Appeal from order allowing modification of restrictive covenants. Judges: Robert Walker LJ Citations: [2001] EWCA Civ 380, [2002] 1 P and CR 4 Links: Bailii Statutes: Law of Property Act 1925 84 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Land Updated: 23 June 2022; Ref: scu.218053
Quasi-Easements granted on sale of part of Estate S owned a workshop and an adjoining plot of land. The workshop had three windows looking out over the plot. The property was sold in separate lots at auction. The land was sold with no express reservation of any easements, and then similarly the workshop. The plaintiff … Continue reading Wheeldon v Burrows: CA 17 Jun 1879
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A common right of grazing which was quantified but not related to the ability of the land to sustain it was capable of existing in gross, and was therefore severable entirely from the land to which it related. The severance was no necessary prejudice to the land. Robert Walker LJ doubted ‘whether it is correct … Continue reading Bettison and Another v Penton and Another: CA 22 Jan 1998
A right to pasture animals on a common had been levant and couchant, and as such was inalienable as a separate asset from the land where the animals were kept. The right was registered under the Act, and was thereby transformed into a right to graze a certain number of animals on the common. That … Continue reading Bettison and others v Langton and others: HL 17 May 2001
The parties disputed the effect of a conveyance of land from 1985 and an associated deed of variation. The variation added an easement which was argued by the purchaser to have attached to the land, and was said by the vendor to have been personal only. Held: The appeal was dismissed. The judge had correctly … Continue reading Allied London Industrial Properties Limited v Castleguard Properties Limited: CA 24 Jul 1997
The claimant advanced funds to the respondent for him to invest in a bank of which the claimant had insider knowledge. In fact the defendant did not invest the funds, the knowledge was incorrect. The defendant however did not return the sums advanced, saying he need not return it because the contract was for an … Continue reading Patel v Mirza: SC 20 Jul 2016
UTLC RESTRICTIVE COVENANT – modification – covenant in 1870 Deed Poll restricting estate development to two dwellings per plot – proposal to erect additional house on part of two of the original plots – whether proposed use of land reasonable – whether practical benefits of substantial value or advantage secured by the restriction – whether … Continue reading Hoyle and Another, Re Land At Woodlands: UTLC 21 Nov 2011
The tenant appealed against an order granting possession. The tenancy, being held of a mutual housing co-operative did not have security but was in a form restricting the landlord’s right to recover possession, and the tenant resisted saying that it was worded to create a lease for life (applying the LRB case). Held: The tenant’s … Continue reading Berrisford v Mexfield Housing Co-Operative Ltd: SC 9 Nov 2011
The University wanted to sell land for development free of restrictive covenants. It had previously been in the ownership of both the servient and dominant land in respect of a restrictive covenant. The Borough contended that the restrictive covenants remained in effect. The University sought their discharge. Held: The Borough had owned the dominant and … Continue reading University of East London Higher Education Corporation v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and others: ChD 9 Dec 2004
The parties contracted for the sale and purchase of land with vacant possession. It was subject to a lease which the seller said had been surrendered, and it refused to accept any requisitions of objections. After exchange it appeared that the tenant was bankrupt, and the surrender ineffective in law. Upon discovery of this the … Continue reading Area Estates Ltd v Weir: CA 20 Jul 2010
The claimant sought rectification of the land register. In a development deal, an option agreement had not been registered, and the land sold on. The land was required to allow the building of a roundabout necessary for the intended store. An application had been made for registration of the option, but requisitions had not been … Continue reading Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v Olympia Homes Limited, Hughes etc: ChD 17 Jun 2005
The parties had agreed for a lease, and the tenant entered possession, but no formal lease was executed. The tenant stopped paying rent in 1977 or 1984. He now claimed rectification of the registers to show him as proprietor. The landlord argued that as a lease in writing, time ran from the notice to quit. … Continue reading Long v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council: ChD 20 Mar 1996
The creditor had assigned the debt, but without first giving the debtor defendant the necessary notice. A challenge was made to the ability of the assignee to bring the action, saying that the deed of trust appointed to circumvent the reluctance of the original creditors to sue was invalid without such consent since the assignment … Continue reading Barbados Trust Company Ltd v Bank of Zambia and Another: CA 27 Feb 2007
The claimant challenged the forfeiture of its lease by a freeholder which had acquired the registered freehold title but had not yet registered its ownership. The second defendant had forfeited the lease by peacable re-entry for arrears of rent, and created a further lease. Held: The judge was right to hold that, following the transfer, … Continue reading Scribes West Ltd v Relsa Anstalt and others: CA 20 Dec 2004
