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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 ...
of the United Kingdom Parliament. 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. Th ...
Lord Birkenhead between 1922 and 1925. The programme was intended to modernise the English law of real property. The Act deals principally with the transfer of freehold or leasehold land by deed. 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 ...
land law, particularly as regards many aspects of freehold 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 c ...
, 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 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 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 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 ...
, 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 structu ...
of villeinage where a tenant was obligated to provide special duties and services to mesne lord 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 (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 si ...
.


See also

* English property law * English trusts law * Land Registration Act 1925 *
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 si ...
* 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