Category: Property Law

This new textbook on land law, written by Louise Glover and Kate Campbell-Pilling (both of whom have both academic and practitioner experience), is a welcome addition to an area of law which is notoriously complicated.  The aim of Land Law is simple: to allow students to understand the general scheme of land law and to become familiar with the source material.  This is an ambitious aim but Land Law easily achieves it by giving a practical and concise explanation of the law.

Land Law is split into fourteen chapters: introduction to land law; acquisition; unregistered land; registration of title; registered land priority rules; co-ownership and trusts of land; uses of leases, lease characteristics, formalities, licences and forms of lease; privity of contract and privity of estate, enforceability of covenants and the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995; lease clauses, breaches and ending a lease; mortgages: concept, creation and protection; mortgages: lender enforcement rights and borrower protection; setting aside a mortgage for undue influence or misrepresentation; easements; and covenants.

The topics covered, and the written style of Land Law, clearly draw upon the authors’ practical experience.  Land Law is concise and accessible while, at the same time, cross-referencing to relevant statutory provisions, guidance (including the Land Registry Practice Guides) and consultation papers (including the Law Commission’s Reports).  These are vital references for anyone wanting to properly understand land law and make this text ideal for both students and newly qualified lawyers.  The authors’ writing style is also clear and engaging; this allows the reader to quickly grasp the points being made.

This first edition of Land Law is extremely welcome.  Its focus on the practical issues of land law, which are vitally important to students when they start their practical training courses and their training, should mean Land Law will be kept close to hand during a lawyer’s early years.  For example, explaining what a lease is (and how it is structured) gives a fantastic context before learning the rules which apply to leases.  Land Law is also a great aide-memoire for more experienced lawyers (the cross-references alone are worth the text’s price).

Reviewed on 29 July 2018

It has been some seven years since the last edition of the popular A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property was published in 2009.  This fifth edition of A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property has been thoroughly updated to take account of a number of important developments including changes to taxation and Land Registry practice, the RICS 2014 Code of Practice on Service Charges in Commercial Property and the significant changes to the law on distress.  It also includes the latest case-law and legislative developments.

Written by two experienced practitioners, A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is expertly split into eleven chapters: an introduction to commercial conveyancing and property; rent and rent reviews; commercial lease covenants I; commercial lease covenants II; miscellaneous lease concerns: enforceability of lease covenants, insolvency and disclaimer, surrender and merger; remedies; the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954: security of tenure for business tenants and termination and renewal of business tenancies; property development: land acquisition, planning, construction and finance; selling and buying tenanted properties; revenue law and commercial conveyancing; and your practice.

The first thing which strikes you when you start reading A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is its written style; both practical and commercial focussed.  There are a number of important hints and tips throughout the text.  For example, the authors remind practitioners of the importance of including a right to forfeit a commercial lease (and the potential negligence claim if you fail to do so).  There are also a number of useful precedents including, for example, a sample notice under Section 27(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and an alienation precedent example.

A Practical Approach to Commercial Conveyancing and Property is an indispensable guidance to commercial conveyancing.  If you are a commercial property practitioner, or a property litigation lawyer, you should seriously consider having a copy close to hand.  If you do so, you will avoid the need to undertake research from a number of sources.  This text provides excellent and digestible summarises of the law in a clear and accessible way.  It also very usefully refers to the proposed changes of law (including numerous references to Law Commission consultations).  It also includes a number of additional materials (including eighteen appendices) which will be a vital resource for any serious commercial property practitioner.

Reviewed on 10 October 2016