Easy does it?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.

20 April 2012 / Christopher Warenius

Issue: 7510 / Categories: Features , Property

printer

mail-detail

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”.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment in London Tara Hotel v Kensington Close Hotel [2011] EWCA Civ 1356, [2011] All ER (D) 180 (Nov) illustrates the difficulties encountered in practice. The consultation paper seeks to overhaul the current law, but would the landowner in Tara be treated any differently?

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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

Easy does it?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.

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”.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment in London Tara Hotel v Kensington Close Hotel [2011] EWCA Civ 1356, [2011] All ER (D) 180 (Nov) illustrates the difficulties encountered in practice. The consultation paper seeks to overhaul the current law, but would the landowner in Tara be treated any differently?

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

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content

If you are already a subscriber sign in

...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

SourceURL:

Links:

E-newsletter Sign-Up

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS

NLJ this week: Small firms call for tech clarity as AI looms

Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: Traders’ convictions quashed in Libor shock

The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement

NLJ this week: Fraud claims climb as courts brace for AI threats

Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes

NLJ this week: Pro bono power without the red tape

Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ

NLJ this week: Trans pool player loses discrimination fight

Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ

back-to-top-scroll