Land Law

What are the two types of property:
 

Land:

• The physical terrain of a plot of land

• Permanent structures built on the land like houses, shops, offices etc.

• Within some limits, the ground underneath the surface and the airspace above.

Personal property:

• Any property that is not land

• Physical items like a pen, ring, laptop, car etc.

• Intangible property, shares in a company, patents, our bank balance

Why do we have two categories of property?

The rules regarding land are different to the rules about personal property. Land is highly valuable assets. Buying a flat/house is likely to be the most significant financial commitment the buyer will make in their lifetime. Land provides essential utility (e.g. homes and places of business). There is a social and economical benefit in having specific laws relating to land.

what are the type of rights over property?

personal rights

property rights

What are personal rights?

These are rights against a person which can only be enforced due to agreements with that person. For example, Your friend agrees you can borrow their laptop. You have a personal right to use the laptop. But if another student asks to buy the laptop from you, you have no right to sell. Your possession of the laptop is based on a personal agreement, not a right over the property or Your friend gives you permission to stay at their house for a month. If, after a few days, your friend wants you to move out, you cannot claim rights over your friend’s house. Your staying there was based on permission given by the person, without giving you property rights.

What are property rights?

provide rights over the property itself, not just against one person. For example, A friend sells you their laptop for £500. You now have property rights over the laptop, meaning that you own it and have the right to sell it or You win the lottery and agree to buy your friend’s house. Once the purchase is complete, you can exclude everyone from the house. You have rights to the property, not just rights over friend who sold it to you

What are key characteristics of property rights?

• Universally enforceable against everyone in the world

• Exclusive, by preventing others using the property. For example, if you have property rights in law, it is unlawful for anyone else to trespass on your land.

• Transferable. The property can be sold or gifted to another person. When an owner dies, their property will be given to their heirs (usually via a will, in which they have stated who they want to inherit their property) when the owner passes away.

 

can multiple people have rights in the same property?

• A key aspect of property law is relativity of title

• Multiple people can have separate property rights in the same piece of property. For example, a tenant of a lease has superior rights of possession to their landlord, until the lease ends.

 

What is the idea of property?

Property rights in land can be divided amongst different people. Many different property rights can exist simultaneously in relation to the same plot of land. When a person says they own a thing, they are claiming to have property rights in that thing.

How can we maximise the exchange value of land?

It might be desirable to have a legal system that contains rules designed to enable landowners to maximise the monetary value of the property rights that they're exchanging. Lord Upjohn: “It has been the policy of the law for over a hundred years to simplify and facilitate transactions in real property” (National Provincial Bank Ltd v Ainsworth (HL) [1965] AC1175 at 1233)

But should the legal system prioritise the exchange value of land over the use value of land?

Use value relates to the way that property rights in land might serve some fundamentally useful purpose or satisfy some essential human requirement. Should the legal system protect a person's right to home above all other potential interests? There are rules designed to protect a person's right to a home but there also rules that promote the transferability of land.