THIS PAPER IS NOT TO BE REMOVED FROM THE EXAMINATION HALLS

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON LA3003 October

DIPLOMA IN THE COMMON LAW

LLB

ALL SCHEMES AND ROUTES

BSc DEGREES

Property Law

Wednesday 21 October 2015: 14.30 17.45

Candidates will have fifteen minutes during which they may read the paper
and make rough notes ONLY in their answer books. They then have the
remaining THREE HOURS in which to answer the questions.

Candidates should answer FOUR of the following EIGHT questions.

Candidates should answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated.

Permitted materials
Students are permitted to bring into the examination room the following
specified document: either one copy of Blackstone's Statutes on Property
Law (OUP) or one copy of Core Statutes on Property Law (Palgrave
Macmillan).

University of London 2015

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1. Downturn Council owns the registered freehold title of Upturn Manor.
Upturn Manor is one of a number of properties that Downturn Council
has left empty since the 1980s because of a lack of money. Upturn
Manor comprises a house, an outbuilding and extensive grounds.

Earlier this year Downturn Council decides to sell Upturn Manor to

generate income to allow it to convert other empty properties into
housing. Carson, Downturn Councils surveyor, visits Upturn Manor. He
discovers that Bates is living in the house. Bates tells Carson that he
purchased the house from the Downturn Council in 1999. He shows
him a copy of the contract for sale and a receipt for the purchase price.

Carson also discovers Thomas, a local builder, locking the door to the
outbuilding. When Carson challenges him Thomas says that he has
squatters rights and explains that he first started to store his tools in
the outbuilding in 1990. Thomas points to the security cameras he
installed after his van was stolen in the mid-1990s. He assures Carson
that soon after he starting making use of the shed he emailed
Downturn Council offering to pay rent for the outbuilding; but he did not
receive a reply.

During his site visit Carson establishes that the boundary fence
between Upturn Manor and the neighbouring factory, Fabulous Foods,
appears to be located some distance from where it is shown on
Downturn Councils plans. As a result a small part of Upturn Manor is
on the wrong side of the fence. Carson contacts the owner of Fabulous
Food, Isobel. Isobel explains how she erected the boundary fence after
a storm in 2000. The fence was put where her surveyor, who had
consulted Fabulous Foods plans, said it should be.

Advise Downturn Council as to whether Bates, Thomas or Isobel might

successfully apply to be registered as proprietor of that part of Upturn
Manor they occupy.

2. The contemporary borderline between fixtures and chattels may now

be more case-specific and context-dependent than was once believed.
(Elements of Land Law, Kevin Gray)

Discuss.

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3. Last summer, after successfully passing his first year exams at
university, Harolds mother Maude bought a house to rent to him and
his three friends Abdul, Owen and George. They each signed identical
documents, based on a standard Lease Agreement bought from the
local stationers, but with the word Lease crossed out and replaced
with the term Licence. The duration of each agreement was recorded
as two years or one month after graduation and the rent was set at
half the market rate. A term was also included stating that Harolds
father, Chris, would be entitled to visit the property every week by prior
arrangement to clean the house and do any repairs. In fact Chris
misses his son so much that he often visits more frequently and
occasionally sleeps over when he misses the last train home.

(a) Maude has now been declared bankrupt and her trustee in
bankruptcy asks you to advise on the status of the four
agreements.

(b) How, if at all, would your advice differ in each of the following
alternative circumstances?

(i) No rent was payable under the agreements;

(ii) The house was owned and the lease granted by Maudes
company which is now insolvent; and

(iii) Owen signed his agreement a week after the others.

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4. Jack owned Gray Gables, a hotel and golf course set in substantial
grounds of nearly 200 hectares. In 2005 Jack sold a small plot of land
at the southernmost edge of Gray Gables to Hazel. Hazel wanted to
build a house on the plot. The plot was only accessible from the main
road by using 100 metres of the tarmac drive belonging to Gray
Gables. Hazel covenanted with Jack, his successors in title to the
retained land, and for the benefit of owners of the neighbouring land
that she would:

(a) pay half the cost of repairing and maintaining the 100
metres of Gray Gables driveway leading from the plot of
land being sold to the main road;

(b) keep the property in a neat and tidy condition; and

(c) not use the plot to cause a nuisance, annoyance or

disturbance.

