The landlord served a section 146 notice and the tenant served a counternotice under the 1938 Act. The landlord sought leave to forfeit the lease. Held: Leave was given under ground (e) to forfeit the lease of a public house which had closed for business in 1998 and then had been vandalised and finally destroyed … Continue reading Landmaster Properties Limited v Thackeray Property Services Limited: 2003
The court heard an rejected an argument that s56 worked to allow a third party to sue under a covenant to which he had not been party: ‘before he can enforce it he must be a person who falls within the scope and benefit of the covenant according to the true construction of the document … Continue reading White v Bijou Mansions: CA 1938
A mortgagee of a leasehold interest claimed that he should have been given notice of a section 146 notice served on the lessee. Held: A mortgagee by subdemise is always at the risk of a lessor obtaining re-entry for breach of covenant without the mortgagee knowing anything about it. He is completely shut out. Every … Continue reading Egerton v Jones: CA 1939
Lord Hewart CJ said: ‘When one turns to the Third Schedule of the [1925] Act, it is apparent that it enumerates that type of machinery and plant which is conveniently described in the case as motive machinery; it is the machinery without which the mill could not begin to work, as, for example, the generation … Continue reading Townley Mill (1919) Limited v Oldham Assessment Committee: KBD 1936
Tenants occupied land next to land which was to be developed after compulsory acquisition. The tenants and the landlords asserted a right of light over the land, and sought an injunction to prevent the development. The developer denied that any right of light had been acquired. The sky contour diagrams projected that the reductions in … Continue reading Midtown Ltd v City of London Real Property Company Ltd: ChD 20 Jan 2005
The Divisional Court in Bankruptcy applied the rule that a judicial act takes effect at the very start of the day on which it occurs to give deemed precedence to a receiving order, a judicial act, over a payment made earlier in the day. The overreaching statutory trusts for sale imposed by the Law of … Continue reading Re Warren: ChD 1932
Lord Aitchison said: ‘The penal laws of foreign countries are strictly local, and affect nothing more than they can reach and can be seized by virtue of their authority; a fugitive who passes hither, comes with all his transitory rights; he may recover money held for his use, stock, obligations and the like; and cannot … Continue reading The El Condado: SCS 1939
The plaintiff sought to enforce a restrictive covenant against using a property ‘otherwise than as a private dwelling-house’. 30 years later the Defendant purchased the property and immediately started taking paying guests. The defendant had suggested that the covenants may be modified by the Lands Tribunal, but he made no application. Held: The area was … Continue reading Chatsworth Estates Company v Fewell: 1931
Mr Nadler was a lessee of property, part of which he sublet to the plaintiff. In 1931 he made a declaration of trust, under which he declared that the property was held in trust for his company, Joseph Nadler Ltd. Shortly after the company purported to distrain for arrears of rent under the subtenancy. The … Continue reading Schalit v Joseph Nadler Ltd: CA 1933
The court was asked to answer a question on the assumed premise that a woman had been murdered by her son and had died intestate. The question for decision was whether the forfeiture rule prevented the son from benefiting under the intestacy provisions of the 1925 Act. Held: Clauson J said that the forfeiture rule … Continue reading Re Sigsworth: Bedford v Bedford: 1935
The lease provided for re-entry for breach of covenant. The landlord served a notice requiring repairs and payment of compensation on both the tenant and the mortgagee. The mortgagees served a counter-notice, and the landlord proceeded against the tenant alone. The tenant argued that the counter-notice operated to trigger the requirement for proceedings to begin … Continue reading Church Commissioners for England v Ve-Ri-Best Manfacturing Co Ltd: 1956
The tenant had been convicted of permitting the premises in Great Ormond Street to be used for habitual prostitution. The landlord served a notice under section 146 which did not provide for the possibility of the breach being remedied. The evidence showed that the tenant had been knowingly and actively permitting the house to be … Continue reading Rugby School (Governors) v Tannahill: CA 1935
Despite its entanglement with a right of entry intended to procure its payment, a separate personal obligation to pay instalments of the sum agreed as the premium for a lease remained merely a personal obligation and that a call for the payment by instalments was not a claim or demand in, to, or on the … Continue reading Hill v Booth: CA 1930
(High Court of Australia) Cases of mutual wills are only one example of a wider category of cases, for example secret trusts, in which a court of equity will intervene to impose a constructive trust. Latham CJ described a mutual will arrangement as ‘a trust which is declared by the law to affect the conscience … Continue reading Birmingham v Renfrew: 11 Jun 1937
References: (1937) 57 CLR 666, [1937] HCA 52 Links: Austlii Coram: Dixon J, Latham CJ Ratio: (High Court of Australia) Cases of mutual wills are only one example of a wider category of cases, for example secret trusts, in which a court of equity will intervene to impose a constructive trust. Latham CJ described a … Continue reading Birmingham v Renfrew; 11 Jun 1937
