Property Law & Practice Flashcards
Who gets together the title documents to the property and what should these include?
The sellers solicitor will get together the title documents and send them to the buyers solicitor.
The title documents should include Land Registry official copies of the register, Land Registry title plan and copies of any documents referred to
What is shown on the Proprietorship Register?
Class of Title ( Title absolute, qualified, possessory, leasehold)
If title is anything other than absolute, buyers solicitor report it to the client
What is shown on the Property Register?
- Property description
- Rights BENEFITTING the property
If it is shown that a property has the benefit of a right of way, what four things must be considered?
- Registration of the Burden
- Adequacy (does the wording cover everything it needs to)
- Maintenance (even if not mentioned, it will need to be paid)
- Adoption
What is the wording usually used for a tenant in common restriction on the proprietorship register?
No disposition by a sole proprietor
Which register will a mortgage be found on?
Charges Register
Which register will covenants be found on?
Charges Register
What is the date after which a property if unregistered, must be registered?
1st December 1990
Where is title deduced in an unregistered land transaction?
Root of title
Requirements
- Adequately describe the extent of the land being conveyed
- Must Be dated more than 15 years ago
- Does not Cast doubt on the sellers title
- Deals with both legal and beneficial title to the property
Which standard searches are always necessary in pre-contract searches?
Registered:
Local Search
Chancel Repair
Drainage
Desktop Environmental
Unregistered:
Search of Index Map
central Land Charges
When is a SIM (search index map) necessary?
It will inform you whether the neighbouring land is registered or not.
This is relevant and necessary when figuring whether an easement is binding.
If the neighbouring land is unregistered then the easement will continue to bind the neighbouring land whilst it remains unregistered. If the neighbouring land is registered, however, the easement needs to have been registered on the charges register of the neighbouring land’s title in order for it to bind its current owners.
For what kind of covenant breach can you apply to the Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber?
Restrictive covenant
What remedy should a buyer seek if there will be a future breach of a covenant?
first remedy is restrictive covenant indemnity insurance which the buyer should pay the cost of
What are the formalities for the creation of a lease?
Legal lease must be created by deed if the term is over 3 years
A tenancy of 3 years or under may be created in writing or even orally
Is there an implied right for a landlord to increase the rent?
No, though an FRI lease of ten years or more will probably include rent review clause
What is the most common type of rent review?
Open market rent review
What should happen if the landlord and tenant disagree on the rent review?
An independent valuer will determine the new rent by consdiering the rent comparable to other premises nearby and the terms of a hypothetical lease.
When deciding whether the rent should be changed, what assumptions does the independent valuer make?
- The tenant has complied with all their obligations
- Landlord has complied with all their covenants under the lease
- if damaged or destroyed parts of the building have been rebuilt
When deciding whether the rent should be changed, what disregards does the independent valuer make?
- Effect of the tenants occupation on the rent
- Goodwill attached to the tenants business
- Tenants improvements
Who will be responsible for the repair of the premises (landlord or tenant)?
Commercial tenant will almost always be responsible for the repair of their demise.
Though Landlord will be responsible for repairing the common parts and charging a service charge to the tenants
Who is responsible for insuring the premises in a lease?
The landlord is almost always be responsible for the insurance of the building.
Insured risks: risks covered by the insurance policy taken out by the landlord and will be excluded from the tenants repariing obligations
Which covenants in the lease if qualified are automatically converted into a fully qualified covenant?
Alterations (provided they are from improvements)
Alienation
- Change of use is not converted
What can the tenant do if the lease is silent on alterations?
The tenant is free to carry out alterations so long as they do not reduce the value of the premises
Who prepares the draft lease?
The landlords solicitor
Who is required to deduce title of freehold in a lease agreement?
The Landlord solicitor
Who must investigate title and conduct pre-contract searches and queries in a lease transaction?
the tenant solicitor
What pre-contract and pre-completion searches should the tenants solicitor carry out in a leasehold transaction?
Pre-contract: CPSE 1 and CPSE 3
Pre- completion: OS1 (lease of whole), OS2 (lease of part) or OS3 (if lease is not registrable)
When is an agreement for a lease required?
usually not required but if parties want to commit to the lease but are not ready to yet or conditions have not yet been fulfilled, then they should draw up an agreement for lease
Who arranges the SDLT return after completion of a leasehold?
The tenants solicitor, they should register the lease if necessary
What was the tenants liability on covenants in leases before 1 January 1996?
Original tenant remained liable to the landlord for covenants under the concept of privity of contract.
The obligations would not pass on assignment to the new tenant therefore the new tenant had to covenant directly with the landlord to observe all the covenants
What is the tenants liability on covenants in leases granted after 1 January 1996?
When a new lease is assigned, the original tenant is released from liability and all of the tenants covenants are passed to the new tenant.
The original tenant can enter into an AGA with the landlord to guarantee the obligations of the new tenant
Who needs to deduce title in the assignment of a lease?
The tenant solicitor deduces title by providing official copies of the leasehold title, if not registered, then copies of the landlords title
Who should raise pre-contract searches and enquiries and which ones should be raised in an assignment of a lease?
The Assignees solicitor should raise the pre-contract searches and enquiries.
They should raise CPSE 1 and CPSE 4 enquiries
When must the tenant solicitor apply to the landlord for consent for assignment?
Should apply early on in the transaction for the landlords consent, the landlord should respond within 28 days of the request