Freehold (law)
A freehold, in
It is in contrast to a
The default position subset is the perpetual freehold, which is "an estate given to a grantee for life, and then successively to the grantee's heirs for life."[4]
England and Wales
Diversity of freeholds before 1925
In England and Wales, before the
Rentcharges and payments by way of positive covenants
All estates can be subject to payments to an influential prior owner – or land management person or body for multi-property (communal) benefit (estate rentcharges). The most viable form is the form for a neutral or pre-agreed source to collect communal benefit payments, the estate rentcharge. Either type is usually protected by registering the deed of rentcharge against the land. They can be extinguished by a compensation-based statutory procedure, which removes the regular administrative burden on both parties.
Estate rentcharges are potentially subject to abuse, known as "fleecehold".
Any existing rentcharges other than estate rentcharges will be extinguished on 22 August 2037.[5]
Should the owner be guaranteed to benefit or wish to benefit from a communal infrastructure that requires maintenance, not funded by taxation, then
Adverse possession
Freeholds (rather leaseholds if subject to a leasehold) could quite easily be acquired by squatting before the Land Registration Act 2002.[6][7]
Since its passage such rights are dominated by precisely fixing on the line of neighbouring plots in mutual-boundary disputes, after 12 years without formal contest. This is as there is otherwise a requirement to put the previous legal owner on written notice – which must have been received, or deemed received such as by recorded delivery, and be given fair opportunity to object. It is also more easily applicable to unregistered land, which is the status of a tiny number of parcels of non-agricultural freehold land in England.[7][6]
Legal owners as trustees for beneficiaries
More than one legal owner means the land is deemed to be on trust. This doctrine is designed to bind the parties to act fairly to each other in the eyes of the
As regards third parties interesting in lending against or purchasing the land the general doctrine helping them is the bona fide purchaser without actual nor constructive notice doctrine. This is however subject to all of the prudent surveyors, conveyancer's and physical checks having been carried out well which is formulated in the countering doctrine of caveat emptor (buyer beware). A beneficiary in patent actual possession can still enjoy rights as against a purchaser, or more commonly a mortgage or other secured lender, under the Land Registration Act 2002.
Trustees are bound by the terms of the trust, but the strict rules and maxims of equity and by any decision formally made by all of the adult beneficiaries.[8]
Inequities the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TLATA)
One of the key features of TLATA is its imposition of statutory considerations to be taken into account when dealing with the disposition of trusts and ordering a sale of a family home.
See also
Notes
- bona vacantia (vacant property, deemed to belong to the Crown, in some other countries land called "unowned") is not immediately treated as capital of the Crown (in practice the government, this having by long custom been gifted to the Chancellery). A fair period and notice is given for company rescuers, creditors, missing intestacy or testamentary heirs to come forward before its escheat to the government means it can be sold or leased as a windfall to the government Treasury through the Bona Vacantia Division. Freehold is an ownership of an estate in land rather than the land itself. This distinction dates back to the Middle Ages and makes a relatively little difference nowadays, so legal authorities often do not bother to distinguish between ownership of the land and ownership of an estate. Attainder has also been abolished as to forfeiture of interests in land: mostly by the Forfeiture Act 1870 and residually, as to a narrow crime, by the Criminal Law Act 1967.
This principle is also cited, with approval, by the Courts of record in upholding the right, if compensation is at the market value, of government to make without impropriety, any non-irrational, procedurally fair, compulsory purchase in England and Wales and Scotland.[2] - ^ Pronounced /təˈlɑːtə/ by lawyers
References
- ^ "Freehold Land". Australian Trade Commission. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
- ^ "FAQs About Escheat". Crown Estate. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-7862-8517-4.
- ^ ISBN 0-314-22864-0. -deluxe.
- HMRC. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- ^ a b Department of Constitutional Affairs (June 2001). "Land Registration Bill – Regulatory Impact Assessment". Retrieved 22 March 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-7282-0458-4.
- ^ Saunders v Vautier