Land Law: Adverse Possession, Lease, Trust of Land, Forfeiture Clause, Land Registration, Commonhold

This article covers various topics related to Land Law such as Adverse Possession, Lease, Trust of Land, Forfeiture Clause, Land Registration, and Commonhold. It discusses recent developments in Adverse Possession, the difference between Lease and License Agreement, Unregistered Land, Trust of Land, and the circumstances in which Forfeiture Clause can be activated.

LAND LAW

Table of Contents
Assessment 1..............................................................................................................................4
Case Study 1...............................................................................................................................4
Question 1..............................................................................................................................4
Question 2..............................................................................................................................4
Question 3..............................................................................................................................5
Question 4..............................................................................................................................6
Case Study 2...............................................................................................................................6
Question 5..............................................................................................................................6
Question 6..............................................................................................................................6
Assessment 2..............................................................................................................................8
Case Study 1...............................................................................................................................8
Question 7..............................................................................................................................8
Question 8..............................................................................................................................9
Question 9..............................................................................................................................9
Question 10..........................................................................................................................10
Case Study 2.............................................................................................................................10
Question 11..........................................................................................................................10
Question 12..........................................................................................................................11
Question 13..........................................................................................................................12
Assessment 3............................................................................................................................12
Case Study 1.............................................................................................................................12
Question 14..........................................................................................................................12
Question 15..........................................................................................................................13
Case study 2.............................................................................................................................13
Question 16..........................................................................................................................13

Question 17..........................................................................................................................14
Case Study 3.............................................................................................................................14
Question 18..........................................................................................................................14
Question 19..........................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................17

Assessment 1
Case Study 1
Question 1
Adverse possession refers to a means through which an unlawful tenant gets title to land
(Ellickson2018). Further, in case a person is able to attain adverse possession than it results in
wrongful taking and initial trespass into a right as discussed in Best v Chief Land Registrar
(2014)1
The recent developments in the adverse possession area are discussed below:
 A single adverse possessor required to make reasonable use of property in order to
accomplish the qualification of ‘continuous’ variant of adverse possession.
 The adverse possessor requires to be in actual possession of the land.
 Open and notorious requirement represent that trespasser is required to act in
alignment with ownership
Question 2
Lease
The lease can be defined as a formal agreement among the landlord and the occupier of the
property that is the tenant in which vendor agrees to vend, and purchaser agrees to procure
the property on terms and provisions that incorporate the granting and taking of a lease in a
decoded form.
License agreement
License agreement refers to a contractual agreement among a licensor and licenses commonly
utilized when a license uses only a particular part of the premise or has temporary access to
licensor’s property2.
1 EWHC 1370 (admin); (2014) 3 All ER 637,
2 S. King, Beginning Land Law. Routledge, 2015

It can be assessed that the term of the contract between four friends and brain leads to
constitute a license.
Question 3
(i)
Unregistered land refers to the name specified to land that has not still registered under Land
Regulation Act 1925 and to which law that predates land registration must hence be provided.
In addition to this, since registered land does not materialize on the centralized land register,
ownership of an unregistered land has to be certified by other methods. On the other hand,
the land registered under the Land Regulations Act 1925 is registered land.
(ii)
Definition of land
Land refers to real property, which is very common terms means property which is fixed and
steady, as distinct from the personal property which again in common terms implies asset
which is fixed and can be shifted. It is an inimitable resource. Further, in common law, the
term land is utilized to signify the relation with a particular parcel that is surface of the earth,
the soil under the surface to the center of earth and column of air over the surface.
Question 4
(i)
Trust of land could be express, understood, ensuring or constructive. The express trust of land
has been specified in section 53(1) of Law of Property Act 1925 which provides that no
interest in land can be developed or disposed of unless the person conveying the same have
signed it, and section 53(2) provides same for disposition of trust.3
(ii)
Trust of Land and Appointment of Trustee Act 1996 will make sure that Jacob’s needs could
be accumulated with respecting the trust for Charlotte and India.
3 A. Hudson, A., Understanding equity & trusts. Routledge, 2016

