man. “The test for constructive notice is legal reasonableness, not business prudence.”
Re: Stewart’s Estate (1893)
“A purchaser with notice from a purchaser without notice is protected if the transaction be bona fide, the
only exception being the case of a trustee buying back trust property which he has sold; or that of a
fraudulent person, who has acquired property by fraud, saying he has sold it to a bona fide purchaser
without notice, and has got it back again.”
The court concluded that Adair, as an assignee of the mortgage for value without notice of prior equitable claims, held priority over Mrs. Hamilton’s judgment
A family home was purchased in the husband’s name using funds provided by the wife’s father. Following the couple’s separation, the wife claimed an equitable interest in the property, asserting that the funds used for its purchase were effectively hers. HUSBAND WAS NOT LIVING IN PROPERTY
The husband, without the wife’s knowledge or consent, mortgaged the family home to the plaintiff, a bank, to secure his personal debts. The central question was whether the plaintiff, had constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest, which would affect the validity of the mortgage.
The Court held that the plaintiff had constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest. A prudent lender should have inquired about the actual ownership and occupancy of the property, especially since it was the family home. Such inquiries would have revealed the wife’s interest. Due to the bank’s failure to make reasonable inquiries, it was deemed to have constructive notice of the wife’s equitable interest. Consequently, the mortgage was not enforceable against her share of the property.
Henchy J quote about prudent man vs reasonable man. “The test for constructive notice is legal reasonableness, not business prudence.”
Northern Bank v Henry [1981]
“A purchaser with notice from a purchaser without notice is protected if the transaction be bona fide, the
only exception being the case of a trustee buying back trust property which he has sold; or that of a
fraudulent person, who has acquired property by fraud, saying he has sold it to a bona fide purchaser
without notice, and has got it back again.”
The court concluded that Adair, as an assignee of the mortgage for value without notice of prior equitable claims, held priority over Mrs. Hamilton’s judgment
Re: Stewart’s Estate (1893)
