Will reform resolve the legal minefield of easements by prescription, asks Christopher Warenius
Most property owners would agree that the law relating to easements by prescription can be a bit of a minefield. It has, as the Law Commission’s consultation paper Making Land Work: Easements, Covenants and Profits a Prendre suggests, “become too complex over decades and even centuries”.
Facts
In 1973, London Tara Hotel (LTH) granted a licence to Kensington Close Limited, the owner of the Kensington Close Hotel (KCH), providing for rights to use the service road belonging to LTH in consideration of an annual £1 payment, if demanded. In 1980, unknown to LTH, KCH changed ownership but use of the service road continued, even though the licence had been granted to, and