1267 – 1278 – 1285 – 1297 – 1361 – 1449 – 1491 – 1533 – 1677 – 1688 – 1689 – 1700 – 1706 – 1710 – 1730 – 1737 – 1738 – 1751 – 1774 – 1792 – 1793 – 1804 – 1814 – 1819 – 1824 – 1828 – 1831 – 1832 … Continue reading Acts
The owner of a common appealed a finding that the neighbouring land owner had acquired by prescription a right of way across the common to use a track for commercial vehicles (buses) to get to the property (the bus depot). Held: An easement cannot become a right where the use of the route is illegal … Continue reading Hanning and Others v Top Deck Travel Group Ltd: CA 9 Jun 1993
House owners had used vehicular access across a common to get to their houses for many years. The commons owner required them to purchase the right, and they replied that they had acquired the right by lost modern grant and/or by prescription. Held: The use of a right of way over a common by vehicles … Continue reading Roland Brandwood and others v Bakewell Management Ltd: CA 30 Jan 2003
A deed granting access to a common in accordance with the section included access by horseback as well as by foot. The court upheld the Inspector’s decision that the 20-year user of the land relied upon by the applicant for the modification was not ‘as of right’ because a revocable deed by the landowner’s predecessor … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for Environment ex parte Billson: Admn 16 Feb 1998
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 claimant sought a declaration that he had acquired an easement over land by driving over it, over several years. The land owner denied the easement, saying that section 193 made the claimant’s activity a crime, and that, following Hanning, criminal activity could not be used to found a claim of adverse possession. The claimant … Continue reading Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood and Others: ChD 21 Mar 2002
The court considered the defence of illegal user to a claim to have established an easement by prescription: ‘These authorities seem to me to establish that when applying the ‘ex turpi causa’ maxim in a case in which a defence of illegality has been raised, the court should keep in mind that the underlying principle … Continue reading Tinsley v Milligan: CA 1992
The two deceased had made mutual wills bequeathing the family home. The survivor transferred the property during his life to defeat the agreement. It was now said that the arrangement fell foul of the 1989 Act and was unenforceable. Held: Subject to the 1989 Act the arrangement was enforceable. As to the 1989 Act: ‘section … Continue reading Healey v Brown: ChD 25 Apr 2002
The court was asked to pierce the veil of incorporation of a company in the course of ancillary relief proceedings in a divorce. H had failed to co-operate with the court. After a comprehensive review of all the authorities, Munby J said: ‘The common theme running through all the cases in which the court has … Continue reading Ben Hashem v Ali Shayif and Another: FD 22 Sep 2008
In about 1930 a house, no 16, one of two adjacent houses in common ownership was rebuilt. One wall was built close against the adjacent no. 14. Thirty years later no. 14 was demolished by its later owner, the Defendant, leaving the adjoining wall of no.16, which was rough and unpointed, exposed to the weather. … Continue reading Phipps v Pears and others: CA 10 Mar 1964
The applicants had agreed with the planning authority under section 37 of the 1962 Act that part of their land would be used only as a private open space. They later sought planning consent to build a house. The consent was granted on appeal to the Secretary of State. When the authority still refused to … Continue reading Re Martin and Another’s Application: CA 10 May 1988
The claimant sought an order to prevent the respondent erecting a building on Greenham Common. The respondent had argued that the rights of common had been removed by conveyance and the land was not registered as a common. Held: ‘under no conceivable circumstances could Miss Howse establish that the building of the enterprise centre on … Continue reading Howse v Newbury District Council: CA 7 Apr 1998
The trust was created in 1948, and provided gifts over, which had now failed. The court considered the construction of the term ‘stautory next of kin’. The possible beneficiaries claimed through being adopted, arguing that at the date of the last beneficary’s death, all impediments to inheritance by adopted children had been removed by statute. … Continue reading Re Erskine 1948 Trust: ChD 29 Mar 2012
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
The court considered the construction of a restrictive covenant after the disappearance of the covenantee. The covenant required no additional building without the consent of the covenantee, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld. The term ‘vendor’ had been defined without including her successors in title. Held: The court considered the construction of the clause … Continue reading Margerison v Bates and Another: ChD 30 May 2008
The landlord granted the tenant a licence to make alterations to the property, but imposed conditions on the use to be made of the resulting premises. The tenant objected. Held: The landlord was entitled when granting consent to take into account possible adverse effects on his own business interests and was therefore able to impose … Continue reading Sargeant, and Sargeant v Macepark (Whittlebury) Limited: ChD 8 Jun 2004
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
