While there is no clear authority on this point, where a person buys land with the benefit of the right to lay and connect into services on the vendor’s land and particularly where, as here the purchaser as dominant owner covenants to pay a proportion of the costs of maintenance of the services in the servient land depending on the amount of user, it may be arguable that the right to actually use those services is implied. There are two potentially helpful cases in this area. The first is Donovan v Rana. In

Transfers are commonly executed in counterpart and the part executed by the transferor is submitted to HM Land Registry to register the transfer.  It is therefore common for the official copy of a transfer to only show execution by the transferor. This does not necessarily mean that the transfer was not executed by the transferee and it is worth checking the title deeds to confirm the position. Similarly, if a lease has been executed in counterpart, the official copy of that lease may only show execution by the landlord. In Goodman v Gallant, the Court of Appeal considered the effect of a clause in a conveyance which included

In answering this Q&A, we have assumed that the sale of the property is subject to the Standard Commercial Property Conditions (SCPCs) (Third Edition). SCPCs, para [7.6.5] states that: ‘If after completion the seller will remain bound by any obligation affecting the property which was disclosed to the buyer before the contract was made, but the law does not imply any covenant by the buyer

The transfer appears to be in tolerably common form—a tripartite agreement between vendor or lessor, purchaser or lessee and a management company. In the case of long leases, the developer may wish to have no future involvement in the block once all leases have been granted and so a management company is established to ensure that essential services are provided. A developer of a freehold estate might retain an interest in roads and grassed areas and the like and similarly will establish a management company to attend

It will often be the case that where a landowner sells a parcel of land but retains other land, the conveyance will contain easements or covenants restricting the use which is to be made of the land conveyed (such as limiting construction on the land), or reserving rights such as a right of way. Such covenants will, if restrictive and touch and concern the land, ordinarily be enforceable by and against successors in title. Section 78 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925) provides that a covenant is deemed to be made with the covenantee, successors in

Where an individual makes a gift of property, but continues to enjoy a benefit from it, there is generally a reservation of benefit, so that it remains part of the donor’s estate for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes, see section 102(1) of the Finance Act 1986 (FA 1986). But if the property is an interest in land, the donor’s continued occupation is disregarded if it is for full consideration: FA 1986, Sch 20, para 6(1)(a). So, if (and so long as) the donor gives full consideration for his or her occupation, there

In considering this question, the first place to look will be the CPR. These give some guidance regarding trial timetables generally, see CPR 39.4 which states that: ‘When the court sets a timetable for a trial in accordance with rule 28.6 (fixing or confirming the trial date and giving directions—fast track) or rule 29.8 (setting a trial timetable and confirming the trial date or week—multi-track) it will do so in consultation with the parties.’ CPR 39.4 provides some general guidance that, when the court sets a timetable for trial before

This Q&A assumes that: • the trustees originally held the entire beneficial interest in the land on trust for a number of life tenants, with different remainder beneficiaries for each settled share • some but not all of the remainder interests have vested absolutely Generally speaking, where a beneficiary of trust becomes absolutely entitled to trust property as against the trustees (which would have the effect that the beneficiary has the exclusive right to direct how the property shall be dealt with), there is a deemed disposal by the trustees for capital gains tax (CGT) purposes

Various statutes govern the exercise of trustee powers. For the purposes of this answer it is assumed that there are no special or unusual provisions or objects of the trust. In such circumstances the Trustee Act 1925 (TA 1925) and Trustee Act 2000 (TrA 2000) are likely to be the most relevant statutory provisions. Ordinarily, there will be no more than four trustees (TA 1925, s 34), and the trustees have a duty to make decisions which are consistent with the objects and powers of the trust. They must act in good faith and avoid conflicts of interest. Any decisions must be made on an informed basis, and the general rule in respect of private trusts (as opposed to, for example, charitable

The power to appoint trustees is contained in section 36 of the Trustee Act 1925 (TA 1925), which provides that: • the person with the power to appoint new trustees is the person specified in the trust instrument, or • the trustees Per Re Sheppard's Settlement Trusts Trusts [1888] WN 234 (not reported by LexisNexis®),

We have assumed that: • the settlor and trustees all reside in jurisdictions which do not prohibit individuals from being parties to a trust deed • it is intended that the trust deed in question will be governed for all

A lasting power of attorney (LPA) does not provide the attorneys with the power to exercise settlor powers on behalf of the donor who has lost capacity. However, this will not necessarily result in deadlock. The first question is whether the settlor/donor (P), in fact does have capacity to act, bearing in mind that capacity is: • presumed unless it is established that P does not have capacity, and • function-specific If P does not have capacity to appoint or remove a trustee, the next step will be to check whether there are alternative provisions in the trust instrument dealing with the appointment of new trustees and/or the removal of existing trustees in the event of the settlor's death or incapacity. If so, the trustees can be appointed