Land Law Flashcards
Goodman v Gallant [1986] 2 WLR 236
[U]pon a severance, each takes an equal aliquot share according to the number of joint tenants.
Carr v Isard [2006] EWHC 2095
Severance of a joint tenancy cannot be effected by will.
The right of survivorship takes precedence over any testamentary dispositions made by joint tenants.
a will purporting to dispose of an undivided share in jointly owned property does not of itself effect a severance
Gore and Snell v Carpenter (1990) 60 P & CR 456
Was not agreement
Hunter v Babbage (1995) 69 P & CR 548
Was agreement
Burgess v Rawnsley [1975] Ch 429
- Beneficial joint tenancy severed by oral agreement by one joint tenant to sell her share to the other joint tenant (even though the agreement was not specifically enforceable).
- Browne LJ: Whether or not there … [is] an oral agreement between … [the joint tenants is], of course, a question of fact.
- Course of Dealing’ or Mutual Conduct
- [A] mere verbal notice by one party to another clearly cannot operate as severance.(See: McDowell v Hirschfield Lipson & Rumney [1992] 2 FLR 126)
Mutual Agreement
Severance by (express or implied) mutual agreement between joint tenants.
An Act Which Operates Upon His/Her Own Share
Sale
Mortgage (First National Bank v Hegarty [1984] 1 All ER 139)
Gift
Lease
Bankruptcy (involuntary severance) - see: Re Pavlou (A Bankrupt) [1993] 1 WLR 1046; Re Dennis (A Bankrupt) [1996] Ch 80
Williams v Hensman (1861) 1 J & H 546
Such other act or thing
an act of any one of the persons interested operating upon his own share may create a severance as to that share Secondly, a joint tenancy may be severed by mutual agreement. And, in the third place, there may be a severance by any course of dealing sufficient to intimate that the interests of all were mutually treated as constituting a tenancy in common…
In Re 88, Berkeley Road, N.W. 9 [1971] Ch 648
I feel bound to conclude that the notice of severance [sent by registered letter], even though it never reached the plaintiff, was in fact sufficiently served for the purposes of section 36(2) of the [LPA 1925].
Kinch and Another v Bullard and Another [1999] 1 WLR 423
even if the addressee does not actually receive it.
Law regarding notice and posting letter
LPA 1925, s 196
Any notice required or authorised by this Act to be served shall be sufficiently served if it is left at the last-known place of abode or business in the United Kingdom of the … person to be served …
Any notice required or authorised by this Act to be served shall also be sufficiently served, if it is sent by post in a registered letter addressed to the … person to be served and if that letter is not returned by the postal operator undelivered; and that service shall be deemed to be made at the time at which the registered letter would in the ordinary course be delivered.
Law regarding severance
LPA 1925, s 36(2)
Provided that, where a legal estate … is vested in joint tenants beneficially, and any tenant desires to sever the joint tenancy in equity, he shall give to the other joint tenants a notice in writing of such desire or do such other acts or things as would, in the case of personal estate, have been effectual to sever the tenancy in equity.
The Effects of Severance:
Converts an equitable joint tenancy into a tenancy in common
Excludes the future operation of survivorship
Separates off an equal aliquot share for severing joint tenants
Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53
Does not rebut the presumption
joint legal ownership of the family home by a married or cohabiting couple, the mere fact of unequal contribution to purchase price will not normally be sufficient to rebut the presumption of a joint tenancy in equity
Exceptions to the Presumption of a Joint Tenancy
Unequal contributions to purchase price
Joint mortgagees
Commercial partnerships
Stack v Dowden [2007] 2 WLR 831
[I]t should be assumed that equity follows the law and that the beneficial interests reflect the legal interests in the property … in the domestic consumer context, a conveyance into joint names indicates both legal and beneficial joint tenancy, unless and until the contrary is proved.
The burden will … be on the person seeking to show that the parties did intend their beneficial interests to be different from their legal interests, and in what way. This is not a task to be lightly embarked upon.
General Presumption:
presumption of a joint tenancy - ‘equity follows the law’
Words of Severance:
Words in the purchase deed indicating that the co-owners have distinct shares - tenancy in common.
Lewen v Dodd (1595) Cro Eliz 443: ‘equally’
Fisher v Wigg (1700) 1 Salk 391: ‘to be divided between’
Payne v Webb (1874) LR 19 Eq 26: ‘in equal shares’
Express Declaration
Co-owners’ declaration that property is to be held as joint tenancy or tenancy in common.
Equitable Title:
Joint tenancy Or Tenancy in common
Legal Title:
Only joint tenancy
LPA 1925, s 1(6) A legal estate is not capable of subsisting or of being created in an undivided share in land.
- NB also LPA 1925, s 36(2)
purpose of severance
LPA 1925, s 36(2):
No severance of a joint tenancy of a legal estate, so as to create a tenancy in common in land, shall be permissible.
Davis v Smith [2011] EWCA Civ 1603
Survivorship is an essential ingredient of a joint tenancy
Harris and Another v Goddard and Others [1983] 1 WLR 1203
- Severance is … the process of separating off the share of a joint tenant, so that co-ownership will continue but the right of survivorship will no longer apply. The parties will hold separate shares as tenants in common.
- Its special feature is the right of survivorship, whereby the right to the whole of the property accrues automatically to the surviving joint tenants or joint tenant on the death of any joint one joint.
- Notice in Writing- a desire to sever must evince an intention to bring about the wanted result immediately.
A.G. Securities Appellant v Vaughan and Others Respondents [1988] 2 WLR 689
4 unties
Hammersmith & Fulham LBC v Monk [1992] 1 AC 478
In property law, a transfer of land to two or more persons jointly operates so as to make them, vis-à-vis the outside world, one single owner.
Possession:
all co-owners must be equally entitled to possession of every part of the co-owned land.
Interest:
all co-owners’ interests must be the same in nature, extent and duration.e.g. if legal - all freehold or all leasehold (LPA 1925, s 1(1))
Title:
all co-owners must have acquired their title by the same means
all by transfer or grant; or all by way of adverse possession
Time
the interests of all co-owners should vest at the same time.
Burton v Camden LBC [2000] 2 AC 399
Lord Millett:[E]ach joint tenant is … the owner of the whole
Each] tenant in common … has a separate and distinct interest of his own.
Tenancy in common
LPA 1925, s 34(2)
Tenants in common retain (undivided) shares of entitlement
Only unity of possession is required
No right of survivorship between tenants in common
Joint tenancy:
LPA 1925, s 36(1)
Legal title and equitable title can be held by way of joint tenancy. Maximum of four joint tenants of the legal title - LPA 1925, s 34(2)
Law Commission, Land Registration for the Twenty-First Century: A Conveyancing Revolution (Law Com No 271, 2001):
We consider that … the remaining unregistered land should be phased out as quickly as possible and that all land in England and Wales should be registered. (para 2.9)
Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925
s 1(1) The only estates in land which are capable of subsisting or of being conveyed or created at
law are -
(a) An estate in fee simple absolute in possession
(freehold)
(b) A term of years absolute (leasehold)