The vendors were partners in Cubitt and Co, a well-known firm of builders who had laid out land in Palace Gate, Kensington in building plots suitable for large private houses. In 1869 they twice sold and conveyed plots to the Duke of Bedford subject to covenants restricting building to one private residence, and in 1873 sold another plot to Sir John Millais. The Duke in his conveyances covenanted with the vendors their heirs and assigns, the conveyances expressly stating that his covenants were made ‘with intent that the covenants . . might enure to the benefit of [the vendors], their heirs and assigns and others claiming under them to all or any of their lands adjoining or near to the said premises’.
Held: The words were a sufficient description: ‘The real and only difficulty arises on the question – whether the benefit of the covenants has passed to the assigns of Sir John Millais as owners of the plot purchased by him on March 25, 1873, there being no evidence that he knew of these covenants when he bought. Here, again, the difficulty is narrowed, because by express declaration on the face of the conveyances of 1869 the benefit of the two covenants in question was intended for all or any of the vendor’s lands near to or adjoining the plot sold, and therefore for (amongst others) the plot of land acquired by Sir John Millais.’ and ‘Covenants which run with the land must have the following characteristics: (1.) they must be made with a covenantee who has an interest in the land to which they refer; (2.) they must concern or touch the land.’
Farwell J
[1900] 2 Ch 388
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Crest Nicholson Residential (South) Ltd v McAllister CA 1-Apr-2004
Land had been purchased which was subject to a restrictive covenant. The papers did not disclose the precise extent of the dominant land, the land which benefitted from the restriction.
Held: The land having the benefit of a covenant had to be . .
Cited – University of East London Higher Education Corporation v London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and others ChD 9-Dec-2004
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 . .
Cited – Federated Homes Ltd v Mill Lodge Properties Ltd CA 29-Nov-1979
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 . .
Cited – Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board CA 1949
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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land
Leading Case
Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.196681