SQE1 · FLK2 · Land Law
Easements — SQE1 Land question
A worked single-best-answer question on easements, with why each wrong option is wrong — the way SQE1 traps candidates.
Easements
Megan owns a cliff-top house with views across the bay. Her neighbour, Nathan, owns the land between her house and the sea. Twenty-five years ago Nathan's predecessor wrote to Megan's predecessor stating that the view across his land would always be preserved. Nathan now plans to build a two-storey extension which will block most of Megan's view. Megan claims an easement of view.
Which of the following best describes Megan's position?
- AA right to an uninterrupted view is not capable of existing as an easement, so Megan cannot prevent the extension on that basis.
- BMegan has acquired an easement of view by prescription, because the view has been enjoyed for more than 20 years.
- CMegan has an easement of view created by the letter, because it was given by the servient owner's predecessor.
- DMegan has an easement because the view accommodates her land and the dominant and servient owners are different.
- EMegan has an easement of light, which entitles her to stop any building that reduces her view.
Show answer and reasoning
A is the best answer. To be an easement a right must satisfy the Re Ellenborough Park characteristics, including being capable of forming the subject matter of a grant. A right to a view is too vague and wide to qualify (Aldred's Case; Harris v De Pinna). A view can be protected only by a restrictive covenant properly created and protected, not by an easement.
Rule: A right to a view is not capable of existing as an easement.
- B Prescription can only perfect a right that is capable of being an easement, which a view is not. (wrong rule)
- C An informal letter cannot create a legal easement and, in any event, a view cannot be an easement. (wrong rule)
- D Satisfying some of the Re Ellenborough Park characteristics does not help where the right is too vague to be the subject matter of a grant. (right rule, wrong facts)
- E A right to light protects light through defined apertures, not a view. (answers a different question)
Source: Re Ellenborough Park [1956] Ch 131; Aldred's Case (1610) 9 Co Rep 57b; Harris v De Pinna (1886) 33 Ch D 238