The defendant and his wife separated when she left the flat they shared. She accepted a new tenancy of other premises. The landlord claimed possession of the flat, saying that the tenancy had ended. Held: There was no express surrender within the 1989 Act. The landlord claimed an implied surrender under the 1925 Act. That … Continue reading Ealing Family Housing Association Ltd v McKenzie: CA 10 Oct 2003
The plaintiff acquired land on which 27 chalets were erected. They served notice to quit so that the site could be developed. The defendants argued that they had residential tenancies with protection under the Rent Act 1977. Held: The tenants’ appeals succeeded. A built structure becomes part of the land and itself real property, according … Continue reading Elitestone Ltd v Morris and Another: HL 1 May 1997
Land was sold. The parties disputed whether a greenhouse was included. Held: It was a large greenhouse consisting of a sectional frame bolted to a large concrete base. ‘Building’ was to be given the meaning ascribed by s62 of the 1925 Act. The greenhouse was not sufficiently affixed but rested by its own weight on … Continue reading Deen v Andrews: 1986
The insurance company claimant had insured a cargo under a voyage charter made by the defendant as charterer with the claimant as time charterer and disponent owner of the vessel. The charter had an arbitration clause. The cargo was damaged in a fire and steps taken to extinguish it. The insurers began proceedings in Brazil … Continue reading Schiffahrtsgesellschaft Detlev von Appen GmbH v Voest Alpine Intertrading GmbH (‘The Jay Bola’): CA 1997
The court was asked: ‘can a way which is not connected to another public highway, or to some other point to which the public have a right of access, itself be a public highway?’ A path had been registered over part of te claimant’s land, but with no connection to any route back to the … Continue reading Kotegaonkar v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Another: Admn 19 Jul 2012
Ex turpi causa explained The parties had disputed the validity a patent and the production of infringing preparations. The english patent had failed and damages were to be awarded, but a Canadian patent remained the defendant now challenged the calculation of damages for what it said would have been an infringing trade, and pleaded ex … Continue reading Les Laboratoires Servier and Another v Apotex Inc and Others: SC 29 Oct 2014
The court was asked as to the position resulting from the assignment of a contract including an arbitration clause: ‘Where the assignment is the assignment of the cause of action, it will, in the absence of some agreement to the contrary include as stated in s136 all the remedies in respect of that cause of … Continue reading The Jordan Nicholev: 1990
Houses were built next to a common. Over many years the owners had driven over the common. The landowners appealed a decision that they could not acquire a right of way by prescription over the common because such use had been unlawful as a criminal offence under section 193 of the Law of Property Act … Continue reading Bakewell Management Limited v Brandwood and others: HL 1 Apr 2004
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its property rights. It was also argued that it was not possible to make a declaration … Continue reading Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2): HL 10 Jul 2003
The agency of a receiver for the mortgagor is one where the principal, the mortgagor, has no say in the appointment or identity of the receiver and is not entitled to give any instructions to the receiver or to dismiss the receiver. ‘For valuable consideration he has committed the management of his property to an … Continue reading Gaskell v Gosling: CA 28 Apr 1896
Complex family trusts had been created over many years. Various documents were now disputed, and particularly the extent of land demised by a lease, and whether a surender of a lease had occurred. Landslides had disturbed the boundaries of the land. An arbitrator had decided the new rent on the basis of his own findings … Continue reading Rysaffe Trustee Company (CI) Ltd and Another v Ataghan Ltd and others: ChD 8 Aug 2006
An injunction was sought against a Panamanian ship-owning company to restrain it from disposing of a fund, consisting of insurance proceeds, in England. The claimant for the injunction was suing the company in a Cyprus court for damages and believed the company to have no other assets from which to meet the hoped-for damages award … Continue reading Siskina (owners of Cargo lately on Board) v Distos Compania Naviera SA: HL 1979
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence. Held: Her appeal succeeded. It is normally only in a … Continue reading Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: SC 8 Feb 2018
The plaintiff, an elderly widow, transferred her house into the name of her lodger, but remained in occupation of the house, on exactly the same basis as before, until the lodger sold the house and the purchaser had mortgaged it to a building society. Held: The court dismissed the plaintiff’s claim to be registered as … Continue reading Hodgson v Marks: ChD 1970
The defendant tenants, anticipating that the landlord might delay or refuse consent to a subletting entered into a ‘virtual assignment’ of the lease, an assignment in everything but the deed and with no registration. The lease contained a standard form prohibition against assignments or sub-letting. The defendants now appealed against a finding that they were … Continue reading Clarence House Ltd v National Westminster Bank Plc: CA 8 Dec 2009
