Land Law Flashcards
(41 cards)
What does “land” include in the context of Land Law?
“Land” includes corporeal hereditaments (tangible objects like buildings and plants) and incorporeal hereditaments (intangible rights like easements and rents).
What are the two types of legal estates in land?
The two legal estates are freehold (fee simple, indefinite duration) and leasehold (term of years, fixed duration).
What are the two tests to determine whether an item is a fixture or a fitting?
The two tests are:
Degree of annexation test: How firmly the item is attached.
Purpose of annexation test: Whether the item was intended to be a permanent part of the land.
What is adverse possession, and what is required to claim it?
Adverse possession allows a squatter to gain title to land after actual, exclusive, and physical possession without the owner’s permission for at least 12 years for unregistered land (10 years for registered land).
What are corporeal hereditaments in land law?
Tangible items, such as buildings, plants, mines, and airspace reasonably usable above the land.
What are incorporeal hereditaments?
Intangible rights, such as easements, rents, and other interests in land.
What is the key difference between a fixture and a fitting?
A fixture is attached to the land and passes with the sale of the land, while a fitting remains personal property unless listed in the contract.
What is a restrictive covenant?
A promise not to do something on the land, such as restricting building types or uses.
What is a positive covenant?
A promise to do something on the land, such as maintaining a boundary fence.
What is required to create a deed?
It must be in writing, state it is a deed, be signed in the presence of a witness, and be delivered to show an intention to be bound.
What are the requirements for proprietary estoppel?
Assurance, reliance, detriment, and unconscionability.
How is a lease different from a license?
A lease gives exclusive possession for a defined term, while a license only grants personal rights to use the land.
What is the right of survivorship in joint tenancy?
On death, a joint tenant’s share automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant(s).
How is a tenancy in common different from joint tenancy?
Tenants in common can have unequal shares, and their share can pass through a will, unlike joint tenancy.
What is an easement?
A right to use one piece of land (servient tenement) to benefit another piece of land (dominant tenement).
What are the methods of creating an easement?
By deed, prescription, or implication (necessity, common intention, or existing use).
What is a mortgage?
A loan secured by a legal or equitable interest in land, granting the lender rights over the property if the borrower defaults.
What are overriding interests in registered land?
Rights that bind a buyer even if they are not on the title register, such as certain leases, implied easements, and rights of occupiers.
What is the process for first registration of land?
Triggering events like sale, lease over seven years, or mortgage grant must be registered with HM Land Registry within two months.
What are the key elements of a lease?
Certainty of term, exclusive possession, and compliance with formalities (such as a deed for terms over three years).
What is the purpose of overreaching in land law?
To transfer a beneficiary’s interest in land to sale proceeds, ensuring the buyer takes free of those interests.
Who owns the wild animals on land?
The landowner does not own wild animals but has the right to hunt them.
What is a profit à prendre?
A right to take something from another’s land, such as timber or fish.
What is a rentcharge?
An interest requiring a periodic payment by the landowner to the rentcharge owner, typically a former owner of the land.
