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04 April 2019 / Rawdon Crozier
Issue: 7835 / Categories: Features , Property
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Notes on a scandal: freeholders & medieval robber barons (Pt 2)

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Summing up his series on the unfairness of escalating ground rent, Rawdon Crozier proposes a way out of the dungeon
  • Could the Housing Act Trap render escalating ground rent a derogation from grant?

Part 1 of this speculative article explained the Housing Act Trap. Part 2 explores whether the trap might render escalating ground rent a derogation from grant and thus, as a matter of law, capable of being struck down.

Rule of law

Megarry & Wade (Law of Real Property, 5th edition) described derogation from grant as a free-standing and independent rule of law, an analysis endorsed by the Court of Appeal in Johnston & Sons Ltd v Holland [1988] 1 EGLR 264. It applies to all forms of grant and, while commonly associated with leases and other contracts relating to land, it is also encountered in contracts concerning:

  • Intellectual property, eg Gloucester Place Music Ltd v Le Bon [2016] EWHC 3091 (Ch) where the serving of notices by members of Duran Duran under the United States Copyright Act 1976
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