Land Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Land Law - Essay Example This paper will analyze a case scenario which involves situations of easement rights, mortgage laws, and restrictive easements. Easement rights In English law, easement is an individual’s right over another’s land. In other words, â€Å"an easement is a right over one piece of land existing for the benefit of another piece of land† (plainlaw solicitors). The common easement rights recognised include the right to use way/driveway or light, the right to park a car on neighbour’s land, or even to use a neighbour’s lavatory. Some recent findings of the Law Commission indicate that at least 65% of registered freehold titles are subjected to easement rights (Law Commission & Ministry of Justice 2011). Although people have extensive easement rights under English law, land owners are not allowed to access a public highway without an easement right under certain circumstances. In order to claim an easement right successfully, the claim must meet the requirem ents of the common law definition. Danckwerts J in Re Ellenborough Park (1956) set forth four essential characteristics of an easement. The first essential feature of an easement is that ‘there must be a dominant and a servient tenement’ (Bailey 2012, pp. 205-207). ... It is particularly important to note that a claim of easement cannot be justified if the dominant and servient tenement come under a common ownership. Fourth, ‘the right claimed must be capable of forming the subject-matter of a grant’. It is the most complex characteristic of an easement and it must be definite and certain in its purpose (Ibid, pp. 205-207). Generally an easement is created in four different ways such as express grant or reservation, implied grant or reservation, prescription, and statute (NPC, n.d.). In most cases, easement rights are expressively created in a transfer document, and it is called easement creation by express grant or reservation. In case of creation of easements by implied grant or reservation, the right may be implied. The right to use way across the surrounding neighbour’s land to the public highway is an example of easement creation by implied grant/reservation. Sometimes an easement right will be created or granted following an open and unchallenged exercise for a long time. To illustrate, the right to use a way will be granted if the way has been uninterruptedly used for a long time (a minimum of 20 years). Finally, an easement right may be created by statute also. From the case scenario, it is clear that Anne sold a part of her land to Mike and Zara, who subsequently gained planning permission to convert an existing stable on the land. Here, it seems that Anne cannot prevent Mike and Zara from using the driveway that crosses her land because it is the only practical way to access the stable. The case context clearly says that the badly maintained country road is not a possible option for Mike and Zara. While analyzing the case, it is obvious that Mike and Zara