Beginning Land Law

Sarah King

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317693758
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

Whether you're new to higher education, coming to legal study for the first time or just wondering what Land Law is all about, Beginning Land Law is the ideal introduction to help you hit the ground running. Starting with the basics and an overview of each topic, it will help you come to terms with the structure, themes and issues of the subject so that you can begin your Land Law module with confidence.

Adopting a clear and simple approach with legal vocabulary explained in a detailed glossary, Sarah King breaks the subject of Land Law down using practical everyday examples to make it understandable for anyone, whatever their background. Diagrams and flowcharts simplify complex issues, important cases are identified and explained and on-the- spot questions help you recognise potential issues or debates within the law so that you can contribute in classes with confidence.

Beginning Land Law is an ideal first introduction to the subject for LLB, GDL or ILEX and especially international students, those enrolled on distance learning courses or on other degree programmes.

Chapter 1

An introduction to land law

A very brief guide to studying land law

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INTRODUCTION

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Many students begin their studies of land law with a certain degree of trepidation. It has a 2 reputation as a challenging subject, one perhaps that even has the potential to be a little dry. The reality, though, is very different. Land law is a dynamic subject and one that will touch every single one of us in our lifetime. You might have aspirations to own your own home one day, you might already be thinking of buying a house and are researching a mortgage. You might as you read this be thinking about negotiating a new tenancy agreement with the landlord of your student house, or perhaps even be in dispute with a neighbour about a boundary. The fact is that land and its associated rights and responsibilities are all around us and the law that regulates the ownership and use of land is of vital importance to our society.

From a career perspective you might also want to reconsider any preconceived ideas about land law. The study of this subject opens up opportunities that might include working in real estate in a variety of ways. Most people buying a home will instruct a solicitor; many corporate support roles relate to property aspects of transactions. You might be acting for residential developers or commercial landlords or tenants. You may not even be a lawyer but find that an understanding of land law is an advantage, as a surveyor for example.

For all of these reasons you should approach the study of land law with an open mind. If you approach this textbook in the same way you will gain an understanding of some of the basic principles on which you can build with your subsequent study. In this book the aim is to encourage you to engage with some of the key concepts in relation to land law and to offer a way in to studying the subject that will build your confidence in this area. We do this by introducing concepts in a very structured way and using modern examples to bring the legal concepts to life.

This book is primarily written for those who have no prior knowledge of land law who are looking for an introduction to the subject before developing their learning with more detailed textbooks and materials. It will be useful to students embarking on studies in law as well as students studying non-law degrees who might need an introduction to legal aspects of their course (students studying on real estate, planning or surveying courses, for example). The book may also be useful for those who want a land law refresher, perhaps before commencing postgraduate study or training in this area.

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Content

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The content reflects the introductory nature of the book and focuses on the key topics that are likely to be covered by a land law curriculum. The early chapters of the book offer an introduction to the foundations of land law. They introduce land as a form of property, looking at how we define land in a practical and legal sense and the implications of this for study. You will quickly understand that land is not just something that is tangible, the ground that we walk on or even the house that we live in. It also includes the intangible rights that are associated with it, for example the rights that allow us to walk over land that we do not otherwise own. These chapters also introduce you to the basic practice of buying and selling land and creating interests in relation to it by reference to the two main systems for land ownership, registered and unregistered land. Some of the concepts that relate to these two systems are complex but they are presented in a clear and structured way with lots of reference to examples to enable you to make connections with your own experience and aspects of modern life with which we are all familiar. By taking this approach you will recognise the value and importance of the concepts introduced and will be able to apply these to the chapters that follow.

The remaining chapters of the book look at key topics in relation to land law that will appear in most law courses. They include introductions to the ways in which ownership rights in land can be acquired. Some of these are acquired formally, for example through the vehicle of a lease (covered in Chapter 6) or the purchase of a freehold by co-owners (covered in Chapter 5). Others are acquired informally, for example squatters rights acquired through the legal mechanism known as adverse possession (covered in Chapter 7). They will also include explanations and discussions of how third parties might acquire rights in relation to land, for example how a lender acquires their interest through a mortgage (covered in Chapter 10) or how a person might be granted a right of way (covered by an introduction to easements in Chapter 8).

The content of all of the chapters is intended to be introductory, offering you a ‘way in’ to the subject and a basis on which to build with further reading and study. The intention is to present the concepts in an accessible way and not to rely on legal terminology that may not be familiar to you. Key terms are defined and a more detailed glossary is available through the companion website. The most important cases are introduced with brief reference to facts, decisions and principles and the relevance of these cases to your learning is highlighted. Where appropriate, we use visual aids to illustrate the key points. On-the-spot questions invite you to think more deeply about some of the points of law and make connections with learning and experience acquired elsewhere. Support, suggestions and points to think about in relation to these questions will be available via the companion website.

