Topic 5 - Practical Aspects of Property and Mortgage Law Flashcards
What is the Land Registration Act 2002 designed to encourage and facilitate?
Electronic registration and conveyacing
Property Register:
Land
Title number
Plan of the property (including beneficial easements)
Proprietorship Register:
Name and address of estate and owner
Nature of the title
Date of registration
Property restrictions on ownership
Charges Register:
Rights of any mortgagee
Non-owning spouse’s interests
Negative easements and restrictive covenants
Absolute title:
Where clear title is established. Most secure and desirable.
It may be either freehold with good title, or leasehold where the lease is for at least 21 years.
Good leasehold:
Applies in connection with leases of more than 7 years. Means the leasehold is good but that the freehold title is in doubt.
Possessory:
Granted where the applicant is unable to produce the title deeds or other proof of title when the property is first registered.
The deeds may have been destroyed.
There is no protection from a claim from another person asserting they owned the land before it was registered.
Qualified title:
Very rare. Occurs when there is some defect in the title, so absolute or good leasehold title cannot be guaranteed.
Transfers of registered land should be registered within how many days of completion?
30 days. Failure to do so could mean other interests being registered and taking higher priority.
Conveyancer:
Persons whose job it is to manage the process of transferring legal ownership of property.
An application for registration must take place within how many months of a transfer? Unregistered land
Two months. Failing to do so invalidates the legal transfer, which becomes void. The title reverts to the previous owner.
Easements:
A right that one property has over the land of another.
It must involve two properties: a dominant and servient tenement.
It is for the benefit of the land and not the owner.
They can be positive or negative.
Right of way is a positive easement
A good example of negative easement is ‘right of light’ forcing the developer of an adjacent property to build a certain minimum distance from the existing property.
Covenants:
Restrictions of conditions placed by a landowner on those who subsequently buy or lease the land.
A positive covenant states what a subsequent owner-occupier must do e.g. to maintain boundaries.
A restrictive covenant states what they must not do.
What is meant by ‘running with the land’?
Rights and obligations relating to a property that are passed onto all subsequent purchasers.
Easements and restrictive covenants run with the land.
Positive covenants do not run with the land so don’t automatically bind the new owner. Person who was first subject may still be bound by it and include it in the deeds
How can covenants be removed?
-Identifying the beneficiaries and reaching an agreement.
If the beneficiary cannot be traced:
- Applying to the Land Tribunal to have the covenant extinguished.
- Arranging an indemnity policy to cover them in the unlikely event of a future claim.
