Law and Surveying Professional Practice (PE7018) Report and Analysis

This report examines a case study involving Northumbria Developments Limited (NDL) and Hewitson Haulers Limited (HHL), focusing on legal issues within surveying professional practice. The scenario involves NDL acquiring land and subsequently facing a claim from HHL regarding a prescriptive easement for a shortcut across the property. The report analyzes the legal implications of the situation, considering factors such as the duration of HHL's use, the absence of force, secrecy, or permission, and the presence of any express easement. Furthermore, the report delves into contract law principles, particularly concerning land sales and potential breaches. It addresses the importance of written agreements in land transactions, as per the Law of Property Act 1989, and the consequences of non-disclosure or misrepresentation regarding land contamination. The report explores the potential liabilities of NDL, depending on their knowledge of the land's prior use and the circumstances surrounding the sale. The analysis includes references to relevant legal precedents and scholarly articles, providing a comprehensive understanding of the legal issues involved and potential courses of action for the parties concerned.

Running head: LAW AND SURVEYING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
LAW AND SURVEYING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Name of student
Name of university
Author’s note:

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LAW AND SURVEYING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Flowchart 1

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LAW AND SURVEYING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

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LAW AND SURVEYING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
Flowchart 2

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Discussion
From the flowchart, it could be observed that the situation presented in problem 3
could be considered through two viewpoints. The first viewpoint is that NDL was genuinely
misled by the authorities who sold the land and they are liable for the damages made to the
soil. The second viewpoint is that the NDL deliberately misled the company and sold the land
when they knew that there is a chance of soil contamination. It was learnt that major portion
of land within the phase three was earlier used for the railway works and that it possess the
significantly high chance of contamination. It could be considered that the basic rule within
English Law is that an agreement of buying or selling land should be created in proper
writing, integrating all the main relations depending on which agreement is accepted by both
the parties. It denotes that a verbal agreement of buying as well as the selling land could not
lawfully enforceable.
The section 2 of Law of Property Act 1989 has stated that “Contract for sale of any
interest in the land could solely be done in proper writing and solely by the integration of all
the terms that all engaged parties have agreed within one document or where exchanging of
the contracts have been done” (Delville, 2020). Any purchaser might shield their respective
concern within any land by the proper registration of their interest (McAuslan, 2019). For
instance, if land has been unregistered, then any buyer could safeguard their concern by the
registration of Class C Land Charge against the property. Where contract conforms with the
section 2, but the agreement do no proceed for proceed for completion due to any one party
or has been threatening for withdrawing, innocent groups might charge for the costs for the
breach of contract, then petition for the order of particular performance of any contract or
apply for the injunction for restraining the vulnerable breach of contract or even withdraw the
contract. In case of any registered land, where there is any kind of scheduled date of
completion, buyer could have the warning input on the official register at the Land Registry

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for protecting the interest (Boone et al., 2019). In the situation of breach of contract in the
situation of NDL, the client of the company could sue the company if NDL knew about the
previous use of the land and the company would not be sued if the vendor did not tell the
company about the previous use of the field (Bray, 2019). If the company is found to be
guilty as the land was sold deliberately after knowing the use of the land for railway tracks,
the company would have to pay for the damages that are caused and provide compensation in
some form.

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References
Boone, C., Dyzenhaus, A., Manji, A., Gateri, C. W., Ouma, S., Owino, J. K., ... & Klopp, J.
M. (2019). Land law reform in Kenya: Devolution, veto players, and the limits of an
institutional fix. African affairs, 118(471), 215-237.
Bray, J. (2019). Unlocking land law. Routledge.
Delville, P. L. (2020). Analyzing the Benin Land Law: An alternative viewpoint of
progress. Land Use Policy, 94, 104521.
McAuslan, P. (2019). Bringing the law back in: Essays in land, law and development.
Routledge.