Trusts of Land

As well as being involved at first instance and appellate level of some of the most important and defining cases related to trusts of land and proprietary estoppel (such as Cobbe v Yeomans Row [2008] HL 55), Landmark’s barristers at both junior and silk level are regularly instructed to advise upon and represent parties in cases involving Trusts of Land, in both a residential context and a commercial one.

In particular, barristers have a wide range of experience in relation to:

• The quantification of parties’ shares of property;
• The acquisition of beneficial interests in property by resulting or constructive trusts;
• The interpretation and construction of express deeds of trust;
• The application of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (“TOLATA”);
• Orders for sale generally and where one co-owner refuses to sell;
• Purchaser’s protection from Trusts affecting the purchase land, Overreaching, and beneficiaries in Actual Occupation for the purposes of the Land Registration Act 2002;
• Commercial and development agreements based on express agreements or conduct;
• Gifts of land, and the realisation of a deceased wish to deal with property in a certain way;
• The power of trustees and the management of land and property that is co-owned;
• Equitable remedies for beneficiaries of a trust.

The expertise that barristers have in relation to Trusts of Land and Estoppel also means that they are regularly instructed in cases of professional negligence where such issues were not detected by conveyancers or other professionals or not diligently dealt with.