The claimant sub-tenant had been injured entering the block of apartments. He said that the freeholder was responsible despite no report of the disrepair having been made. The lease excused the landlord from unnotified liability. The parties acknowledged that section 11 of the 1985 Act could not be set aside by the contract. Held: The … Continue reading Edwards v Kumarasamy: SC 13 Jul 2016
This appeal concerns the question whether an area of land in Bath known as the Recreation Ground, commonly called ‘the Rec’, is still subject to a restrictive covenant imposed in a conveyance of the Rec dated 6 April 1922 (‘the 1922 conveyance’). That turns on the question whether there is anyone who can now claim … Continue reading Bath Rugby Ltd v Greenwood and Others: CA 21 Dec 2021
The claimant sought a declaration that restrictive covenants imposed in 1896 affecting its land were no longer effective. Held: The declaration was granted. Under the 1881 Act (as opposed to the 1925 Act) covenants were not automatically attached to the land. Here there was no implied or explicit annexation of the covenants. The covenants were … Continue reading Seymour Road (Southampton) Ltd v Williams and Others: ChD 29 Jan 2010
Minor Irregularity in Break Notice Not Fatal Leases contained clauses allowing the tenant to break the lease by serving not less than six months notice to expire on the third anniversary of the commencement date of the term of the lease. The tenant gave notice to determine the leases on 12th January 1995, although the … Continue reading Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Assurance: HL 21 May 1997
The claimants sought a declaration that they had two rights of way over a neighbour’s land. One was claimed by continuous use for twenty years, and the second was said to have been implied under the 1925 Act. No express grant was suggested. Silber J [2006] EWHC 3109 (Ch), [2007] 3 All ER 543, [2008] … Continue reading Odey and Others v Barber: ChD 29 Nov 2006
A Local Authority is liable for any damage to adjacent property caused by the roots of a tree growing on the verge of a public highway. Held: Pre-adoption trees vest in the highway authority for all purposes. Stuart-Smith, Morritt L, Sir John Balcombe Times 26-Jun-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1901, (1997) 96 LGR 27 Bailii Highways … Continue reading Hurst and Another v Hampshire County Council: CA 19 Jun 1997
The landlord had assigned the reversion of the lease. There was an outstanding dispute with the tenant defendant who owed arrears of rent, but sought to set these off against a claim for damages for the landlord’s failure to construct the factory in the first place. Held: The new landlord was not liable for the … Continue reading Edlington Properties Limited v J H Fenner and Co Limited: CA 22 Mar 2006
The taxpayer and her son owned through a trust the entire beneficial interest in the shares of a company. She agreed to transfer other shares to him in return for his interest in the shares subject to the trust, releasing the trust. The Revenue contended that there must be a deed giving effect to the … Continue reading Oughtred v Inland Revenue Commissioners: HL 4 Nov 1959
The defendants sought to set aside orders allowing the claimants to serve proceedings alleging repudiation of a charterparty in turn allowing a claim against the defendants under a guarantee. The defendant said the guarantee was unenforceable under the 1677 Act not being in writing and signed. Held: There was no limit to the number of … Continue reading Golden Ocean Group Ltd v Salgaocar Mining Industries Pvt Ltd and Another: ComC 21 Jan 2011
A clause in a trust deed may validly excuse trustees from personal liability for even gross negligence. The trustee was exempted from liability for loss or damage ‘unless such loss or damage shall be caused by his own actual fraud’. Held: The trustee was under no liability in absence of any dishonest intention. Millett LJ … Continue reading Armitage v Nurse; etc: CA 19 Mar 1997
The land owners sought relief from possession orders made under mortgages given in equity release schemes: ‘If the purchaser raises all or part of the purchase price on mortgage, and then defaults, the issue arises whether the mortgagee’s right to possession has priority over, or is subject to, any entitlement of the vendor to continue … Continue reading Cook v The Mortgage Business Plc: CA 24 Jan 2012
Refusal to return Land Contract Deposit The court was asked as to whether a seller could retain a deposit paid by the claimant on a sale where contracts had been exchanged but the buyer had proved unable to go ahead. Held: The appeal against refusal of return of the deposit failed. The court looked at … Continue reading MIDILL (97Pl) Ltd v Park Lane Estates Ltd and Another: CA 11 Nov 2008
The plaintiff had applied for disclosure of assets under the Rules of the Supreme Court in support of a Mareva freezing order. The rules were held not to provide any such power: disclosure of assets could not be obtained as part of discovery as the documents concerned did not relate ‘to matters in question in … Continue reading A J Bekhor and Co Ltd v Bilton: CA 6 Feb 1981
Presumption of dedication dates back. The claimant tripped over a tree root raising a path in the park. The court was now asked whether the pathway through a public park, but which was not a public right of way, was maintainable at public expense as a highway governed by the 1980 Act. Held: As to … Continue reading Barlow v Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council: CA 1 Jun 2020
The court considered the creation by section 62 of the 1925 Act automatically of easements when land was divided. The claimants owned land bounded on either side by properties beloinging to the respondents. The properties had once been in common ownership. They asserted the existence of a bridleway easement along a track to the public … Continue reading Campbell and Another v Banks and Others: CA 1 Feb 2011