In 2007 Hazel built a house on the plot and paid the cost of relaying the
tarmac on the shared 100 metre strip of Gray Gables drive. In 2008
Jack sold Gray Gables to Caroline. In 2012 Hazel sold her house and
plot to Linda; and in 2015 Linda sold it to Daniel. Daniel, the lead
guitarist in a heavy metal band, has built a rehearsal studio behind the
house. Loud music can be heard coming from the studio day and night.
This has not only annoyed Caroline it has outraged Kenton, the owner
of The Heffer, a nearby public house. Daniel has also neglected the
house and garden and ignored Carolines most recent request to pay
half the cost of repairing potholes on the shared driveway.

Discuss.

5. Although described quite accurately as the mortgagees right,

possession is in practice a remedy.

Discuss.

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6. Lillian is the registered proprietor of Dower House, a small-holding that
includes a cottage, a detached shed and a large paddock. Lillian keeps
chickens on the paddock and sells their eggs to the public. There is a
worn track through the paddock which forms a shortcut to the nearby
country village of Hollerton.

In May 2014 Lillian leased the cottage to her friend, Jolene, for a year.
Lillian retained the shed and the paddock. Before they signed the lease
of the Dower House Lillian told Jolene that she was happy for her to
use the shortcut through the paddock to Hollerton. A month later
Jolene, a country and western singer, asked Lillian if she knew of
somewhere locally where she might be able to keep her caravan when
she was not touring with her band. Lillian gave Jolene a key to the
shed and told her that as it was empty she could keep the caravan
there. Jolene was so pleased she invited Lillian to make use of the hot
tub in the cottage garden. In July 2014 Lillian asked Jolene if she
minded her placing a sign on the side of the cottage wall nearest the
road to advertise the sale of eggs from the Paddock. Jolene agreed.

In 2015 Lillian granted Jolene a five year lease of Dower House before
she sold the shed, the paddock and the egg business to her neighbour,
Brian. Brian refuses to let Jolene use the shed and the short cut across
the paddock to Hollerton. Jolene has therefore asked Brian to take
down the advertising sign and to stop using the hot tub.

Advise Jolene.

7. Unregistered interests that override are sensible and reasonable

exceptions to the need for registration of land law rights. Nevertheless
it is clear that the scope and operation of this category of interests
provides a potential pitfall and source of uncertainty for purchasers of
registered land.

Discuss.

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8. Five friends Alan, Brian, Cindy, Daphne and Eleanor decide to open a
business and buy a house to rent as a holiday home. As Alan is richer
than the others he pays half the purchase price with the others paying
one eighth each. The house is conveyed into their names as legal and
beneficial joint tenants and is successfully run as a business for a
number of years with Alan taking 50% of the profits and the other four
sharing the remainder equally. Cindy is then made redundant and at
Alans suggestion moves into the house with her daughter Vivienne
who is autistic and enrols in the local specialist institution. Daphne is
unhappy that the house can no longer be rented out and discusses
with Brian and Eleanor whether they will buy her share. However,
although a price is initially agreed verbally, Daphne changes her mind
when all the owners decide to move into the house together to support
Cindy. Brian is then diagnosed with a terminal illness and, on legal
advice, sends a registered letter to the house addressed to each of the
others informing them that he wants to sever his share. However
minutes after the letter is posted, Eleanor is killed in a car crash and
when the letter arrives the next day Brian signs for it but immediately
destroys it. Alan is traumatised by the death of his best friend and
agrees to sell his interest to Cindy as he intends to emigrate. Before
completing the sale however Brian dies and at the funeral the surviving
owners, with the exception of Cindy, agree to sell the house.

(a) Advise Cindy.

(b) How, if the house is sold, will the proceeds be divided?

END OF PAPER

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