Introduction
The ‘Estate’ as a form of landholding:
Various types of ‘estate’ came to exist:
The Fee Simple Absolute in Possession:
Freehold title e.g. houses, factories, industrial complexes
Extremely common form of land title
The Term of Years Absolute:
Leasehold title
Lease or tenancy OR sometimes known as ‘demise’
Having exclusive possession of the land until the lease expired
Very common nowadays
The Life Estate:
Give exclusive possession to someone for the duration of their entire life
An estate per autre vie:
For the life of another
Grant possession of land to A for the life of B
The Determinable Fee Simple:
Would end at a determining event
The Conditional Fee Simple:
On a certain condition
Such estate holders would be granted seisin (exclusive possession) of the land in question but
the length of time for which they could hold the land would depend on the nature of the estate
granted
Categorisation of ‘property’ in English Law:
In England and Wales property to the lawyer means:
Realty:
Land titles/estates
E.g. freehold title
Personalty:
Choses in action or things in action, such as copyright, right to a debt, trademarks,
shares, patents (for an invention)
Intangible property – personal property
Choses in possession i.e. things in possession
Chattels
Physical items of tangible property such as coins, bank notes, a ring, a car, an animal, a
table, a pet etc
Chattels-real (old fashioned term)
Nowadays called ‘leases’
Personal and property rights
1925 Legislation:
, Body of legislation in English Law which fundamentally simplified and reorganised English Land
Law and English Property Law generally
Several acts of parliament were passed, which formed the foundations of modern land law
Came into force in a very short period of time
LPA 1925 – the key statutory code which provides the basic framework for modern land law and
conveyancing
LPA simplified the number of legal titles which could exist in relation to everyday land
ownership
S1 declares that only 2 estates/titles can exist at law in relation to modern day land holding – the
freehold title and the leasehold title
- Law of Property Act 1925:
Gives the basis of modern property law
Foundation stone of land law
- The Administration of Estates Act 1925:
Where does property go if a will is not made?
- The Land Charges Act 1925
- The Land Registration Act 1925:
First introduced land registration on a compulsory basis
Getting on a register is the ultimate form of ownership
All land duties can be identified and recorded
LPA declares only the following 3 party interests can exist at law:
rd
Easements – right of way over neighbouring land
Mortgages
Rentcharges (largely redundant now)
Right of re-entry
Commonhold title:
A new form of land title was introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act (2002)
These titles have not proved popular however and are not really used in practice
Day to day sales i.e. conveyancing, concerns selling/transferring freehold titles (houses
generally) and granting or transferring leasehold titles (flats and commercial property generally)
Conclusion:
Theoretically, the crown remains the one true owner of all land in England and Wales
However, individuals, companies, and the state, can hold and essentially ‘own’ land, by having
freehold titles and leasehold titles
Landlord and Tenant Relationship:
, In the leasehold relationship, the landlord will generally be a freeholder who has divested
himself of exclusive possession of the lad and granted it to a leaseholder for a given contractual
period e.g. a 10 year lease
The leaseholder will typically pay either a lump sum rent (fine) for his title or pay regular
periodical rent payments
when the lease period expires, exclusive possession reverts to the landlord freeholder
and the leaseholder becomes a trespasser, unless Statue decrees otherwise
Estates and Property Rights:
Two legal estates: freehold and leasehold (all other forms of estate can only take effect in equity
behind a trust)
In relation to land, 3 parties (e.g. neighbours, other people, companies, banks) can have
rd
property rights, such as:
Mortgage (or charge) in favour of a bank or building society
Easement in favour of a neighbour
Option to purchase:
Conditional sale agreement = forces the person to sell the land they promised to
sell (if not, can sue)
Can register this property right
Private right to purchase with a notice
Very common in property development e.g. a property developer wants to buy
some land from a farmer, spends a lot on getting planning permission and other
things, then the farmer says no. option to purchase binds the farmer and can
enforce the option
Lease of all or part of the land
Benefit of a freehold covenant
Beneficial interest in equity under any form of trust
Conveyancing:
Term used to describe the legal processes involved in the buying, selling and the general
transfer/creation of interests in land
e.g. a purchaser wishing to buy a freehold title to a house, will buy the property from a seller
(vendor)
the written contract of sale and subsequent transfer of title (by deed) will be prepared for and on
behalf of the buyer and the seller by conveyancing solicitors
, Types of trusts:
Three types of trust: express or implied trusts:
1. Express trusts:
Where land is co-owned, it must be in signed writing
Goodman v Gallant
Must be manifested and proved = evidence
Express declaration of trust
Gives sale proceeds (when you sell the house) 🡪 they look at the original
document signed to see who it is
If you don’t have express trust, have to look at 2 types of implied trusts
2. Implied trusts:
Arising by operation of law
2 types:
Resulting trusts:
E.g. where A buys a house and B contributes 50% of the purchase price (Dyer v Dyer
1789)
B gets equitable % stake in house
You get back what you put in
Even though it is in A’s name and A is the legal owner, B contributed 50% of
the purchase price, so B will get this percentage when it is sold
Constructive trusts:
E.g. where A owns a house and B (gf) moves in and A says to B ‘the house is as much
yours as mine’ (can argue that this means 50-50)
B then pays off some of A’s mortgage debt and refurbished the property
B gets equitable percentage stake in house (Lloyds Band v Rossett 1988)
