They are rights an estate may possess by virtue of owning the lordship of the manor. Sporting rights, mineral rights, the right to hold fairs and markets on property are just a few.
Mineral and sporting rights are distinct in that they, because of their value, are usually explicitly dealt with in a conveyance or transfer. Therefore, where they arise, they will have been expressly granted or reserved and picked up by the Land Registry as a registerable disposition of the land.
Historical background
Manorial rights stem from feudal times when Lords of the Manor enjoyed certain privileges and rights that came with, and were attached to, the Lordship of the Manor. ‘Land of the manor’ was held by copyhold tenants with the Lord of the Manor holding the superior or freehold title. The term ‘copyhold’ originates from the tenant’s attendance at the manorial court where the tenant would receive confirmation of his tenancy by ‘copy’ of the court roll from the Lord of the Manor or his steward.
The copyhold tenant had possession of the land but ownership of the mineral and sporting rights over the copyhold remained with the Lord of the Manor. With the land reforms of the nineteenth century, copyhold tenants were given the right to acquire the freehold under various Acts of Parliament culminating in the Law of Property Act 1922. This automatically enfranchised all remaining copyhold land in the country, turning it into freehold. However, even after the copyhold tenant acquired the freehold title to his land, often the Lord of the Manor’s interest in the mineral and sporting rights remained with the Lord.
Land that might also retain interests of the Lord of the Manor is land that was enclosed as a result of an enclosure award. When the commons and wastes of manors were enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries and allotted to new owners, the enclosure award sometimes reserved sporting and mineral rights back to the Lord.
Rights continue
Traditionally manorial rights continued to bind the surface owner of the land because of their designation as ‘of overriding interests’. That is to say they took precedence over any other property interest. These interests overrode both first registration of the title and the disposal of registered land. So, the purchaser of the surface land would have acquired the land subject to the manorial rights even if they are not shown on the register of title.
This is where a change in the law is about to occur.
Land Registration Act 2002
One of the aims of this Act was to make the registered title more comprehensive and complete so that purchasers would have full knowledge of what they were buying, up front.
The Act reduced the classes of overriding interests – those rights which bind property without a need for registration – and required those with the benefit of manorial rights to register them in order to bring them to the attention of prospective purchasers.
Action
This registration must be done before 13 October 2013 in order to ensure they are protected. After that date, if a purchaser buys a property and there is no notice on the registered title excluding the mineral or sporting rights, then the purchaser will acquire the property inclusive of such rights. It will be too late for the Lord of the Manor to subsequently register his interest!
As always, if you need commercial and pragmatic legal advice, we’re here to help so please get in touch.
We are delighted to welcome senior associate Adam Hale to our agriculture & estates team this month. Adam, a specialist in agricultural law, estate planning and estate administration, joins the…
For prescriptive rights to arise over land, they have to have been exercised without force, secrecy or permission of the landowner. Winterburn v Bennet In the case of Winterburn v Bennett, the…
The High Court decision in Lancashire County Council v The Secretary of State for Environment is a salutary warning to landowners of the risks of not taking steps to prevent…
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through our website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use our website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies but it may affect your browsing experience on our website. You can find our cookie policy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function and enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. These cookies do not store any personal information. You can block these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
We use performance cookies such as Google Analytics to help us count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone. For more information on how these cookies work, please see our cookie policy.