Land law
In 2015 Alina became the owner of the registered freehold estate to “Uplands”. Her mother, Betty, contributed 50% of the £300,000 purchase price, with Alina paying the balance from money she had saved and inherited over the years. Alina, Betty, and her 15- year-old son, Chris, moved into the main house on completion. In 2020, Betty’s physical health worsened. Alina wanted her mum to be able to continue living at Uplands. She and Chris made plans to convert an old barn down by the entrance to Uplands into a single floor home with easy access ramps and a bathroom with showers and toilet facilities that could be used by someone with a disability.
Alina, however, did not have the £85,000 necessary for the works, so Chris (who by now was writing computer code on a consultancy basis) offered her a deal. He would pay her £85,000 in return for an option to purchase the entire Uplands estate for £500 within the next 20 years. Alina agreed and the option to purchase was duly granted to Chris, though he did not do anything to protect it; something Alina kept reminding him he needed to chase his solicitor to sort out. The works were then completed and Betty moved into the barn.
In February 2021, Alina suggested that Chris have a break from working so hard. Chris agreed that he had never really seen the world. He decided he would go and see the USA for six months, telling Alina “Maybe I’ll go and see Silicon Valley and make some contacts whilst I’m there”.
In June, and whilst Chris was away, Alina found herself in financial difficulty after a latenight game of poker. One of her fellow players, Ella, offered to buy Uplands. Alina invited Ella over to look around the property as part of agreeing the price, but Alina did not want her mother to worry, so arranged for the visit to happen whilst Betty was due to spend the day in hospital for a check-up.
Alina tidied all of her mother’s belongings away in the barn before Ella arrived. She showed Ella all around the barn, and then the pair of them walked up to the main house to look around there. Ella commented on the computers but Alina just shrugged her shoulders and said only her son understood these things. Ella asked about the son, and Alina replied “Oh he paid nothing for this place, but we once agreed he could buy it sometime, but I don’t think it amounts to anything these days because he did nothing about it to make it legally enforceable”. Ella said “They never listen, do they!” Alina replied “Exactly, his loss, our gain”. Ella responded “Look, I know you need the money fast, and I’m willing to take a chance on Chris’ laziness if there is something we can do to sweeten the deal for me”.
Ella then left Uplands without looking anywhere else, and they agreed a price for the property. The sale was duly completed in October 2021 and Ella was registered as the new estate owner. Chris returned from the US on the very day that Ella was moving in. He found his confused grandmother in tears as strange people were forcing her out of her home. Alina was nowhere to be found.
1. Advise Ella whether Betty, and Chris have any interests in Uplands enforceable against Ella.
2. How, if at all, would your answer to (1) above differ if title to the property had at all times been unregistered?
3. Comment critically on the specific principles of law that you have applied in answering (1) and (2).
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