Judges: Lord Justice Lloyd Citations: [2012] EWCA Civ 1019 Links: Bailii Statutes: National Trust Act 1937 8, Law of Property Act 1925 84(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Land Updated: 15 July 2022; Ref: scu.463277
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
LT RESTRICTIVE COVENANT – entitlement to benefit – preliminary issue – whether covenant impliedly annexed to land – surrounding circumstances – held no entitlement – objectors not admitted.The landowners sought the discharge of a restrictive covenant requiring land to be used as a Public Park or Recreation Ground or meadow. Four hundred locals objected. The … Continue reading Barnet London Borough Council; Re: Land at Claremont Road comprising Hendon Football Club and Football Ground: LT 10 Jul 2006
The court was asked whether the plaintiff lessors were entitled to leave to commence proceedings against the lessee defendants for damages under section 1(2) of the 1938 Act for breach of a repairing covenant, even though the lessors had themselves remedied the breach before purporting to give the lessees a notice such as is specified … Continue reading Sedac Investments Ltd v Tanner and others: ChD 6 May 1982
The appellants challenged the removal of a restrictive covenant on a neighbour’s house restricting further building on the land to allow further house in the garden. It was in a small close of houses all erected, and the covenant imposed, in 1952. It was in effect part of a building scheme. The tribunal had found … Continue reading Shephard and others v Turner and Another: CA 23 Jan 2006
The tenant appealed forfeiture proceedings for the failure sof subtenants to repair the property. Held: Section 146 notices which were to lead to forfeiture were required to give a reasonable time to comply with the notice. Judges: Sir Andrew Morritt VC, Chadwick, Sedley LJJ Citations: Times 15-Jul-2004, [2004] EWCA Civ 975 Links: Bailii Statutes: Law … Continue reading Courtney Lodge Management Ltd v Blake and Others: CA 1 Jul 2004
The tenant appealed against forfeiture of his lease for breach of a qualified covenant against assignment. It was said that the tenant had attempted to hide from the landlord the assignment of the premises to his company or its shared occupation. The judge had found a sharing of occupation. Held: The tenant’s appeal succeeded. The … Continue reading Akici v LR Butlin Ltd: CA 2 Nov 2005
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 entered into an agreement for lease, incurring substantial obligations. When it could not meet them it sought assistance from the claimant, who now claimed to have an interest in a joint venture. The draft documentation originally suggested a loan, but then changed. Disagreements persisted after completion. Held: There was insufficient agreement to constitute … Continue reading Kilcarne Holdings Ltd v Targetfollow (Birmingham) Ltd, Targetfollow Group Ltd: ChD 9 Nov 2004
The deceased had assigned his coal merchant business to the respondent against a promise to pay andpound;5.00 a week to his widow whilst she lived. The respondent appealed an order requiring him to make the payments, saying that as a consolidating Act, the 1925 Act should not be read to change the common law. Held: … Continue reading Beswick v Beswick: HL 29 Jun 1967
The applicant said that its land had been misappropriated, and sought rectification of the register against the respondent who was a successor in title having bought the land from the wrongdoer. Held: On registration, section 69 operated to vest only the legal title in the prior registered proprietor. The transfer being of no effect in … Continue reading Malory Enterprises Ltd v Cheshire Homes (UK) Ltd and others: CA 22 Feb 2002
The landlord’s agents wrote to the proposed tenant offering a quarterly tenancy of the premises. The tenancy was to commence at a future date. The defendant endorsed the letter and returned it to say he would abide by the terms, and he was allowed into possession. He ceased to pay rent, and eventually came to … Continue reading Long v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council: ChD 29 Mar 1996
The tenant claimed that he had been injured when as the upper portion of a window was being opened one of the cords of the window sash broke and the top part of the window slipped down and caught and injured his hand. The plaintiff admitted that the defect was latent one (of which the … Continue reading Morgan v Liverpool Corporation: CA 1927
The parties were neighbours, with houses adjacent to a right of way. Slabs had been laid next to the houses forming a raised pavement. The respondents had sought to enclose their area of this raised pavement, building a porch. They now appealed an order requiring to remove what had already been built. Held: The pavement … Continue reading Minor v Groves: CA 20 Nov 1997
Two brothers had acquired land as joint tenants with the aid of a mortgage. Distinct orders were made against each of them charging their respective interests in the land. The mortgagee assigned the mortgage. The brothers held under a trust for sale. The judgment creditor sought to redeem the mortgage which was opposed by the … Continue reading Irani Finance Ltd v Singh: CA 1970
The 1938 will of a testator was at issue. He died in 1943. The trusts included a life interest for the testator’s widow and, on her death without issue (which happened in 1971), residue was given to the testator’s three half-siblings ‘or their heirs and surviving issue’. Held: The heirs were to be ascertained in … Continue reading In re Bourke’s Will Trusts: ChD 1980
