Land Law Report: Analysis of Property Rights in Mephistopheles House

This report analyzes a land law case involving six solicitors who jointly purchased Mephistopheles House. It examines the effects of various events, including Johanna's relocation, Margarete's email, Gretchen's death, and George's insolvency, on the legal estate and equitable interests of the property. The report discusses the application of the Law of Property Act 1925, focusing on joint tenancy and the rights and obligations of the tenants. It addresses the actions of Valentin to exclude Johann and Margarete and prevent the sale of the house, providing legal remedies and conclusions regarding the property rights and potential disputes among the tenants. The report concludes that the joint tenancy created equitable interests for all six solicitors, and the actions of individual tenants do not automatically break the joint tenancy agreement. The report also highlights that Johann and Margarete have the right to reside in the house, and a partition lawsuit can be filed to resolve the property sale dispute.

LAND LAW

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1 ..................................................................................................................................1
Effects of different events on the legal estate and equitable interest in Mephistopheles House.1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................3
Exclusion Johann and Margarete from the house by Valentine and action to prevent sale of the
house...........................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The land law defines the legal status of the property owners by a person or a group of
persons. Under this comes the laws and rules related with defined the rights over the property as
well the right to have possession to leave a particular property. In the present report a detailed
discussion related with events occurred after purchase of a overtype by 6 persons under a single
contract is carried out. With this right of the person to live in the houses and action to be taken
by them is also presented.
QUESTION 1
Effects of different events on the legal estate and equitable interest in Mephistopheles House
 Purchase of the Mephistopheles House in 2012 by six solicitors, Johann, George,
Faust, Gretchen, Margarete and Valentin.
Shares in the payments:
Name Percentage contribution
Johann 25.00%
George 25.00%
Faust 25.00%
Gretchen ( money comes from her mother
Mary and she is promised that Mary can live in
the house if she wishes)
15.00%
Margarete 5.00%
Valentin 5.00%
Law of property Act, 1925
Joint tenancy: A joint tenancy exists when each person owns the whole property this
means joint tenants acts as a single owner (Thompson, 2015). Every tenant have equal right over
the whole property. No tenant owns a separate share in the property and no one can give away
the share of the property. The joint tenancy creates an equitable interest in the property and is
own in such a way as it is under a legal title. For joint tenancy there are 4 unities that must be
present fro establishments of joint tenancy
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1. Unity of possession- each of the party is entitles to occupy the whole of the and property
and no one can exclude the other from any part of the property.
2. Unity of interest: Each party must hold same level of interest in the property.
3. Unity of title: All the parties must acquire their interest in the property through the same
transaction.
4. Unity of time: the interests must be acquired at the same time.
In the present case all the 6 solicitors agree to have joint tenancy over the
Mephistopheles House, they agree to have whole entitlements over the property for all, it is
entered at the same time by all 6 of them at the same time and they hold same interest in the
property (Whitman and et.al., 2019). This possession of the houses under the beneficial joint
tenant creates equitable interest in the Mephistopheles House for all the six tenants Johann,
George, Faust, Gretchen, Margarete and Valentin.
 2016: Johanna moving abroad for further studies and sends letter to sale the house:
Under joint tenant wants to sell the property, all the tenants must agree to the same. Ion
the joint tenancy a tenet can not sell the ownership interests of the other owners holding
title in the property (Joint property ownership, 2018). The joint tenancy must agree
mutually to sell to the property and they must equally divide the process of the sale. In
case of dispute over the agreements of sale of the house court sometimes intervenes to
divide the property equally among the partners. If one joint tenant decides to convey her
or his interest in the property to a new owner, the joint tenancy is broken and the new
owner has a tenancy in common.
For this case it can be stated the letter from Johanna do not have any legal standing he
mere shared his view to the other joint tenants over selling the house and to receive his share in
the sales proceeds. Here it can be states the intention was not shared to another owner dos the
tenancy is not broken yet, the sale cannot proceeded with until all the tenant mutually agree to
sell the property.
 Email by Margarete to sell the share of house: the E-mail sent by margarete was
intended to be received to other tenants only but she sent them to whole members of
Hades Plc where she works. But this does not include any potential owner of the property