Case Study 2
Question 5
No specified definition relating to what constitutes a fixture or a fitting is provided. However,
any item which is bolted to floor or wall is a fixture, and any item which is free standing or
hung by a nail or hook is deemed to be fitting. In the present case, Felicity will be able to take
away large wall tapestries, carpet and dresser if they are easily unfixed. All other items will
be passed to the new owner when the property is sold. Further, the House of Lords in
Elitestone Ltd v Morris (1997)4 concluded the two test for ascertaining the difference
between fitting and furniture, i.e. the first test is a physical degree of attachment, and another
test is the purpose of annexation test. Thus, it is concluded that fixture is a part of land and
fittings are not. Even it was concluded in case of D’Eyncourt v Gregory (1866)5 that
tapestries fixed to the wall should be deemed to part of fittings.
Question 6
(a)
When two or more than two individuals own a home, either as joint tenants or occupancy in
common every individual owns an interest of the whole property. The same implies that
particular areas of the house are not possessed by any one person, but instead are shared as a
whole.
The difference in Tenancy in Common and Joint Tenancy
The assumption of equity is considered as joint tenancy since equity pursues the law6. Thus,
if the type of co-ownership of the beneficial estate is not defined then it will be assumed as
joint tenancy. On the other hand, if in the conveyance the words taken in use include any
proposal of shares then it will be considered as a tenancy in common. `
(b)
Express words of severance clearly point to equitable occupancy in common for example any
language in a deed of transfer or conveyance implying that the parties were intended to take
different and identifiable shares in the property. In the present case, it will take place when
4 2 All ER 513; (1997) 1 WLR 687
5 LR 3 Eq 398
6 J.C. Fisher, Alastair Hudson, Equity and Trusts. The Law Teacher, 51(1), 2017 pp.104-105.

Suita left all her property for Josef. In the situation of severance, they own the proportion in
which they paid the purchase price of property, i.e. 40:30:15:15.
(c)
Forced selling or forced liquidation usually involved the automatically sale of assets or
securities in order to create lucidity in the event of an irrepressible or unexpected condition7.
Though a landlord in occupancy in common or a joint occupancy could not vend the
ownership interests of the other landlords holding title in the property. The landlord could not
force other owners in the property to vend it completely without first filling a partition court
case. Hence cotenant, i.e. Felicity, Vicki, and Keye could file an appeal in the court to
prevent this.
Assessment 2
Case Study 1
Question 7
(i)
In the Title deed, he will be able to discover the registered legal right which he wants to
Pebble Beach.
(ii)
On the death of his father, if the property is vended, the earnings form that will be shared in
the percentages fixed by owners, involving the estate of the deceased party. On the other
hand, if the property is not vented, the deceased’s estate will continue as the deceased’s share
in the property8. If any occupier of land in common were to die, their share in the estate
would form a part of their property; it will not pass involuntarily to their co-owners9. Hence,
7 S. Crossan, Introductory Scots Law Third Edition: Theory and Practice, UK, Hachette,
2017.
8 J. Dratler Jr, Licensing of intellectual property. Law Journal Press, 2018.
9 T.F. Cuff,. Distribution of Tenancy in Common Interests. Prac. Real Est. Law., 31, 2015.
p.27.

if it is decided to hold as tenants in common, the will is required or re-examining of existing
will should be done.
(iii)
Overreaching is provided under the edict of section 2 and 27 (2) of Law of Property Act
1925. The proposal is the interest of beneficiaries under a trust will be overextended upon the
sale of land to two or more trustees, trust company. The case of Williams & Glyn’s Bank
Ltd v Boland (1981 AC)10 involves the registered land and mortgage was a second mortgage
that husband, Mr. Boland, performed as an accusation on the matrimonial home11. The land
was registered on his name. It could be concluded that Mr. Boland holds land upon trust for
himself and his spouse who both thus had a beneficial interest in land.
(iv)
Unregistered interest refers to those interests which are not secured on land-register under the
Land Registration Act 2002 but which nevertheless bind any individual who obtains an
interest in registered land, either on first identification or where there has been a registrable
outlook of a registered estate that has been done by registration. It will affect only in case the
land is unregistered.
Question 8
The capability to forfeit allows a landlord to re-penetrate their property following contravene
by the tenant, by doing so terminate the lease. In context with the right to re-enter (forfeit), it
permits the owner to bring an action relating to possession of land relating to which the right
operates.
Circumstances in which forfeit clause can be activated
To be capable of forfeiting a lease, owner firstly required to introduce the basis of their right
to do so. Most general way to do the same is to depend on a particular clause in the lease
which provides to the owner the power to forfeit in certain conditions.
10 487
11 D. Cowan, H.Carr and A. Wallace., The Lease. In Ownership, Narrative, Things, London,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2018 pp. 73-97.

