Law Sessions With Jennifer Housen’s Podcast

How to Answer Land Law Exam Questions About Easements and Property Rights

Subscriber Episode • • Jennifer Housen • Season 11 • Episode 2

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We break down how to approach Land Law exam questions, focusing on easements as a practical example through detailed analysis of a 2007 University of London LLB exam question.

• Drawing out the scenario is vital for easement and adverse possession questions
• Use a three-step approach: identify the right/interest, determine if it's legal/equitable, and consider if it binds third parties
• Pay close attention to examiner language—words like "conveyed" suggest a deed while "sold" leaves options open
• Section 62 of Law of Property Act, Wheeldon v Burrows, and prescription are the most frequently tested easement creation methods
• Focus on answering the specific question asked rather than writing generally about the topic
• For registered land, consider Schedule 3, paragraph 3 regarding overriding interests
• Structure your answer with clear subheadings addressing each issue separately

If you're signed up to our premium service, contact us to request a sample answer to the question discussed, which was written under exam conditions of 35 minutes.


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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the second segment of Land Law Answering Land Law Exam Questions. In the first part, I tried to show you where you ought to be going as you consider a Land Law exam question and I told you that immediately after the be going as you consider a landlord exam question and I told you that immediately after the break we would consider a landlord question, in particular easements. Now we are going to consider an easement question and in particular, we will consider question five, which was posed on the University of London LLB Programme's 2007 examination paper. Now the question reads Oliver was the registered owner of a property which consisted of a house, a garden behind the house and a cottage at the further end of the garden. There was a path leading from the house to the cottage through the garden. The house fronted onto a major road and the cottage fronted onto a narrow lane. Oliver lived in the house and used the cottage as an office in the house and used the cottage as an office. In November 2005, he contracted to lease the cottage to his friend, fred for five years from 1st of January 2006. Oliver allowed Fred to occupy the cottage in November and told him that he could use the garden shed to store some of his things and that he could access the cottage through the house and garden, except when Oliver had guests staying at the house In January 2006,. A formal lease was executed In 2007,. Oliver sold the whole property to Paul. Paul has now told Fred to keep out of the house and garden and to remove his things from the shed. Advise Fred.

Speaker 1:

Okay, when answering an easement or an adverse possession question, it is vital that you do some kind of drawing. Yes, do the drawing on the exam paper. You will draw out exactly what you've just read. Do it rough, of course, if you've got reading time, for example. Now, these two types of questions in particular do lend themselves to drawings because they require a visual layout to assist both you and the examiner to see on what exactly your discussion is based. Secondly, for any land law question, you need to consider what is the right meaning, the interest, and so how is the interest created, if at all? You then need to consider if the interest is legal or equitable, and then you need to consider if it binds a third party. So in the reading and planning stage of the exam, before you write, you want to make sure that you note your points as you spot them while reading, because the thing is as it is fresh in your mind and you are seeing this brand new. It tends to be that certain things will jump out from the paper at you. So we know what the right is or the interest is. It is an easement. So we're identifying that and let's not forget to IRAC this question. So we know that it is an easement, why? Well, the normal buzzwords are there Path leading from the house, use the garden sheds to store some of his things. These are the things in an exam situation that should jump out at you to let you know exactly the type of right you're looking at Now. Is it legal or is it equitable? Well, it's no coincidence that I've chosen an easement as one example.

Speaker 1:

There are some words that examiners use which you must be aware of. So, as you know, there are certain legal rights which must be created by deed. An easement, of course, is one of them. Now examiners speak for deed is conveyance or conveyed. So if the examiner tells you that a property was conveyed, this will usually mean that a deed was used in the transfer. However, if the examiner said it was sold, then that means it could have been by deed, or it could have been by a sale without a deed. So it means the examiner is setting you up to discuss the alternatives, that is, whether it is legal or equitable.

Speaker 1:

The question says advise Fred. So that's what you do Answer the question and advise Fred. What are you going to advise him about? Well, look at the end of the question. It says Paul has now told Fred to keep out of the house and garden and to remove his things from the shed and garden and to remove his things from the shed. You have to advise Fred about this. There are two issues keeping out of the house and garden and removal of the stuff from the shed so you need to deal with them separately. It is a problem question, so the introduction should be short and you should use for each of the issues. You should not approach it like an essay question and write just generally. Now, going back to my Jeopardy game show analogy, I would certainly suggest an introduction that started along the lines of, for example, the lines of, for example, in advising Fred as to the validity of Paul's request to keep out of the house and to remove his things from the shed, it will be necessary to consider not only the status of any right Fred may have acquired, but also its impact on Paul. I would then of course, continue and subhead and deal with the two issues respectively.

Speaker 1:

As this is an easement question, you would naturally raise Rail Edinburgh Park and breeze through the requirements, as that is not the focus of the issue. You have to determine what is the issue on the fax. If the examiner has told you it's a path, if the examiner has told you it's storage, those have been held to be easements. So you don't need to spend time and ink to tell the examiner about Rail Edinburgh Park. The examiner has given you two situations easement of a right-of-way and storage, which have previously been held to be easements. So that is not an issue on the paper, except of course for the minor point to address about the guests staying. Address that and then move on.

Speaker 1:

You would then need to ascertain how the easement has been created, ascertain how the easement has been created. The three most tested easement creation areas are section 62 of the Law of Property Act, wilderness and burrows and, of course, prescription. That said, there is of course the odd times that the examiner will give you what I consider a gift, like a necessity situation or a mutual intention, or he might give it a slightly higher difficulty level by adding some other obscure point, and that, of course, is looking at the student, who's completely gone over this area. Now, here there is no mention of an express grant, and the clues for you here are the fact that Fred was in occupation prior to the sale to him, as this then suggests a discussion on section 62. That said, however, because of the point made regarding the land being sold in inverted commas rather than the word conveyed being used, if this is an area you had prepared for, you would have seen that the facts were somewhat similar to the case of Goldberg and Edwards. The last point, of course, was after your discussion as to the easement and whether it was acquired by Fred, is whether or not it was protected. The clue that it is registered land is in the first line, which reads Oliver was the registered owner of a property.

Speaker 1:

When it comes to easements and protection in registered land, the most tested area is Schedule 3, paragraph 3, precisely because of its overriding interest nature, and would bind Paul if you have submitted that they are easements.

Speaker 1:

Now, that is my suggestion on your approach to this particular question. The idea, then, is to consider the essence of an easement and you lay out real in Bropark. You would then consider the creation of an easement and of course you would have looked at how it was created based on the facts given by the examiner. And of course the most obvious or the most relevant on the facts would be section 62, lpa, and certainly when you look at wheeling and borrows, precisely because of the sold. And lastly, you would then look at how it would be binding on a third party by looking at how it is protected.

Speaker 1:

Now, of course, schedule 3, paragraph 3 provides for easements which are legal. Then these will operate as interests which override a subsequent disposition, because now that you've got a subsequent purchaser it means that it will bind that purchaser. We will of course now take a short break and on my return we will consider a past leases question. In fact, we may consider two past leases questions Now. If you are signed up to our premium service, then contact us to request a copy of a sample answer to the question we have just discussed, which I have written under time conditions of 35 minutes and which I feel would answer the question fully in an exam.