so here also the tenancy is not broken and converter to ownership in common. Here also
to sale the house all tenants must agree to sale the huose.
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 2017: Death of Gretchen: In case death of a person in the joint tenancy the property is
passed on to the other survivors and the deceased can not leave their part of the property
to someone else in their will. In case of joint tenancy. Supervisor ship operates which
means that for instance where a joint tenant dies the remaining tenant gets the benefits
from the deceased partners and they have entitlement of the whole property. A joint
tenant can not pass his/her interest to another in their will.
For this case it can be stated that as per the right of supervisory in the joint tenancy the
will of Gretchen does not create as legal biding effect. This means that upon her death interest in
Mephistopheles House will be transferred to all the tenant in equitable manner. Hence, it can be
stated that over the interest of Gretchen, George can not have full rights rather all the remaining
partner enjoys equal entitlement over the Mephistopheles House.
 2017 insolvency of George: as per the provision of the Law of property Act, 1925 it can
be states that in case of dispute over the disposition of the property held under joint
tenancy and for instance where a joint partners becomes mentally incapable to enters into
any agreements, the court can be refereed to make a decision (Peredo, Haugh and
McLean, 2017). In this Gorge have become insolvents that does not means that he have
lost his interests in the Mephistopheles House. All the tenets have equitable rights in the
property.
 Intention of Johann to live in the house: Johanna wants to reside in the Mephistopheles
House after he comes to UK in 2019. He has every right to live in the houses as per the
provision of the Law of property act, 1925, Moreover the intention to sale the
Mephistopheles House by Valentin, need approval form all the living and mentally
capable tenants that is all 5 other than the deseeded one Gretchen (co-ownership. 2018).
Also, Margarete have equal right to possess and occupy the Mephistopheles House and
she can refuse to move from the property unlit the joint tenancy agreement is broken or
the house is sold.
QUESTION 2
Exclusion Johann and Margarete from the house by Valentine and action to prevent sale of the
house
Action of Valentin to exclude Margarete and Johanna to live in the house: as per the clauses
of the Land of property Act,1925 under the joint tenancy each tenant have an equitably right to
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possess, occupy and live in the property and no pother tent can exclude other from doing so
(Pawlowski, 2016)Joint tenants are given equal shares of the property with the same deed at the
same time. The terms of either a joint tenancy are spelled out in the deed, title and is legally
binding property ownership documents. As per this clause Valentin do not have any right to
exclude Johann and Margarete fop living in the Mephistopheles House as this is there legal right
to stay and reside in you can pass on your share of the property in your will that houses, as this
right is given to them through the equitable interest clause of the joint tenancy.
Furthermore, to stop the sale of the Mephistopheles House have a remedy to go to the
court over the dispute on the sale of the property. In cases where property is owned under joint
tenancy and there is a disagreement over its sale a partition law suit can be filed in the court.
Here, the court can pass an order to part the property or even sell of the whole house and
distribute the sales proceed among the joint tenants equally (McMahon, 2018). So first Johanna
needs to stop valentine to fie a partition petition in the court and convinced him not to sale the
house. This is way through which the sale of Mephistopheles House can be stopped.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that the Mephistopheles House was purchased
by six of the solicitors under the joint tenancy of the land law of UK. This gave rise to the factor
of equitable interest in the property for all the 6 tenants. Moreover, the letter sent by Johanna and
E-main sent by Margarete do not have any legal standing as a joint house can be sold after all the
partners agree to the same. Furthermore, the will of Gretchen is also not valid because as per the
land law in case of joint tenancy when a partner dies her interest is passed on to all other tenants.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
McMahon, M., 2018. The law of the land: property rights and town planning in modern Britain.
In Land Rent, Housing and Urban Planning (pp. 87-106). Routledge.
Pawlowski, M., 2016. Joint owners, severance and the family home. Family Law.46. pp.1238-
1241.
Peredo, A. M., Haugh, H. M. and McLean, M., 2017. Common property: Uncommon forms of
prosocial organizing. J. Bus. Ventur.
Thompson, M., 2015. Between boundaries: From commoning and guerrilla gardening to
community land trust development in Liverpool. Antipode. 47(4). pp.1021-1042.
Whitman, D. A and et.al., 2019. Law of Property. West Academic Publishing.
Online
Joint property ownership. 2018. [Online]. Available through :<https://www.gov.uk/joint-
property-ownership>.
Co-ownership. 2018. [Online]. Available through :<http://e-lawresources.co.uk/Land/Co-
ownership.php>.
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