is an

English land law English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal ...

case, concerning

easements An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a property ...

. It concerns physically shared amenities with physically divided ownership as to the land or surface on which they rest.

Facts

Constructed in 1907, numbers 56 and 58 in a semi-detached housing estate were built with a path between them, giving access from a road to the back gardens. The boundary between the two was the mid line of the path. On 14 May 1976 the estate owners sold number 56 to the tenants under the

Leasehold Reform Act 1967 The Leasehold Reform Act 1967c 88 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, which concerns English land law and compulsory purchase. A government bill, the law remains largely intact. It was passed by both Houses and had been tabled by minis ...

section 8 i.e. the lessees (tenants) exercised their rights to

leasehold enfranchisement A leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) was a statutory tribunal in England which determined various types of landlord and tenant dispute involving residential property in the private sector. An LVT consisted of a panel of three; one with a backgroun ...

(purchase the freehold underlying their house). The tenants had not required an express right of way be included under LRA 1967, section 10(3)(a). In October 1976 number 58 was also enfranchised. In 2003, the occupants of number 56 sued number 58 for a right of way. The learned judge at first instance rejected the claim that any right appertained to number 56 under the

Law of Property Act 1925 The Law of Property Act 1925c 20 is a statute of the United Kingdom Parliament. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by Lord Chancellor Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to moderni ...

, section 62(2) because there was no evidence the path was used for gaining access to the back garden at the time of the conveyance. But he accepted an easement over the path should be implied into the 14 May 1976 conveyance under ''

Wheeldon v Burrows ''Wheeldon v Burrows'' (1879) LR 12 Ch D 31 is an English land law case confirming and governing a means of the implied grant or grants of easements — the implied grant of all continuous and apparent inchoate easements (quasi easements, t ...

'' because it was necessary for reasonable enjoyment.

Judgment

Chadwick LJ held that there was no difficulty in implying into each lease the grant and reservation of reciprocal rights to share the pathway. The alternative type of implied easements, under ''

'', did not apply where between the land conveyed and that retained, there was common ownership, but not common occupation. There needed to be both. Hence it is inapplicable to standard leasehold enfranchisement.

References

{{reflist, 2 English land case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 2006 in United Kingdom case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

References