FLK2 · SQE1 module
Land Law
Land Law tests the substantive rules underneath Property Practice’s procedure: what counts as a legal or equitable interest, and how third parties are affected by it.
Easements, co-ownership and the priority of interests are the most frequently tested areas, usually through a short fact pattern rather than a bare definition question.
What this module covers
- Legal and equitable interests in land
- Easements and covenants
- Co-ownership: joint tenancy and tenancy in common
- Mortgages and the priority of interests
180+ practice questions in this subject.
A real question from this module
Try it before you decide
A path across a neighbour’s land allows the owner of the neighbouring plot to reach a private car park more conveniently, though a longer public road route to the same car park is also available. Which of the following is NOT required for this right to exist as a valid easement?
- AThere must be a dominant tenement and a separate servient tenement over which the right is exercised
- BThe dominant and servient tenements must be owned or occupied by different people at the relevant time
- CThe right must accommodate the dominant tenement, rather than merely benefit the landowner personally
- DThe right must be the only practical means of access available to reach the dominant tenement at all
- EThe right must be capable of forming the subject matter of a grant made by a legally competent grantor
Show the answer and why
Answer: D. The accepted characteristics of an easement are a dominant and servient tenement, diversity of ownership or occupation between them, that the right accommodates the dominant tenement rather than merely conferring a personal advantage, and that the right is capable of forming the subject matter of a grant. Necessity, in the sense that the right is the only practical way to reach the dominant tenement, is not one of these characteristics, and a right of way can be a valid easement even where a less convenient alternative route exists.
Re Ellenborough Park [1956] Ch 131.