The appellant challenged a sale and rent back transaction. He said that the proposed purchaser had misrepresented the transaction to them. The Court was asked s whether the home owners had interests whose priority was protected by virtue of section 29(2)(a)(ii) of, and Schedule 3, paragraph 2, to the Land Registration Act 2002. Held: The … Continue reading Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd and Others: SC 22 Oct 2014
Only Limited Ownership of pond fish BDS owned land with closed fishing ponds. They sold the land to the respondents, but then claimed that the fish, of substantial value, were not included in the contract. The court as asked whether the captive fish were animals ferae naturae or animals domitae naturae. Held: The appeal was … Continue reading Borwick Development Solutions Ltd v Clear Water Fisheries Ltd: CA 1 May 2020
The claimant, in a representative action complained that the works involved in the erection of the Canary Wharf tower constituted a nuisance in that the works created substantial clouds of dust and the building blocked her TV signals, so as to limit her enjoyment of her land. Held: The interference with TV reception by an … Continue reading Hunter and Others v Canary Wharf Ltd: HL 25 Apr 1997
Notice of dismissal begins when received by worker The court was asked: ‘If an employee is dismissed on written notice posted to his home address, when does the notice period begin to run? Is it when the letter would have been delivered in the ordinary course of post? Or when it was in fact delivered … Continue reading Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood: SC 25 Apr 2018
Appropriation was not in sufficient form The claimants had challenged an order supporting the decision of the Council to use their allotments for a new primary school, saying that the land had be appropriated as allotment land, and that therefore the consent of the minister was needed. Held: The appeal failed. The use of the … Continue reading Adamson, Regina (on The Application of) v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council: CA 18 Feb 2020
Land was bought for development, but the purchaser later discovered a sewage pipe which very substantially limited its development potential. The existence of the pipe had not been disclosed on the sale, being unknown to the seller. Held: Under the National Conditions of Sale, it is the purchaser who takes the risk of there being … Continue reading William Sindall Plc v Cambridgeshire County Council: CA 21 May 1993
The claimant sought to recover the costs of damage to their centre following a riot, saying that under the 1886 Act, they were liable. It appealed against a ruling that they were unable to claim as a public authority, saying that the 1886 Act was not limited in the way suggested. Held: Though privately operated, … Continue reading Yarl’s Wood Immigration Ltd and Others v Bedfordshire Police Authority: CA 23 Oct 2009
The claimant had bought land from the council. The only means of access was over land retained by the council but there was no grant of a right of way. The claimant now appealed refusal of a right of way by necessity.
Held: At the time of the . .
Properties, when leasehold, had acquired rights of way by prescription over neighbouring land. The freehold interests were acquired, and the claimant now appealed a decision that the right of way acquired under his lease had disappeared.
Held: . .
The claimant sought a declaration that certain easements had been included by implication in a conveyance of part of land to him.
Held: Since the easements were capable of subsisting at law, and existed as quasi-easements at the time, and did . .
The parties owned properties part of a building estate. The properties had been held under leases, but those had been enfranchised. The question was as to how the easements granted by the leases were preserved on enfranchisement. A particular . .
The defendant blocked the line of a sewer. The claimant alleged that it had an easement and sought the cost of building the alternative pipe. The question to be answered was ‘Where an easement is granted by implication on the sale of a property, . .
The section in the 1881 Act does not apply to a quasi-easement because ‘When land is under one ownership one cannot speak in any intelligible sense of rights, or privileges, or easements being exercised over one part for the benefit of another. . .
The claimants asserted negligence in the defendant in failing to provide an adequate response to an emergency call, leading, they said to the death of their daughter at the hands of her violent partner. They claimed also under the 1998 Act. The . .
Various leases of properties had been granted. Legal and General occupied the property under an arrangement under which they paid no rent. The landlord sought possession, saying that the agreements were licences not tenancies because of the absence . .
The landlords’ managing agents learned that the tenant had been convicted of keeping a brothel at the premises and served a section 146 notice intending to forfeit the tenancy. He told his staff and instructed them not to demand or accept rent. But . .
Land had been purchased under compulsory purchase powers. It had been subject to restrictive covenants in favour of neighbouring land which would have prevented the development now implemented. The question was how the compensation should be . .
Several transactions had taken place with regard to a lease of a roof void, which was to be developed for penthouses. The lease had been charged to secure funding. The development did not proceed to schedule, and a s146 notice was served. It was . .
