The Law of Property Act 1925
c 20 is a
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
of the
United Kingdom Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
. It forms part of an interrelated programme of legislation introduced by
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to modernise the English law of
real property
In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...
. The Act deals principally with the transfer of
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
* Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
* Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
or
leasehold
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...
land by
deed
In common law, a deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, affirms or confirms an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions, sealed. It is commonly associated with transferring ...
.
The LPA 1925, as amended, provides the core of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
land law, particularly as regards many aspects of
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
* Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
* Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
land which is itself an important consideration in all other types of interest in land.
Background
The keynote policy of the act was to reduce the number of
legal estates to two – freehold and leasehold – and generally to make the transfer of
interests in land easier for purchasers. Other policies were to regulate mortgages and as to leases, to regulate mainly their assignment, and to tackle some of the ''
lacunae'', ambiguities and shortcomings in the law of property. Innovations included the default creation of
easements under section 62 to reduce unintended denial of access, and
statutory enlargement under section 153 (applications to convert very long leasehold to freeholds, where no rent has been paid or demanded for a long period of time).
The Act followed a series of land law and policy reforms that had been begun by the
Liberal government Liberal government may refer to:
Australia
In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia:
* Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...
starting in 1906. This is how one American legal scholar,
Morris Raphael Cohen
Morris Raphael Cohen ( be, Мо́рыс Рафаэ́ль Ко́эн; July 25, 1880 – January 28, 1947) was an American philosopher, lawyer, and legal scholar who united pragmatism with logical positivism and linguistic analysis. This union co ...
, described it:
Provisions
Part I – General principles as to legal estates, equitable interests and powers
Section 1 sets out the basic structure of the newly reformed legal estates—"an estate in fee simple absolute in possession" (commonly referred to as freehold), and "a term of years absolute" (leasehold). Old estates in land—
fee tail
In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...
and
life interests—are converted by s.1 so as to "take effect as equitable interests". Section 3 sets out how these equitable interests have effect.
Part II – Contracts, conveyances and other instruments
Section 70 of the 1925 Act should be considered in conjunction with schedules 1 and 3 when considering interests that override, most notably that to be in receipts of rents and profits is no longer an overriding interest.
Section 84 of the Act sets out the powers of an appointed authority to alter or remove
restrictive covenants on property deeds. This power was later transferred to the
Lands Tribunal by the
Law of Property Act 1969, and subsequently to the
Upper Tribunal
The Upper Tribunal is part of the administrative justice system of the United Kingdom. It was created in 2008 as part of a programme, set out in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, to rationalise the tribunal system, and to provide a ...
by the Transfer of Tribunal Functions (Lands Tribunal and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2009.
Part III – Mortgages, rentcharges, and powers of attorney
Part IV – Equitable interests and things in action
Section 136 provides for written notice of an
assignment
Assignment, assign or The Assignment may refer to:
* Homework
* Sex assignment
* The process of sending National Basketball Association players to its development league; see
Computing
* Assignment (computer science), a type of modification to ...
of a debt or "
thing in action Chose (pronounced: , French for "thing") is a term used in common law tradition to refer to rights in property, specifically a combined bundle of rights. A chose describes the enforcement right which a party possesses in an object. The use of ''chos ...
" to a third party.
[UK Legislation]
Law of Property Act 1925, Part IV
accessed 27 January 2021
Part V – Leases and tenancies
* Abolished the last legal statutes relating to
Copyhold
Copyhold was a form of customary land ownership common from the Late Middle Ages into modern times in England. The name for this type of land tenure is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant title deed that is recorded in the man ...
, a successor to the
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
of
villeinage
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
where a tenant was obligated to provide special duties and services to
mesne lord
A mesne lord () was a lord in the feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. Owing to ''Quia Emptores'', the concept of a mesne lordship technically still exists today: the partitionin ...
in return for
manorial land.
Part VI – Powers
Part VII – Perpetuities and accumulations
Part VIII – Married women and lunatics
Sections 167-170 have been repealed b
Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 (c. 52) Section 170 has been repealed b
Mental Health Act 1959 (c. 72) Sch. 8 Pt. I
Part IX – Voidable dispositions
These sections govern fraud; s.172 was repealed (subject to non-application to then-pending bankruptcies) by the
Insolvency Act 1985.
*s.173 Every voluntary disposition of land (the main example is a gift) made with intent to defraud a later buyer is voidable at the instance of that buyer. And no such disposition shall be deemed to have been made with intent to defraud by reason only that a subsequent conveyance for valuable consideration was made, if such subsequent conveyance was made after 28 June 1893.
*s.174 No acquisition made in good faith, without fraud or unfair dealing, of any reversionary (landlord's or future) interest in real or personal property, for money or money's worth, shall be liable to be opened or set aside merely on the ground of under value. In this subsection "reversionary interest" includes an expectancy or possibility. This expressly does not affect the jurisdiction of the court to set aside or modify unconscionable bargains.
Part X – Wills and probate
Part XI – Miscellaneous
*Section 184 states that in cases of
simultaneous death
Simultaneous death is a problem of inheritance which occurs when two people (sometimes referred to as commorientes) die at, or very near, the same time, and at least one of them is entitled to part or all of the other's estate on their death. This ...
(where there is no evidence as to who lived longer), the deaths will be assumed to have occurred in order of age, oldest first.
Amendments
Changes have taken place since the commencement of the
Land Registration Act 2002
The Land Registration Act 2002c 9 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though sim ...
.
See also
*
English property law
English property law refers to the law of acquisition, sharing and protection of valuable assets in England and Wales. While part of the United Kingdom, many elements of Scots property law are different. In England, property law encompasses fou ...
*
English trusts law
English trust law concerns the protection of assets, usually when they are held by one party for another's benefit. Trusts were a creation of the English law of property and obligations, and share a subsequent history with countries across the ...
*
Land Registration Act 1925
The Land Registration Act 1925 (LRA) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that codified, prioritised and extended the system of land registration in England and Wales. It has largely been repealed, and updated in the Land Registration Ac ...
*
Land Registration Act 2002
The Land Registration Act 2002c 9 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though sim ...
*
Exchanging contracts
Notes
References
References
*WT Murphy, T Flessas and S Roberts, ''Understanding Property Law'' (4th edn Sweet and Maxwell, London 2003)
*C Harpum, S Bridge and M Dixon, ''Megarry & Wade: The Law of Real Property'' (7th edn Sweet and Maxwell 2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Law of Property Act 1925
Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1925
English trusts law
English property law
Housing legislation in the United Kingdom