Land Law

How does the law relate to land and property? And is the current law still fit for the 21st Century?

Our Land Law module immerses you in real life scenarios to promote an understanding of how the law actually works. You are given the opportunity to work through legal problems as though you are advising a client, and we discuss some of the documentation and protocols that are used by property lawyers.

We encourage lively debate and discussion, and aim to develop your skills in thinking and reasoning logically and creatively, challenging convention and understanding how land law has shaped our environment and society. You should also have an appreciation of the ways in which land law has developed and changed.

Topics typically covered include:

• co-ownership of family homes and division of property between cohabitees
• mortgage law, including undue influence and the rights of lenders and borrowers
• landlord and tenant law, including the law on tenants’ rights and ‘sham licences’
• adverse possession and squatters’ rights
• rights of airspace and the three dimensions of land ownership
• the law of easements and restrictive covenants

Your lecturers will be specialists in their field and active researchers. Current research within the teaching team addresses the system of land registration for the protection of title or ownership of land, and the history of property law and how well it works.