The Property and Investment Markets and Town Planning

Fundamentally, the subjects of real property transactions are not the land and buildings themselves but interests in rights over land, which in aggregate are known to English law as property.1 Land is merely the medium in which property rights subsist. The greatest bundle of rights in property is the ‘fee simple absolute’, an unencumbered freehold estate free from any sub-interest. Freehold rights are, however, not unlimited; they will be subject to the provisions of planning and other legislation. The freehold interest may be purchased subject to obligations entered into by the previous owner. For example, a property may be purchased with an existing tenant who has a leasehold interest. The freeholder has purchased the right to receive rent from the tenant, the right to regain possession at the end of the lease, and then to use the property within the constraints of planning or local authority regulations. The durability of real property enables more than one interest to exist; in particular, ownership and right of use may be separated.