Sample/practice exam May 2018, questions PDF

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GDL Land paper...

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ASSESSMENT NUMBER:

NOTTINGHAM LAW SCHOOL GRADUATE DIPLOMA in LAW

SAMPLE PAPER

FINAL EXAMINATION __________________________________________________________

Subject:

Land Law

Date:

Time:

INSTRUCTIONS: Candidates may bring into the examination room the relevant statute book for use during the assessment. You should ensure that any flagging or marking of the statute book accords with the rules set out in the Assessments Manual.

1.

Write your Assessment Number in the box above. DO NOT ENTER YOUR NAME ANYWHERE IN THIS BOOKLET.

2.

Answer any three questions from the six given overleaf. All questions carry equal marks.

3.

Use a separate booklet for each question attempted. Qu No.

The question answered in this booklet is:

4.

At the end of the examination, enter here the number of continuation sheets used (if any):

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1st internal examiner

_______ 021-04 /79f8ce versity

2nd examiner

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Agreed internal mark

_______ 73eac7e

External Examiner

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GDL 200X/0X FINAL EXAMINATION Land Law

1. In May 2013 Ann, Brenda, Cat and Davina purchased “The Mansion” a large property which they planned to convert to a luxury bed and breakfast (with enough additional living space for the four of them). They provided the purchase price in equal proportions and the transfer included a statement that they were to hold the property as beneficial joint tenants. They ran the business together very successfully for three years. In 2016 Brenda announced that she was getting married and wished to realise her share in the property. They had several meetings to discuss the situation; a valuation of £800,000 was obtained and the question of how the others might raise the necessary money to buy out Brenda’s interest was discussed. Before anything was finalised, Brenda was killed in a car accident. She had made a will a few months before leaving all of her property to her boyfriend, Nigel. Ann was extremely upset by the death of Brenda and decided to sell her interest in the property and travel around the world. To enable her to proceed with her plans quickly, her father, Robert, purchased her equitable interest in the property. Nigel and Robert have now agreed that they want The Mansion to be sold, as the bed and breakfast business is no longer making a profit.

Advise Cat and Davina on the following: a) Who may have a claim to an interest in The Mansion and on what basis? b) Can Robert and Nigel force Cat and Davina to sell; and, if so, how?

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2.

In May 2013 Lytham Properties Limited (Lytham), the fee simple owner, granted a lease by deed of a shop for a term of 10 years to Early Days Limited (Early Days). Within the lease the tenant covenanted to: (i) pay rent of £80,000 per annum quarterly in advance on the usual quarter days whether formally demanded or not; and (ii)put and keep the building in a good and substantial state of repair. The lease also included a provision for re-entry for non-payment of rent and non-performance of other covenants. In June 2015 Early Days relocated to smaller premises and assigned the lease by deed (with the landlord’s consent) to Great Gary Limited (Great Gary) who rapidly outgrew the shop. In October 2016 Great Gary assigned the lease by deed (with the landlord’s consent) to a new business venture selling organic vegetables, Tootypop Limited (Tootypop). Tootypop has been undergoing an internal reorganisation and has not paid any rent for the last year. Representatives of Lytham recently inspected the building and discovered that there is significant internal and external disrepair to the building. a) Advise Lytham as to what remedies are available to it and against whom. b) How would your advice differ if both Early Days and Great Gary had entered into authorised guarantee agreements?

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3. Your client, Sue, is interested in buying 12 Kew Road Nottingham from Lenny and Vera. Title to the property has been registered at the Land Registry in the joint names of Lenny and Vera since they bought the property together in 1985. The following matters have come to light as a result of your pre-contract searches, enquiries and inspections: (a) Lenny and Vera’s neighbour, Fred (who owns number 10 Kew Road), uses a short-cut to get to the public highway on foot across the front garden of number 12. According to Lenny, Fred and his family and friends have used this short-cut on a regular basis since 1989, when Fred first bought number 10. (b) As Lenny and Vera were rather short of funds at the time, Lenny’s father, Clive, helped them out by paying part of the deposit when Lenny and Vera first bought number 12 in 1985. Since his wife’s death in 2009, Clive has been living at the property along with Lenny and Vera. (As a retired lawyer himself, he made sure that Sue was aware of his interest in the property when she first looked round it.) (c) Two years ago, Lenny and Vera entered into an informal 6 year lease with Murray of an annex standing in the grounds of number 12 at an annual rent of £3,000. The relevant agreement was written on a scrappy piece of paper (all the terms were scribbled on by both parties and the relevant piece of paper was signed by both parties); Murray’s friend, Daniel, is currently living in the annex after having recently split up from his wife (Murray has now moved in to his girlfriend’s flat).

