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Code of Conduct – acting for lender and borrower
The rules on acting for a lender and a borrower in a conveyancing transaction were previously in r6(3) of the Solicitors Practice Rules. However, th... Read more...
Case study: An option with a surprising result
Nick Lloyd reviews a case involving the extension of an option period with an unexpected outcome. Read more...
Boundaries – rectification
The LR has power to alter the register to correct a boundary error, but this can be refused if there are ‘exceptional circumstances’ that justify no... Read more...
Dracula
Easements/rights of way
Easement - parking

Can you claim an implied ‘right to park’ as an easement? The answer is that you can, but it is extremely difficult to do so.

Easing the way? The implications of leasehold and freehold mergers on easement
In any situation where a tenant of one part of a multi-let property buys in its landlord’s interest, careful attention must be paid to the nuts and bolts of appurtenant rights such as easements. This has always been so, but a new case increases the potential for headaches (and incidentally throws doubt on the accuracy of many registered titles). Such situations are perhaps most likely to arise in the residential context, but may also crop up in the course of corporate restructuring of property holdings, where the primary concern is of course the financial imperative, and such details may be lost.
Transfers of part: drafting tactics
authorLaurie Heller provides advice on ensuring that the transferor of part of a property does not lose valuable rights over both the retained and transferred property.
Right to light - 1959 Act notice
Rights of light have attracted much interest over the last year, largely because of Regan [2006]. In that case the occupier of a flat succeeded in a right to light claim against a developer who had built a penthouse on a neighbouring building; even though the loss in value to the flat owner was only £5,500, the developer was ordered to knock down part of the penthouse (at a cost of £175,000!).
Blacked out - preventing rights to light
THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS FOR DEVELOPER landlords. In the recent case of RHJ Ltd v FT Patten (Holdings) Ltd and another a lease contained a reservation of the right to build on adjoining property, and this was held to prevent the tenant from acquiring a right to light over that property. To reach this decision, the High Court adopted a wide construction of the reservation, which did not specifically refer to rights of light, and this is likely to assist developers in the future.
L&T Case Study: Extinguishment of easements
authorIn the recent case of Wall v Collins [2007] the Court of Appeal considered a number of issues concerning the law of easements.
Public right of way – intention

The Highways Act 1980 says:

‘Where a way over any land... has been actually enjoyed by the public as of right and without interruption for a full period of 20 years, the way is deemed to have been dedicated as a highway unless there is sufficient evidence that there was no intention during that period to dedicate it.’
Right to build – no right to light
L had two adjoining plots. The first plot was let on a 99-year lease, and the second was sold as a freehold. The owner of that freehold site then sought to redevelop, but the T of the other plot objected, arguing that he had been in occupation for over 20 years and thus had a right of light that would be breached by the development.
Easement – wind turbine?
The fad for eco-friendly townies to install wind turbines on their houses has led some to query whether there can be any legal right to an unrestricted airflow to keep the turbine turning.
Easement – not abolished on merger
The traditional view has been that a merger of a lease with the freehold will mean that any easement granted by the lease will automatically end. This is what LR Practice Guide 26 says:
Rights of light: further illumination
Following the recent decisions in Regan and Tamares, Bryan Johnston provides an overview of current judicial thinking on rights of light.
Right of escape – lost?
Two adjoining properties had mutual rights of escape (ie each benefited from a right to escape across the other). But, the wording was slightly different and one had a right of escape which was subject to provisos that (i) the roof and external staircase continued to exist, and (ii) it was the right of the other property owner to change the route from time to time.
Right of way – 'swing' space
Suppose your land is subject to an 8ft wide right of way. Can you erect a fence that is flush with the immediate sides of that right of way (ie so the two fences are exactly 8ft apart)?
Right of way – injunction
The last few months has seen several clear indicators of a willingness by the courts to enforce property rights by way of injunction, rather than allowing the offender to buy-out the right (by simply having to pay damages).
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