The ‘Estate’ as a form of landholding:
Various types of ‘estate’ came to exist:
The Fee Simple Absolute in Possession:
Freehold title e.g. houses, factories, industrial complexes
Extremely common form of land title
The Term of Years Absolute:
Leasehold title
Lease or tenancy OR sometimes known as ‘demise’
Having exclusive possession of the land until the lease expired
Very common nowadays
The Life Estate:
Give exclusive possession to someone for the duration of their entire life
An estate per autre vie:
For the life of another
Grant possession of land to A for the life of B
The Determinable Fee Simple:
Would end at a determining event
The Conditional Fee Simple:
On a certain condition
Such estate holders would be granted seisin (exclusive possession) of the land in question but
the length of time for which they could hold the land would depend on the nature of the estate
granted
Categorisation of ‘property’ in English Law:
In England and Wales property to the lawyer means:
Realty:
Land titles/estates
E.g. freehold title
Personalty:
Choses in action or things in action, such as copyright, right to a debt, trademarks,
shares, patents (for an invention)
Intangible property – personal property
Choses in possession i.e. things in possession
Chattels
Physical items of tangible property such as coins, bank notes, a ring, a car, an animal, a
table, a pet etc
Chattels-real (old fashioned term)
Nowadays called ‘leases’
Personal and property rights
1925 Legislation:
, Body of legislation in English Law which fundamentally simplified and reorganised English Land
Law and English Property Law generally
Several acts of parliament were passed, which formed the foundations of modern land law
Came into force in a very short period of time
LPA 1925 – the key statutory code which provides the basic framework for modern land law and
conveyancing
LPA simplified the number of legal titles which could exist in relation to everyday land
ownership
S1 declares that only 2 estates/titles can exist at law in relation to modern day land holding – the
freehold title and the leasehold title
- Law of Property Act 1925:
Gives the basis of modern property law
Foundation stone of land law
- The Administration of Estates Act 1925:
Where does property go if a will is not made?
- The Land Charges Act 1925
- The Land Registration Act 1925:
First introduced land registration on a compulsory basis
Getting on a register is the ultimate form of ownership
All land duties can be identified and recorded
LPA declares only the following 3 party interests can exist at law:
rd
Easements – right of way over neighbouring land
Mortgages
Rentcharges (largely redundant now)
Right of re-entry
Commonhold title:
A new form of land title was introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act (2002)
These titles have not proved popular however and are not really used in practice
Day to day sales i.e. conveyancing, concerns selling/transferring freehold titles (houses
generally) and granting or transferring leasehold titles (flats and commercial property generally)
Conclusion:
Theoretically, the crown remains the one true owner of all land in England and Wales
However, individuals, companies, and the state, can hold and essentially ‘own’ land, by having
freehold titles and leasehold titles
Landlord and Tenant Relationship:
, In the leasehold relationship, the landlord will generally be a freeholder who has divested
himself of exclusive possession of the lad and granted it to a leaseholder for a given contractual
period e.g. a 10 year lease
The leaseholder will typically pay either a lump sum rent (fine) for his title or pay regular
periodical rent payments
when the lease period expires, exclusive possession reverts to the landlord freeholder
and the leaseholder becomes a trespasser, unless Statue decrees otherwise
Estates and Property Rights:
Two legal estates: freehold and leasehold (all other forms of estate can only take effect in equity
behind a trust)
In relation to land, 3 parties (e.g. neighbours, other people, companies, banks) can have
rd
property rights, such as:
Mortgage (or charge) in favour of a bank or building society
Easement in favour of a neighbour
Option to purchase:
Conditional sale agreement = forces the person to sell the land they promised to
sell (if not, can sue)
Can register this property right
Private right to purchase with a notice
Very common in property development e.g. a property developer wants to buy
some land from a farmer, spends a lot on getting planning permission and other
things, then the farmer says no. option to purchase binds the farmer and can
enforce the option
Lease of all or part of the land
Benefit of a freehold covenant
Beneficial interest in equity under any form of trust
Conveyancing:
Term used to describe the legal processes involved in the buying, selling and the general
transfer/creation of interests in land
e.g. a purchaser wishing to buy a freehold title to a house, will buy the property from a seller
(vendor)
the written contract of sale and subsequent transfer of title (by deed) will be prepared for and on
behalf of the buyer and the seller by conveyancing solicitors
, Types of trusts:
Three types of trust: express or implied trusts:
1. Express trusts:
Where land is co-owned, it must be in signed writing
Goodman v Gallant
Must be manifested and proved = evidence
Express declaration of trust
Gives sale proceeds (when you sell the house) 🡪 they look at the original
document signed to see who it is
If you don’t have express trust, have to look at 2 types of implied trusts
2. Implied trusts:
Arising by operation of law
2 types:
Resulting trusts:
E.g. where A buys a house and B contributes 50% of the purchase price (Dyer v Dyer
1789)
B gets equitable % stake in house
You get back what you put in
Even though it is in A’s name and A is the legal owner, B contributed 50% of
the purchase price, so B will get this percentage when it is sold
Constructive trusts:
E.g. where A owns a house and B (gf) moves in and A says to B ‘the house is as much
yours as mine’ (can argue that this means 50-50)
B then pays off some of A’s mortgage debt and refurbished the property
B gets equitable percentage stake in house (Lloyds Band v Rossett 1988)