Advise Sue whether she will be bound by all of these matters if she proceeds with her purchase from Lenny and Vera.

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4. Irving House was purchased in the joint names of John and Karen Richmond and duly registered at the Land Registry. John and Karen moved into the property with a view to renovating it whilst living there and then running it as a small country house hotel. Irving House is a large Edwardian property set in grounds of approximately one acre. It has several outbuildings and many of these along with the house itself were in need of fairly extensive renovation. To fund this project the Richmonds obtained a mortgage from the Midshires Bank plc (Midshires). The legal charge to Midshires was by deed. It was in Midshires’ standard form, and was duly registered at the Land Registry. In the meantime John and Karen continued with their present jobs Unfortunately the renovation costs soon greatly exceeded their budget. In 2014 they made a planning application to convert some of the outbuildings into holiday cottages. The renovation is now about three quarters completed. However despite their efforts the Richmonds have been unable to keep up with the repayments on the mortgage for the last 5 months. Following a meeting with the Richmonds, Midshires has decided to enforce its security as soon as possible. Whilst the Richmonds reluctantly accept that the property will have to be sold they feel that the market is not favourable at present and they also want to delay any sale until the renovation is completed. They are therefore demanding that they manage the sale themselves and if not they propose to remove the recently fitted bathroom items and light fittings. Advise Midshires as to: a) its right of possession and sale of Irving House and its contents. b) whether there are any other ways in which it could seek to recover its money.

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5.

In 1998, Jeremy (a gentleman who despises cats) purchased a large area of land in a small village in rural North Yorkshire. He built a luxury house on part of the land and called it “Jezville”. Title to all of Jeremy’s land was registered. In 2004, Jeremy sold off the remainder of his land to Angus. At Jeremy’s insistence the transfer contained the following: “For the benefit and protection of the Seller’s adjoining land known as Jezville or any part or parts thereof and so as to bind the property hereby transferred the Buyer hereby covenants with the Seller and his successors in title that the Buyer and his successors in title will at all times observe and perform these covenants: (a) not to allow any cats in the garden of the property hereby transferred; (b) not to use the property for business purposes; and (c) to contribute to the cost of the maintenance and upkeep of the shared private sewerage system situated under Jezville for which the owner of the property hereby sold is also granted rights to use.” Angus erected a large property on the land he purchased and called it “The Manor”. Jeremy sold Jezville to Ken in 2014, and two years later Angus sold The Manor to Barney, a local car dealer. Last year Barney started to run his car sales business from The Manor. Ken has asked Barney several times to pay towards the urgent repairs to the shared private sewerage system but, so far, Barney has not paid anything. Furthermore, Barney seems to have adopted several of the neighbourhood stray cats and regularly leaves out cat food for them to eat in the grounds of The Manor. Ken is violently allergic to cats. Advise Ken whether he can enforce the covenants and, if so, against whom, including any remedies that might be available.

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6. Bloomsbury Hall is a large nineteenth century building that until 2007 was used exclusively as a country house hotel. The hotel comprises a main building with an east and a west wing, and a large courtyard. In 2007 the owners of the hotel, Edward and Millie Benson, hit financial difficulties, and in order to avoid bankruptcy they granted a 10 year lease of the whole of the west wing to Prestige Leisure Ltd (Prestige) for use as a leisure facility and beauty clinic. This was to be run as a separate entity from the hotel. The lease contained an option to renew the lease for a further 10 years. The main building, east wing and courtyard were retained by the Bensons. Since the grant of the lease the following has occurred: (a) In 2015, with the permission of the hotel owners, Prestige added a glass extension housing a swimming pool and jacuzzi. The glass extension has a very sunny aspect and looks out onto the courtyard. (b) During the summer months Prestige has placed a small number of sun loungers in the courtyard for its clients to enjoy the sun. (c) The hotel owners have allowed Prestige to use part of an outhouse to store equipment when not in use. Prestige exercised its option to renew the lease in May 2017, and the Bensons agreed to the renewal, but asked Prestige to cease its use of the courtyard, as they wished to place tables and chairs there for the hotel guests to use. Prestige complied with this request. In April 2018, the Bensons added balconies to some of the first floor rooms in the main building. One of the balconies directly overhangs the glass extension, and has reduced the level of light. Prestige is extremely annoyed at this development, and has started placing sun loungers in the courtyard again. The Bensons have said that if Prestige continues to use the courtyard they will stop it using the outhouse. Advise Prestige what right and remedies (if any) that it may have.

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