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Approaches To Learning

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There is no escaping the fact that the study of land law can be challenging. It takes a little while to familiarise yourself with some of the terminology and concepts so be patient. Some of the law is historic, occasionally convoluted and sometimes ripe for reform. Understanding where the law has come from and how it has developed will help with this. Similarly understanding why there needs to be change and the proposals for reform will help you to understand the principles. That is why some of the suggested additional reading can be accessed easily and freely online via the Law Commission or Land Registry.

Our suggested approach to studying land law is to break down the concepts, principles and issues into manageable pieces. By starting with the basics and building them up you will develop confidence in the subject and will be ready to supplement your understanding with more complex and challenging thinking. Chapter 9, for example, covers the complex area of land law known as freehold covenants. This is a perfect example of law that has developed from historic common law rules that were subsequently supplemented and softened by the intervention of equitable rules making it complex and unwieldy. It is an area of land law that has been the subject of much criticism for a number of years and, many would argue, is in urgent need of reform.

If you work through Chapter 9 methodically you will quickly grasp the basics. The early on-the-spot question is designed to get you thinking about the nature of covenants and their relevance in a modern context by inviting you to imagine that you are buying a house on a new estate. The thinking that flows from this will help you to understand how and why covenants are used by lawyers in the practice of buying and selling property. We build on this by explaining the contractual nature of covenants, drawing on your knowledge and experience of basic contract law and then encouraging you to think about the different types of covenants that could be created.

As the law becomes more complex you can then use another example to think through some of the potential difficulties in enforcing covenants against people who may not originally have agreed to the terms of the contractual promise that was made. We then introduce the law that determines whether it is possible to enforce covenants against these non-contracting parties. A visual aid is included to help you to do this in a structured way and reference is made back to the example to help you to make sense of the principles. Gradually, you are building up your knowledge and understanding of the topic of covenants to a point where you recognise the key legal principles and from there you are ready to begin to apply them to legal problems, critically evaluate their purpose and analyse the need to reform through further study and research. As a starting point for this we point you in the direction of some early further reading. In relation to covenants this includes a link to the Law Commission, whose report Making Land Work: Easements, Covenants and Profits à Prendre, which is freely available online, contains their detailed proposals for reform in this area.

Remember that this is an introductory book and is not intended to be a complete work on land law. You will be provided with reading lists on your own courses that will supplement and develop the law that is introduced here. You should also make an effort to read both the primary and secondary sources of law in this area. Reading cases and statutes as well as journal articles that review them is a valuable way of learning and often provides the detail and analysis that will support and enhance your reading of textbooks.

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Answering Questions On Land Law

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A detailed consideration of the ways in which land law might be assessed as a subject is outside the scope of this book but generally the format of the types of questions that might be asked, whether in an exam, coursework or portfolio approach, will fall into two categories – essay or problem based.

Problem-based questions are generally all about application of the law that you have learned. As suggested earlier in this introduction, before you can apply the law you need to understand it and be able to explain and interpret it. Learning the basics is, therefore, crucial. Equally important is that you also take some time to understand the nature of the problem that is being presented and the issues that it raises. Rushing into a problem question without first identifying the relevant facts and issues can end up in you producing an answer that does not directly relate to the problem set. In exactly the same way that a client would not appreciate their solicitor offering advice that does not deal with the problem that they presented, so an answer that does not address the correct legal issues will lose marks.

Often there is no right or wrong answer to a problem-based question. Your ability to answer the question well will depend on your demonstration of higher level academic skills. These may include the ability to compare and contrast the decisions in relevant cases and apply them to the facts of the problem, to evaluate the relevance of a particular statutory provision and ultimately to apply individual thought based on your analysis and propose a solution or outcome. This is where beginning with the basics and building on them with more detailed reading and research will help you.

As with problem-based questions, essays require you to read and digest the question carefully before attempting an answer. There may not be a problem to solve but rather an analysis of a particular area of law or a discussion and evaluation of proposals for reform (the complex area of freehold covenants and the need for review of the law might be an example). There is always a danger with essay questions that an answer ends up being discursive, demonstrating the basic skills of knowledge and understanding of the law but failing to demonstrate higher level skills of critical thinking and evaluation. It is important with an essay question that these skills are still evident, that you demonstrate your wider reading and research and offer some form of conclusion to the question asked.

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Key Sources

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Your course team will help you to identify the key sources for your reading and research and you may well have access to a number of online resources as well as hard copy material in the library. There are a number of good land law textbooks and many are written to suit different learning styles, s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Tables of Cases
• Table of Legislation
• Preface
• Guide to the Companion Website
• 1 An introduction to land law: a very brief guide to studying land law
• 2 The foundations of land law
• 3 An introduction to registered land
• 4 Unregistered land
• 5 Co-ownership
• 6 Leaseholds
• 7 Adverse possession
• 8 Easements
• 9 Freehold covenants
• 10 Mortgages
• Index