Estates and Third Party Interests Flashcards
Which statute recognises a legal freehold?
s1(1)(a) LPA 1925
Which statute recognises a legal leasehold?
s1(1)(b) LPA 1925
What are the relevant third party interests capable of being legal?
Easements s1(2)(a) and Legal Mortgages s1(2)(c).
Which statute states that if an estate or interest in land does not fall within s1(1) or (2), it can only take effect in equity?
s1(3) LPA 1925
What must a tenant have to qualify as a leasehold estate?
(a) Exclusive possession, i.e. they are able to exclude anyone from the property including the landlord;
(b) Certainty of duration, i.e. the commencement date and the duration of the lease must be clearly ascertained at the start of the lease.
What are the two requirements for ‘home rights’ to apply?
Per s30 of the FLA 1996:
(a) The parties are legally married (i.e. not divorced);
(b) The home is, has been, or is intended to be the matrimonial home.
What is the definition of a license?
A permission to do something that you would not normally be allowed to do, i.e. they make lawful that which would otherwise be unlawful (Thomas and Sorrell). In other words, they create no proprietary interest in land.
What are the two types of license?
Bare licenses and contractual licenses. A bare license is granted for no consideration (The Calgarth), whereas a contractual license is one supported by consideration and may give rise at common law and in equity to damages and injunctions respectively.
What statute must express trusts over land satisfy?
s53(1)(b) LPA 1925, evidenced in writing and signed.
What statute governs the formalities for the creation of estate contracts?
s2 LPMPA 1989: writing, signed and incorporating all terms. Exceptions are listed in s2(5) namely: (a) where a contract to grant a lease involves a parol lease under s54(2) and (b) where the contract is made in the course of a public auction.
What statute governs the creation of non-trust, equitable interests (except estate contracts)?
s53(1)(a) LPA 1925: creation by signed writing.
What statute governs the disposition of equitable interests?
s53(1)(c) LPA 1925: writing and signed by parties to the document.
What statute governs the creation of equitable interests arising under trusts?
s53(1)(b) LPA 1925.
When does ownership transfer with an unregistered title?
At the date of conveyance.
With an unregistered title, the seller must produce title deeds proving ownership for how many years?
15 years per s44 LPA 1925 unless agreed otherwise.
Where should applicable third party interests be listed in relation to unregistered land?
On the Land Charges Register against the name of the estate owner who has created the interest and whose land is bound by it (s3 LCA 1972).
When are land charges seen to take effect?
When they are registered on the Land Charges Register, registration is deemed to constitute actual notice of the incumbrance from the date of registration (s198 LPA 1925).
Which statute deals with the effect of non-registration of registrable land charges?
s4 LCA 1972, which states that purchasers can take the land free of the unregistered land charge.
What are the five requirements to be considered equity’s darling?
(a) Buyer must be bona fide;
(b) Buyer must come within the definition of a purchaser, i.e. a person receiving property other than by operation of law;
(c) Buyer must have brought the property for value;
(d) The buyer must have taken the legal estate in the property;
(e) The buyer must have brought the property without notice (actual, constructive or imputed) that the equitable interest exists.
A purchaser or their agent must make all inquiries and inspections that, in the circumstances, ought reasonably to have been made, otherwise the purchaser will not be considered equity’s darling.
Tizard
What are the three main interests not includable on the Land Charges Register?
(a) Equitable interests arising under a trust;
(b) Most legal interests;
(c) Pre-1926 equitable interests.
What are the three conditions required for overreaching?
(a) Buyer must be acquiring the legal estate in the property;
(b) Buyer must pay the purchase money to all the trustees; and
(c) There must be at least two trustees (or a trust corporation).
When does a buyer take legal ownership of registered land?
At the point of registration in their name.
Which statute states that any disposition that requires registration will not operate at law until such registration is completed?
s27 LRA 2002
What are the three categories of rights that exist over registered titles?
(a) Registrable dispositions;
(b) Interests affecting a registered estate (IAREs); and
(c) Unregistered interests which override.
What is the requirement for IAREs in order for them to bind a purchaser?
They must be the subject of a notice on the register (s32 LRA 2002).
How should trust interests be protected in the case of registered land?
They should be recorded by a restriction in the proprietorship register of the owner’s title (s40 LRA 2002).
Where are the unregistered interests which override listed?
Schedule 3 to the LRA 2002.
Protection of an interest under Sch 3, Para 2 (actual occupation) requires what?
That the interest is proprietary in nature (Strand Securities).
A wife was in actual occupation because the phrase had to be interpreted as ordinary words of plain English, and there was physical presence.
Boland
The actions of a claimant amouned to no more than preparatory steps leading to the assumption of actual residential occupation when she sent her son to move in furniture and put up curtains.
Abbey National v Cann
A claimant was in actual occupation when she visited her property regularly whilst it was being renovated because she was occupying so far as it was possible to occupy it.
Rosset
A woman was in actual occupation even though she had been absent for over a year in residential psychiatric care.
Link Lending Ltd v Bustard
What amounts to actual occupation can depend upon the nature of the property itself.
Kling
Although a woman’s possessions were still in her house, she could not be said to be in actual occupation because she had decided that she was never going to live there.
Thompson v Foy
What are the limitations to the protection offered by Sch 3, Para 2?
Considered in Thomas v Clydesdale Bank:
(a) If enquiries were made, the person holding the interest before the sale must have disclosed their interest if they could reasonably be expected to do so; and
(b) Occupation would have been obvious on a reasonably careful inspection; or
(c) The purchaser had actual knowledge of the interest at the time of sale.
