Land | Ownership

Definitions: Property, Land & Fixtures

16 January 2014 Download

property rights: confer upon person degree of control over resource / ability to enforce against people in general
licence: permission & not proprietary interest / tenancy: proprietary interest
real: remedy recover land / real action / land is real property (realty) / freehold only
personal: remedy return item or damages / personal action (personalty) / leasehold & chattels

s.205(1)(ix) Law of Property Act 1925: land includes: land any tenure / mines & minerals / buildings or parts / corporeal & incorporeal hereditaments
hereditament inherited upon intestacy: corporeal (visible & tangible) / incorporeal (intangible rights) / licence: personal permission not hereditaments

maxim: owner of land owns everything up to heavens & down to centre of earth
invasion of airspace above C's land: not trespass / analogy firing a gun & flying air balloon (Pickering v Rudd)
advertising sign / amounted to trespass (Kelsen v Imperial Tobacco)
aerial photo / correct approach: balance owner's rights (ordinary use & enjoyment of land) / general public rights to use airspace (Bernstein v Skyviews)

bits of law

if chattels attached to land can become fixtures & part of realty
test 1: method & degree of annexation / test 2 : object & purpose of annexation (Berkley v Poulett)
test 1: requires physical annexation to land / whatever attached to soil becomes part of it / but may be rebutted by test 2
test 2: if purpose to enhance realty: object resting by own weight or lightly affixed & removed without damage (fixture) / if purpose of annexation to enable enjoyment of object to be enjoyed (chattel not fixture)
bungalow / 3-fold classification: chattel / fixture (realty) / part & parcel of land itself (realty) (Elitestone v Morris)
indicators: ability to remove without damaging fabric of building / intended to be permanent & lasting improvement to property (fixture) / ornamental: attachment temporary & sufficient for enjoyment (chattel)
cooker: freestanding & electric flex (chattel) inbuilt kitchen units (fixture)
carpets & curtains: insubstantially attached & extent required for enjoyment (chattel)
white goods: degree annexation slight (bought separately & consumable) & disconnection not damage building (chattel) (TSB Bank v Botham)

bits of law