Land Law, LW599 / LAWS5990; LAND LAW PROBLEM QUESTION. In 2012, Evie and Floss quit their jobs as solicitor and carpenter respectively and bought Wet Weekend, a waterslide fun park in Kent. The vendors were Christine and Douab, an elderly couple who ran the park for 35 years. Evie and Floss planned to renovate and relaunch the park for a new generation of water lovers.
Wet Weekend is on a large block and features a ticket office, changing rooms, a snack kiosk, 5 waterslides, and
a residence with private parking on the back part of the block. The neighbouring block to the East was for sale
cheaply at the same time. Very narrow, it features only a small residential bungalow that in 2012 was in need
of major repairs. Evie and Floss decided to buy this block too.
The purchase of the Wet Weekend block for a total of £280,000 was financed by a mortgage to Best Bank, with
a deposit of £30,000 paid in equal shares by Evie, Floss, and Evie’s mum Zelda. Evie and Floss were both
registered as proprietors. They moved into the residence together, and planned to make the mortgage
repayments jointly with takings from Wet Weekend. But in practice, Floss has regularly made more repayments,
as she continues to earn a small income doing local carpentry jobs on the side. Evie has spent relatively more
time managing Wet Weekend’s finances. Floss has also carried out some repairs to the residence.
The purchase of the neighbouring “Bungalow block” to the East for £120,000 was financed 50% by Evie and 50%
by Zelda. Evie told Floss not to worry about contributing money. She said that over their 10 years together she
probably owed Floss a few thousand pounds, and they also agreed that since Floss would obviously renovate
the bungalow, that could be her contribution. However, Evie also told Floss that if someone doesn’t contribute
money they can’t be registered as proprietor, so the title was registered in Evie’s name only. Evie told Floss
“we’ve always shared everything anyway, what’s mine is yours!” Floss agreed, and over the next 3 years she
carried out extensive renovations to the bungalow.
To the West of Wet Weekend, the neighbours are Ali and Bostjan, an elderly couple who have been there for
more than 40 years. Ali and Bostjan were close friends with Christine and Douab. In 1995, they let Christine and
Douab put support pillars for a new large waterslide on their driveway, and in exchange they were allowed to
use the private parking on the Wet Weekend block. They also helped Floss to resurface the private parking lot
in 2013. In 1978, before there were proper fences, Ali put in a big garden bed. To find a spot that wasn’t
overshadowed by any waterslides, she had to position it so that it encroached onto Christine and Douab’s land
by one meter, for a 5-metre stretch. The precise location of Ali’s garden never came up in conversation, and in
1980 when Christine and Douab put up high fences to stop people sneaking in to Wet Weekend without paying,
they simply worked around it.
In 2017, Wet Weekend wasn’t doing very well. This put a lot of strain on Evie and Floss’s relationship, and Floss
moved into the bungalow on her own. Evie convinced Floss that the way out of financial difficulty was to make
Wet Weekend bigger and better. She arranged another mortgage on the Wet Weekend block with SouthEast
Bank (discharging the mortgage to Best Bank). She also mortgaged the Bungalow block to SouthEast Bank,
without telling Floss. Evie’s intention was to use the money to build more slides, using all available land shown
on the Wet Weekend title. But when she approached Ali and Bostjan, they insisted they have to keep using Wet
Weekend’s parking, and claimed they have a right to leave their garden bed where it is.
Wet Weekend continues to perform badly, and payments have fallen into arrears on both of the 2017
mortgages.
Evie approaches you for advice, asking:
1. What beneficial interests are likely to be held in the two properties, and whether SouthEast Bank will be
able to repossess either of them; and
2. Whether she can prevent Ali and Bostjan from using any part of the land on the Wet Weekend title.
Assessed Written Work
Module Title and Code: Land Law, LW599 / LAWS5990
Assessment Title: Land Law Problem Question 2018-19
Percentage of module mark: 50%
Please see the Module Outline for information on relevant marking criteria and learning outcomes.
Length: not more than 2000 words (excluding bibliography). Exceeding the word count will result in a
word count penalty being applied, please see the ‘word count penalty policy 18-19’
1, for further
details.
Submission Deadline: 14:00 hours on Wednesday 05/12/2017
THIS DEADLINE IS STRICT (Late Submission Guidance1
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