REYAZ AHMAD S/O JAMIL AHMAD N1571255 FMT303 PROPERTY LAW TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT 01 T-GROUP 02 Question 1
REYAZ AHMAD S/O JAMIL AHMAD
N1571255
FMT303 PROPERTY LAW
TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT 01
T-GROUP 02
Question 1:
(a) Eric’s Right:
First of all, in order to advice on the capabilities of Eric’s right to continue to store his kart in Ethan’s shed and use of his kart on Ethan’s land, it must be capable of being an easement through the 4 characteristic of an easement. Therefore, the 4 essential requirements or characteristic of an easement will be as follow and each characteristic will be applied to Eric’s right on whether his right is capable of being an easement.
1 – There must be a dominant tenement and a servient tenement: To fulfill this first requirement of an easement, Eric must have the right as an owner of his land over Ethan’s owned Land. Since Eric owned a kart and have an interest of the karting circuit on Ethan’s land, Eric’s right on driving his kart to Ethan’s Land and keeping his kart there can be an easement.
2 – The right must accommodate the dominant tenement: This second requirement must enhance the ownership of the dominant tenement and the right should not be created for the personal benefit of the owner of the dominant tenement, which in this case, the owner of the dominant tenement is Eric. Since Eric’s right to store his kart on Ethan’s land is connected with the use and enjoyment of the karting circuit on Ethan’s Land, this will establish Eric’s right of ownership of which are augmented by the easement.
3 – The dominant tenement owner and the servient tenement owner must be different persons: This third characteristic will requires the dominant and servient tenements to be in separate ownership and occupation, and it cannot have an easement of any land’s owner over his/her own land. So for this case, Ethan (servient tenement owner) owns the west side of the 2 parcels of adjoining land and Eric (dominant tenement owner) owns the east side of it. Therefore, Eric’s right to store his kart in the shed of Ethan’s land satisfies this characteristic as the parcel of land are occupied by different person for an easement to exist.
4 – A right over land cannot amount to an easement, unless it is capable of forming the subject matter of grant: This fourth characteristic will require that there must be both the grantor and grantee, which are legally competent and capable for the right to be of the forming the subject matter of grant. Since Evan had bought over the freehold of the eastern half from Ethan after the end of his 6 months lease, and after that, Eric buy over Evan’s property and Evan’s Kart, this can contribute for an easement to be granted, as it will be attached to the land, for the duration of a fee simple in perpetuity because it is capable of forming the subject matter of a grant by deed, even if it is not yet granted.
Hence, based on the 4 characteristic of an easement and explanation above, it can be concluded that Eric’s right of storing and driving his kart on Ethan’s land will be capable of qualifying as an easement. So the next step is to determine on whether Eric’s right has been acquired by him as a dominant owner for the easement.
First of all, there are several main ways to acquire an easement and Eric needed to know these following ways:
1 – By Grant: The grant must be in the English language and by deed. Eric need to find out from Evan as to whether his right of an easement (dominant tenement owner) to keep and drive his kart on Ethan’s land (servient tenement owner) have passed by the grantee or lessee (Ethan), previously, or whether they have been retained now? If this is not done, then it can be acquired by implied grant or reservation. One of the ways to establish a grant by implication is that, there is this principle of non-derogation from grant.
2 – By Reservation: Through reservation, firstly, the grantee (owner of servient tenement/Ethan) will be called upon to execute the conveyance containing the reservation, to be serve as a conveyance of the land to the grantee and followed by a regrant by the grantee of the easement to the grantor (Eric).
3 – By Registration: Under the Land Titles Act (LTA), an easement of registered land can only be acquired by way of registration. Section 97 of the LTA states that “an easement may be created by the execution of an instrument in the prescribed form and that on the endorsing of a memorial on the folio of the register of the servient tenement, the easement is then registered”. Through these, the proprietor of the dominant tenement (Eric) will be notified of the notification of an easement through his folio.
(b) Sketch of relationship between properties:
Reference
FMT303 Property Law Study Guide by SUSS, 2017, Release V1.3
Principles of Singapore Land Law by Professor Tan Sook Yee, Student Edition, Third Edition, LexisNexis 2009
Singapore Statutes Online. (2018). Land Titles Act – Part X – EASEMENTS. Retrieved Sept, 2018, https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/LTA1993?ProvIds=P1X-
