What does a landowner own? Malcolm Dowden investigates
The Law of Property Act 1925, s 205(ix) defines “land” to include land of any tenure, and mines and minerals, whether or not held apart from the surface, buildings or parts of buildings (whether the division is horizontal, vertical or made in any other way)
Bocardo v Star Energy [2009] EWCA Civ 579, [2009] All ER (D) 132 (Jun) concerned a claim for damages for trespass where an oil company drilled at an angle from the well head to access liquid petroleum deposits beneath the claimant’s land. Access to and exploitation of the liquid petroleum itself was restricted by statute to those with a licence permitting its extraction. The claimant landowner had no such licence, and so could not lawfully access or extract the liquid petroleum. However, to access the reserves, the licensee had to drill and lay pipes through strata lying beneath the surface of the claimant’s land. The licensee argued that the owner of the surface owns only as much of the subsoil as is reasonable for the enjoyment of the surface. That argument