The purchaser of land had not completed and sought return of the deposit paid claiming default by the vendor, or alternatively under section 49(2). Held: He was entitled to the repayment of the deposit on the first ground. The court went further to hold that, even if the purchaser had been at fault, section 49(2) … Continue reading Schindler v Pigault: 1975
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
Two partners had covenanted with a retiring partner that on his death they would pay certain annuities to his daughters. The Revenue claimed estate duty. Held: The claim was rejected. The daughters were not parties to the agreement, and had no right to sue for their annuities. Whether they received them or not depended on … Continue reading In re Miller’s Agreement, Uniacke v Attorney-General: ChD 1947
The court considered the ability of a tenant to obtain relief from forfeiture for illegal or immoral use where the tenant was not aware of the breach by his sub-tenant until he received the section 146 notice. Where the tenant took prompt action to limit or prevent damage to the landlord’s reputation, relief from forfeiture … Continue reading Glass v Kencakes: 1966
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 claimants asserted that they had the benefit of restrictive covenants under a building scheme to prevent the defendants erecting more houses in their neighbouring garden. The defendants pointed to alleged breaches of the same scheme by the claimants. Held: There was not only an intention to create a building scheme but also a clearly … Continue reading Turner and Another v Pryce and others: ChD 9 Jan 2008
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 agricultural landlord sold part of his land subject to the respondent’s tenancy to the appellant. Before the transfer was registered, notices to quit were served by both the landlord and his buyer. The tenant challenged both notices in the County court, against whose finding and order that the notices were invalid, both defendants now … Continue reading Stodday Land Ltd and Another v Pye: ChD 7 Oct 2016
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
Benefit of Covenant Ran with Land In 1938, landowners and the Catchment Board agreed that the Board would make good and maintain the banks of a stream, with the landowners contributing to the cost. The agreement was not said to be for the benefit of the landowner’s successors in title. In 1940, the first plaintiff … Continue reading Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board: CA 1949
The parties disputed whether the defendants owned the benefit of a restrictive covenant. Held: The covenant did touch and concern the land, and the land with the benefit of covenant. The conditions under Federated Homes were met. The covenants were enforceable: ‘in the case of a post 1925 conveyance, once it is established that a … Continue reading Mohammadzadeh v Joseph and others: ChD 15 Feb 2006
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
Covenents Attach to entire land not just parts Conveyances contained restrictive covenants but they were not expressly attached to the land. The issue was whether they were merely personal. Held: Section 78 made the covenant by the purchaser binding on his successors also. The section provides for statutory annexation of any covenant which touches and … Continue reading Federated Homes Ltd v Mill Lodge Properties Ltd: CA 29 Nov 1979
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 lease contained a break clause. The parties disputed whether the benefit of the clause was personal to the orginal lessee, or whether it touched and concerned the land, and therefore the benefit of it passed with the land. Held: The defendant was entitled to exercise and did validly exercise the break clause. The purpose … Continue reading Harbour Estates Limited v HSBC Bank Plc: ChD 15 Jul 2004
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 court was asked whether the court has, following the the 2002 Act, an inherent power to order the cancellation of a unilateral notice registered against a title registered under the 2002 Act and, if so, in what circumstances, and how, such a power should be exercised. Held: It did have that power. The power … Continue reading Nugent v Nugent: ChD 20 Dec 2013
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as a spouse someone living … Continue reading Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd: HL 28 Oct 1999
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
The authority was required to provide housing to the minor applicant, but she was too young to hold a legal estate. An equitable lease had been created, and she now appealed against an order for possession having broken the terms of the agreement, saying that the authority was in practice trustee for the tenant, and … Continue reading Alexander-David v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham: CA 1 Apr 2009
Air System plant excluded from Rating value The court was asked whether the services provided by a specialised air handling system, used in connection with refrigerated merchandise in the appellant’s retail store, are ‘manufacturing operations or trade processes’ for rating purposes. Held: Iceland’s appeal was allowed and the decision of the First Tier Tribunal restored. … Continue reading Iceland Foods Ltd v Berry (Valuation Officer): SC 7 Mar 2018
The applicant had held a joint tenancy of the respondent. His partner gave notice and left, and the property was taken into possession. The claimant claimed restoration of his tenancy saying the order did not respect his right to a private life and home. Held: Article 8 does not, in terms, give a right to … Continue reading London Borough of Harrow v Qazi: HL 31 Jul 2003