It should be considered that in certain circumstances, an owner could use a right to forfeit in
the nonexistence of a particular clause in the lease. In case a tenant has contravened a
condition of the lease then the right will takes place involuntarily. At the same time, power
must be utilized with carefulness, following legal suggestion, to establish whether the tenants
contravene does really go to the cause of agreement.
Question 9
(i)
The lease has to be created through deed. Though some leases could be formed under section
54(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 to devoid the written requirement. For a lease to be
covered by cited section, it should comprise following aspects:
 Be for a term which is not more than three years.
 Take effect in possession. Revisionary leases where the term begins later than the date
the lease is finished are exempted from this section12.
 Reserve the best rent reasonably obtainable without taking a fine. The same implies
that the market rent for the premises.
(ii)
Title Deed
(iii)
£ 250 annually.
Question 10
Commonhold could be defined as a type of freehold ownership of land merging ownership of
a unit in a building with the partisanship of a commonhold organization. Further, it was
established on 27 September 2004.
12 M. Bridge, Personal property law. OUP Oxford, 2015

Case Study 2
Question 11
Land registration is administrated by the Land Registration Act 2000, which surpassed the
Land Registration Act 1925. Further, the 2002 Act has created very few modifications to the
original terms. The main aim of the Act was to pave the manner for electronic conveyance13.
Principles of land registration are given below:
 The seller requires to create only one document that is a copy of register related to
title appertaining to the property being sold14.
 To eradicate the complexities caused by the loss or theft of title deeds, there being
always an essential record of the property to refer back to.
 To ensure that the state of ownership of any given property is as it emerges on the
Land Register.
Registered land provides many advantages to the owner out of which some are discussed
here:
 Ownership and matters influencing the title are more apparent and positive.
 Generally convincing registered land is faster and uncomplicated.
 Nowadays, buyers anticipate the land to be registered prior to proceeding with a
transaction.
 It is easy to create deeds or to destroy it15.
 Yes, it will influence the unregistered title since the loan is passed only if the title is
registered.
13 B. Bogusz, and R. Sexton., Complete Land Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, USA, Oxford
University Press, 2015.
14 T.M Li, What is land? Assembling a resource for global investment. Transactions of the
Institute of British Geographers, 39(4), 2014, pp.589-602.
15 M.A. Lemley, Faith-based intellectual property, 2015

Question 12
The situation of Adam is relating to encroachment which refers to an intrusion of a structure
onto another person’s land. The provision relating to same has been specified in
Encroachment Act 1944, and it specifies that in case the owner of the property assess that his
property has been encroaching that he can apply to Land and Valuation court for:
 Payment relating to compensation of adjoining neighbor
 Eradication of encroachment.
 Land to be transferred or leased to the neighbor
Thus Gerald can take above specified steps.
Question 13
The extent of the property he owns can be found in Title Deed16. Gerald has mooring rights,
i.e. to moor his cabin cruisers on another people land. The neighbors are having right on his
land to apply the same to access the canal. The tenure for the use of right relating to land is
restrictive as well as profit a prendre and usufruct rights are also considered as Restrictive
Covenants.
Assessment 3
Case Study 1
Question 14
(a)
A legal mortgage can be created over the property through a document contains a charge by
deed expressed to be by way of legal mortgage in spite of the transfer of the legal title to the
mortgagee17. It will be presented in the Mortgage Deed that mortgage is in favor of National
16 J.A. MacKenzie and M. Phillips, Textbook on land law. USA, Oxford University Press,
2014
17 R.P.Malloy, Private property, community development, and eminent domain. Routledge,
2016

