Land Law - Practice Paper 3

Oscar and Paula purchase a house together for £500,000. The transfer is registered in their joint names as beneficial joint tenants. Oscar contributed £350,000 and Paula £150,000. They have two children aged 8 and 12. Oscar secretly remortgages the property to Quick Finance Ltd, forging Paula's signature on the mortgage deed. Quick Finance registers the charge. Oscar defaults. Paula claims she knew nothing about the mortgage and was in actual occupation throughout. She also claims the beneficial interests should reflect the unequal contributions. Quick Finance seeks possession. Meanwhile, Oscar is declared bankrupt. His trustee in bankruptcy also seeks an order for sale. Advise all parties, considering the interplay between co-ownership, overriding interests, forgery, and insolvency.

The system of land registration in England and Wales represents a fundamental policy choice to prioritise the security of registered transactions over the protection of pre-existing unregistered interests. Critically evaluate this statement, considering whether the LRA 2002 achieves an appropriate balance between the competing policy objectives of the registration system.

Rachel owns a large country estate comprising a manor house, farmland, and several cottages. She enters into the following arrangements: (i) She grants her gardener Sam a right to live in Cottage 1 for as long as he works on the estate. (ii) She allows her friend Tina to graze cattle on the south field in return for an annual payment. (iii) She promises her nephew Ulrich that she will leave the manor house to him in her will and Ulrich, relying on this promise, spends £80,000 renovating the house. (iv) She grants her neighbour Vera a right to store boats in the estate's boathouse. Rachel now wishes to sell the estate to William. Advise on the nature and enforceability of each arrangement against William.

The distinction between commonhold and leasehold as methods of managing multi-unit developments remains practically insignificant because commonhold has failed to gain traction. Analyse the reasons for this failure and assess whether recent reform proposals are likely to make commonhold a viable alternative to leasehold.

Xavier grants a 15-year commercial lease to Yolanda at market rent. The lease contains a break clause exercisable by Yolanda at year 5 on condition that all covenants have been complied with. The lease also contains a rent review clause providing for upward-only review at years 5 and 10, and a covenant against making alterations without consent. At year 5, Yolanda wishes to exercise the break clause. However, she has installed a partition wall without consent (which she subsequently removed) and was three days late paying rent on one occasion during the term (she immediately paid when she realised the oversight). The landlord argues the break clause conditions have not been satisfied. Yolanda alternatively argues the rent review clause is void as a penalty. Advise Yolanda on her prospects of exercising the break clause and challenging the rent review.