This Q&A raises a number of issues: the acquisition of freehold title by adverse possession where the owner is the Crown, the nature and extent of rights of way and the extent to which they can prevent adverse possession arising. In the present case, a developer built a block of flats and it is assumed that long leases of the flats were

This Q&A raises the circumstances in which a landlord can be prevented from serving a section 21 notice under the Housing Act 1988 (HA 1988). In particular, it deals with issue of retaliatory eviction under the Deregulation Act 2015 (DA 2015). The starting point is that a landlord can usually serve such a notice so as to take effect once the contractual term of an assured tenancy has come to an end. One of the main restrictions upon the service of a section 21 notice is a failure of the landlord to comply with the requirement to protect a deposit in accordance with section 215(1) of the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004). The focus of this

We refer you to HM Land Registry: Practice Guide 3—cautions against first registration, in particular paragraph 2.1, which provides: ‘...any person who claims to be entitled to an interest affecting a qualifying estate [may apply for a caution against first registration].’ The relevant statutory provision is section 15 of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002): ‘15 Right to lodge • Subject to subsection (3), a person may lodge a caution against the registration of title to an unregistered legal estate if he claims to be— (a) the owner

The law relating to the ownership of roadways is often complex. There are statutory and common law principles that, depending on the circumstances of the case, may prevail. There is a statutory presumption that, where a road or path is a highway maintainable at public expense, the surface vests in the highway authority pursuant to section 263 of the Highways Act 1980. However, insofar as the subsurface soil, it is presumed that the owner of land abutting on a road is also the owner of the adjoining section of the road up to the middle line (ad medium filum). There is also a presumption that where a

Part V of the Housing Act 1985 (HA 1985) contains provisions relating to the right to buy. This provides that a secure tenant of a dwelling-house in England has the right in specified circumstances to acquire the interest of the landlord (whether freehold or leasehold) in the property that they occupy. There is a statutory formula for determining the value of the dwelling-house and a discount applied to the purchase price. HA 1985, s 155 makes provision for repayment of the discount

The Practice Note: International issues relating to the protection of vulnerable adults explains that the UK is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults signed at the Hague on 13 January 2002 although it has only ratified the Convention in relation to Scotland (and not England and Wales). The jurisdiction of the Court of Protection is governed by Schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005), so cross-border issues affecting England and Wales need to be considered by reference to the unilateral set of rules (which broadly mirror the Hague Convention) contained in MCA 2005, Sch 3, Pt 2, para 7 which

This Q&A raises the nature of Form K restriction entered under the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) and one of the weaknesses from which it is often said to suffer. A restriction is an entry in the register regulating the circumstances in which a disposition of a registered estate or charge may be the subject of an entry in the register (LRA 2002, s 40). Unless the registrar orders otherwise, where a restriction is entered in the register, no entry in respect of a disposition to which the restriction applies may be made in the register otherwise than in accordance with the terms of the restriction (LRA 2002, s 41(1)). The Land Registration Rules 2003 (LRR 2003), SI 2003/1417 make provision for certain

Section 86(2) of the Land Registration Act 2002 requires the Registrar to enter a notice in relation to any registered estate or charge which appears to be affected by a bankruptcy application or a petition in bankruptcy. A bankruptcy restriction will subsequently be entered if a bankruptcy

Whether a legal easement requires registration at HM Land Registry in order to take effect in law depends on how the easement is created and the registration status of the dominant and servient tenements. Section 27(2)(d) of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) provides that, with effect from 13 October 2003, the express grant or reservation over registered land of an easement, which falls within the section 1(2)(a) of the Law of Property Act 1925, will not operate at law until the

In short, yes, such a sale is possible and it will not be, without more, a breach of the Law of Property Act (LPA) receiver’s duties. The Practice Note 'Best price reasonably obtainable—what it means for receivers' sets out in detail the scope of the duty owed by a receiver to a mortgagor when selling a property. The duty owed by a receiver to a mortgagor when selling a property is the same as that owed by the mortgagee to a mortgagor: • in exercising his power of sale over mortgaged property a mortgagee is under a general duty to take reasonable care to obtain the

Section 104(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925) provides that a mortgagee exercising the power of sale conferred by the LPA 1925 may transfer the property free from all estates, interests and rights to which the mortgage has priority, but subject to all estates, interests and rights which have priority to the mortgage. Section 2.2.1 of HM Land Registry’s (HMLR) Practice Guide 75: transfer under a chargee's power of sale (PG 75) confirms that on registration of the transfer HMLR will cancel the entry in the proprietorship register that gives the proprietor’s details, and the other entries that

There are two separate issues to consider here: • the buyer’s liability in respect of existing restrictive covenants on the title once it acquires the property, and • whether the seller should be seeking an indemnity from the buyer for any liability the seller has in respect of the title Turning to the first issue, the buyer will take the property subject to the restrictive covenants on the title as they will run with the land. This is an issue of the buyer’s liability and it will be bound by