The court was asked whether the 1977 Act required a local authorty to obtain a court order before taking possession of interim accommodation it provided to an apparently homeless person while it investigated whether it owed him or her a duty under Part VII of the 1996 Act, and (ii) whether a public authority, which … Continue reading ZH and CN, Regina (on The Applications of) v London Boroughs of Newham and Lewisham: SC 12 Nov 2014
Nature of Joint and Mutual Wills The court was asked as to the validity and effect of a single joint will. Held: Lord Camden considered the nature of joint or mutual wills. Lord Camden LC said: ‘The parties by mutual will do each of them devise, upon the engagement of the other, that he will … Continue reading Dufour v Pereira: 1769
Adopted grandchildren entitled to succession The court was asked whether the adopted children whose adopting father, the son of the testator, were grandchildren of the testator for the purposes of his will. Held: The claim succeeded. The defendants, the other beneficiaries were not entitled to inherit the part of their father’s estate that derived from … Continue reading Hand and Another v George: ChD 17 Mar 2017
Tenant’s First Notice to terminate, stood The landlord served a notice to terminate the business lease. The tenant first served a notice to say that it would not seek a new lease, but then, and still within the time limit, it served a second counter-notice seeking a new tenancy. The landlord sought to rely upon … Continue reading Shaws (EAL) Ltd v Pennycook: CA 2 Feb 2004
The landlord sought leave to appeal against a refusal to award it costs associated with the service of a section 146 notice on the tenant. The tenant had covenanted to repair, and to indemnify the landlord against expenses of such notices. The tenant had claimed the benefit of having given a notice under the 1938 … Continue reading Agricullo Ltd v Yorkshire Housing Ltd: CA 16 Mar 2010
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
Parents had each left a share of their estate to the bank on trusts for their disabled son. The revenue said that the gifts were caught by and taxable by virtue of sections 5, 49 and 89 of the 1984 Act, the residuary estates of both parents forming part of the son’s estate because section … Continue reading Barclays Bank Trust Company Ltd v Revenue and Customs: CA 14 Jul 2011
The parties disputed ownership of a strip of land between a garden and a farm. The land was registered. There was a hedge and a ditch along the disputed boundary, it had been conceded in the Court of Appeal that a conveyance of land on the hedge side of the ditch transferred land only up … Continue reading Alan Wibberley Building Ltd v Insley: HL 24 Mar 1999
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
Trustees of a settlement had exercised their power of advancement under the section, in order to save estate duty by transferring investments to be held on the trusts of a later settlement. However the actual effect of the advancement was that the trusts in remainder were void for perpetuity. Held: A trustee when exercising a … Continue reading Re Hastings-Bass; Hastings v Inland Revenue: CA 14 Mar 1974
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
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 parties signed a memorandum of agreement to let a strip of land from 1930 until determined as provided, but the only provision was that the lease would continue until the land was needed for road widening and two months’ notice was given. The land was never used for road widening and notice to terminate … Continue reading Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v London Residuary Body and Others: HL 16 Jul 1992
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 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 . .
The court considered the effect of section 62 of the 1925 Act.
Sir Nicholas Browne-Wilkinson V-C said: ‘The main intention of Section 62 was to provide a form of statutory shorthand rendering it unnecessary to include such words expressly in . .
Three Leases of the Peter Jones site to T’s predecessor in 1934 contained covenants by T to redevelop the site in two phases, the second of which related to the MackMurdo and Simon’s Street buildings and was to be completed by December 25 1987. In . .
The defendant tenant appealed from refusal of relief from forfeiture. At the trial it was conceded that there had been breaches of covenant by the defendant company consisting of the failure to reconstruct the premises by a stated date, and to give . .
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 . .
The mother sought to prevent a father from publishing a book about her child’s life. It was to contain passages she said may cause psychological harm to the 12 year old son. Mother and son lived in the USA and the family court here had no . .
The claimant had paid money for a property, but the seller was a fraudster and no money or title was recovered. The claimant sued both his conveyancers and the solicitors who had acted for the fraudster, in each case innocently. The defendants each . .
A mere payment of a sum of money might amount to an act of part performance, as might the act of a purchaser instructing solicitors to prepare and submit a draft conveyance or transfer, so as to leave asituation capable of enforcement in equity. . .
The landlord sought to forfeit the lease for breach of a repairing covenant. The mortgagee had gone into possession, and having received the s146 notice, had served a counter-notice under the 1938 Act. The mortgagee having assigned the lease to the . .
