Conditional Estates
Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009
PART 2
Ownership of Land
Ownership and abolition of feudal tenure.
9.— (1) From the commencement of this Part, ownership of land comprises the estates and interests specified in this Part.
(2) In so far as it survives, feudal tenure is abolished.
(3) Subsection (2) does not affect—
(a) the position of the State under—
(i) the State Property Act 1954,
(ii) section 73 of the Act of 1965,
(b) the concept of an estate under section 10,
(c) any fee farm grant made in derogation of the Statute Quia Emptores 1290,
(d) any surviving customary right or franchise.
[SQE 1290]
(4) A fee simple remains freely alienable.
Estates and interests in land.
10.— (1) The concept of an estate in land is retained and, subject to this Act, continues with the interests specified in this Part to denote the nature and extent of land ownership.
(2) Such an estate retains its pre-existing characteristics, but without any tenurial incidents.
(3) All references in any enactment or any instrument (whether made or executed before or after the commencement of this Part) to tenure or estates or interests in land, or to the holder of any such estate or interest, shall be read accordingly.
Restrictions on legal estates and interests.
11.— (1) The only legal estates in land which may be created or disposed of are the freehold and leasehold estates specified by this section.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a “freehold estate” means a fee simple in possession and includes—
(a) a determinable fee,
(b) a fee simple subject to a right of entry or of re-entry,
(c) a fee simple subject only to—
(i) a power of revocation,
(ii) an annuity or other payment of capital or income for the advancement, maintenance or other benefit of any person, or
(iii) a right of residence which is not an exclusive right over the whole land.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a “leasehold estate” means, subject to sections 12 and 14, the estate which arises when a tenancy is created for any period of time or any recurring period and irrespective of whether or not the estate—
(a) takes effect in immediate possession or in future, or
(b) is subject to another legal estate or interest, or
(c) is for a term which is uncertain or liable to termination by notice, re-entry or operation of law or by virtue of a provision for cessor on redemption or for any other reason.
(4) The only legal interests in land which may be created or disposed of are—
(a) an easement,
(b) a freehold covenant,
(c) an incumbrance,
(d) a rent payable under a tenancy,
(e) a possibility of reverter,
(f) a profit à prendre, including a mining right,
(g) a public or customary right,
(h) a rentcharge,
(i) a right of entry or of re-entry attached to a legal estate,
(j) a wayleave or other right to lay cables, pipes, wires or other conduits,
(k) any other legal interest created by any statutory provision.
(5) A legal estate or legal interest under this section has, subject to this Act, the same attributes as the corresponding legal estates and interests existing at the commencement of this Part and may exist concurrently with, or subject to, any other legal estate or interest in the same land.
(6) Subject to this Act, estates and interests other than those referred to in subsections (1) to (4) take effect as equitable interests only, but this does not prevent the creation of the estates and interests referred to in those subsections as equitable interests.
(7) Nothing in this Act affects judicial recognition of equitable interests.
(8) Subject to this Act, a power of attorney, power of appointment or other power to dispose of a legal estate or interest in land operates with the same force and effect as such powers had before the commencement of this Part.
(9) All estates and interests in land, whether legal or equitable, may be disposed of.
Prohibition of fee farm grants.
12.— (1) The creation of a fee farm grant at law or in equity is prohibited.
(2) Any instrument executed after the commencement of this Part purporting to—
(a) create a fee farm grant, or
(b) grant a lease for life or lives renewable for ever or for any period which is perpetually renewable,
vests in the purported grantee or lessee a legal fee simple or, as the case may be, an equitable fee simple and any contract for such a grant entered into after such commencement operates as a contract for such a vesting.
(3) A fee simple which vests under subsection (2) is freed and discharged from any covenant or other provision relating to rent, but all other covenants or provisions continue in force so far as consistent with the nature of a fee simple.
(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to any contract or instrument giving effect to a contract entered into before the commencement of this Part.
(5) Notwithstanding section 11(2), any fee simple held under a fee farm grant existing at law at the commencement of this Part continues as a legal estate and may be disposed of.
(6) Notwithstanding section 11(4), any fee farm rent existing at law at the commencement of this Part continues as a legal interest and may be disposed of.
Abolition of the fee tail.
13.— (1) The creation of a fee tail of any kind at law or in equity is prohibited.
(2) Any instrument executed after the commencement of this Part purporting to create a fee tail in favour of any person vests in that person a legal fee simple or, as the case may be, an equitable fee simple and any contract for such a creation entered into before or after such commencement operates as a contract for such vesting.
(3) Where—
(a) immediately before the commencement of this Part, a person was entitled to a fee tail at law or in equity, or
(b) after such commencement, a person becomes entitled to such a fee tail,
a legal or, as the case may be, an equitable fee simple vests in that person on such commencement or on that person becoming so entitled provided any protectorship has ended.
(4) In subsection (3)“fee tail” includes—
(a) a base fee provided the protectorship has ended,
(b) a base fee created by failure to enrol the disentailing deed,
but does not include the estate of a tenant in tail after possibility of issue extinct.
(5) A fee simple which vests under subsection (2) or subsection (3) is—
(a) not subject to any estates or interests limited by the instrument creating the fee tail to take effect after the termination of the fee tail,
(b) subject to any estates or interests limited to take effect in defeasance of the fee tail which would be valid if limited to take effect in defeasance of a fee simple.
Prohibition of leases for lives.
14.— The grant of a lease for—
(a) a life or lives,
(b) a life or lives combined with a concurrent or reversionary term of any period,
(c) any term coming to an end on the death of a person or persons,
and any contract for such a grant made after the commencement of this Part is void both at law and in equity.