Building Society on the security of ‘’where this will show on the registered title to the
property.
(b)
In this study, mortgagor Charlie and Nikola can be protected by consumer protection. It is
essential that terms of the contract must be presented in a simple and clear language. In case
of any doubt interpretation which is most favorable to the consumer will prevail.
(c)
In case of borrower gets into arrear then the mortgagor has right to sell the property only after
fulfillment of some conditions such as notice for repayment, arrear of interest for more than
two months or the non-compliance of the terms of the deed18. Further, it is also possible to
extend the term of mortgage except prohibited in the term of the deed. The most appropriate
remedy in the case of a residential property is to sell the asset which is available as security to
recover the arrears.
Question 15
The mortgage is referred to as a legal agreement between the people, in which one person
lends the money by securing the charges on the other person’s property19. In the present
study, Dennis wants to borrow the money from the Malcolm. For this, they created mortgage
deed and through this deep Malcolm acquired the right on the property of the Dennis. Dennis
put a signature on the deed. Therefore this leads to the creation of the legal mortgage.
Therefore all the legal remedies available to the Malcolm in case of any default by the
Dannie.
Case study 2
Question 16
In case law of Tulk v Moxhay [1848], it was concluded that specific terms which have been
agreed while making purchase or sale deed relating to property are to comply on a
18 M. McMahon, The law of the land: property rights and town planning in modern Britain.
In Land Rent, Housing and Urban Planning Routledge, 2018, pp. 87-106.
19 J.V.Orth, Reappraisals in the Law of Property. Routledge, 2016

compulsory basis. Thus, it has been clarified through the decision of this case law that
equitable rights relating to land are implied, and proprietary rights comprise right of entry,
restrictive covenant, etc20. Moreover, it has been specified that legal right arises only in case
of compliance with the requirement of equitable right, but the equitable right can be
developed through informal transactions.
Question 17
The right available in each situation in accordance with the decision of case law Tulk v
Moxhav [1848] has been specified below:
(a)
In the case of Donald and Philip, Donald sold the number 1 property to Philip. Therefore the
Donald has no right to use the number 1 property. Since Philip access way from his house to
the main house, it was the legal right of Philip. Donald cannot deny using access to number 1
house to the main road. But he is having equitable right to park the car.
(b)
As there is no written agreement, George is having legal right to ask Sally to vacate the
parking space. It can be assessed that George just provided favor to Sally as he was not
using that space but now as he required the same he can ask Sally to be vacant the area.
(c)
In the case of Patrick and Carrie, the Patrick acquired the legal right by the deed from the
former owner of the property. Patrick after buying the property carried out his own route as it
was straightforward. Since it was created by the Patrick on his own property and also has the
legal deed. Therefore Carrie can continue the right in accordance with case law Tulk v
Moxhav [1848].
Case Study 3
Question 18
(a)
20 J. Penner, The law of trusts. Oxford University Press2016

Section 7.2 of Property Act 1925 specifies that a covenant is a promise made by deed. Thus
the original covenanter is enforced to act as per agreement and promise have the right to force
him to follow the same21. Thus as per the terms of the covenant, they were not allowed to
park a caravan, but Paul and Julie did the same and disagreed to remove it. Thus, they both
will be wholly responsible for the burden as they haven’t complied with the terms provided in
the covenant.
If an owner does not succeed in satisfying the requirements of section 126, it makes the
agreement unenforceable; it does not render an agreement invalid22. Further, as a result, it is
possible for property in land to surpass if the parties decide to continue with the agreement.
Even if litigation occurs from an agreement that has failed to exercise with essential
formalities, parties could decide not to depend upon a defense of unenforceability.
Restrictive covenants refer to rules securing certain things from being done on the land, for
example, keeping animals or utilizing the property for business point of view23. In the present
case, it will be a restrictive covenant as the restriction was imposed in order to attain the
benefit of adjoining property. In the present case, the restrictive covenant exists as the
substance of the covenant is negative. It can be understood by taking the base of the decision
of case law of Tuld v Moxhay [1848] that buyer is enforced to comply the restrictive
covenant relating with land and obliged to act in accordance with the covenant. Another case
in which rule was confirmed that covenant required to be negative is Haywood v Brunswick
Permanent Building Society (1880) 8 QBD 40324.
(b)
21 T. Ranganathan and G. Pandey, Tenancy and fallow land. World Development
Perspectives, 7, 2017, pp.28-31.
22 C. Rembar, The law of the land: The evolution of our legal system. Open Road Media, 2015
23 A. Schwabach, Fan fiction and copyright: outsider works and intellectual property
protection. Routledge, 2016.
24 A.Televantos and L. Maniscalco, Proprietary Estoppel and Vendor Purchaser Constructive
Trusts. The Cambridge Law Journal, 74(1), 2015, pp.27-30.

Common Law has always assessed that the benefit of an agreement is transferred to the
successors25. The same was concluded in The Prior’s Case [1368], in which it was held by the
court that benefit is passed on to successors along with the title of land and same could
enforce the covenant. In other words, it can be said that the benefit runs with the land. Thus
in present situation benefit would be passed in the same manner to the Susan and Alex.
(c)
Alex and Susan can enforce the covenant through mutual benefit and burdens in accordance
with the decision of the case law of Halsall v Brixell [1957] as through this they could force
to enact in accordance with section 153 of Law of Property Act 1925.
Question 19
(a) In this study, the client named as Raymond buy the property for the commercial use.
The title on the property is not registered. For the convent by the law, it is essential
that the document must be in written form and must be signed by the person to whom
any action can be taken. For this case of Tulk v Moxhay [1848] can be referred.
(b) It is recommended to Raymond to get the property registered prior to purchasing as
well as assess appropriately whether the same can be applied for trade and business
or not.
25 Walsh, R. and Fox O’Mahony, L., Land law, property ideologies and the British–Irish
relationship. Common Law World Review, 47(1), pp.7-34, 2018.

REFERENCES
Bogusz, B. and Sexton, R., Complete Land Law: Text, Cases, and Materials, USA, Oxford
University Press, 2015.
Bridge, M., Personal property law. OUP Oxford, 2015
Cowan, D., Carr, H., and Wallace, A., The Lease. In Ownership, Narrative, Things, London,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Cuff, T.F., Distribution of Tenancy in Common Interests. Prac. Real Est. Law., 31, 2015.
Dratler Jr, J., Licensing of intellectual property. Law Journal Press, 2018.
Crossan, S., Introductory Scots Law Third Edition: Theory and Practice, UK, Hachette,
2017.
Fisher, J.C., Alastair Hudson, Equity and Trusts. The Law Teacher, 51(1), 2017.
Hudson, A., Understanding equity & trusts. Routledge, 2016
King, S., Beginning Land Law. Routledge, 2015.
Lemley, M.A., Faith-based intellectual property, 2015
Li, T.M., What is land? Assembling a resource for global investment. Transactions of the
Institute of British Geographers, 39(4), 2014.
MacKenzie, J.A. and Phillips, M., Textbook on land law. USA,Oxford University Press,
2014.
Malloy, R.P., Private property, community development, and eminent domain. Routledge,
2016
McMahon, M., The law of the land: property rights and town planning in modern Britain.
In Land Rent, Housing and Urban Planning, Routledge, 2018
Orth, J.V., Reappraisals in the Law of Property. Routledge, 2016
Penner, J., The law of trusts. Oxford University Press, 2016
Ranganathan, T. and Pandey, G.,Tenancy and fallow land. World Development
Perspectives, 7, 2017.
Rembar, C., The law of the land: The evolution of our legal system. Open Road Media, 2015.
Schwabach, A., Fan fiction and copyright: outsider works and intellectual property
protection. Routledge, 2016.
Televantos, A. and Maniscalco, L., Proprietary Estoppel and Vendor Purchaser Constructive
Trusts. The Cambridge Law Journal, 74(1), 2015
Walsh, R. and Fox O’Mahony, L., Land law, property ideologies and the British–Irish
relationship. Common Law World Review, 47(1), pp.7-34, 2018.