Could conservation wishes change property law, asks Brie Stevens-Hoare QC
We say “an Englishman’s home is his castle” demonstrating our strong connection to land we own. We resist interference with our control over our own property. This was exemplified recently by the painting of candy stripes on a multi-million pound Kensington property. However, at the same time, we enjoy the few wide open spaces we have and some of the best architectural and/or historic buildings in the world. The need to preserve our physical heritage, the land and the buildings, is probably better understood now than it has ever been in the past.
Perpetual obligations
One way to protect what we value is to impose obligations on land that run with the land and therefore long into the future, through numerous generations. However, English law has long been resistant to the imposition of perpetual obligations on land. The law imposes strict pre-conditions that determine whether a covenant will run with the land to bind the covenantor’s successors in title and who can enforce the covenant. The Law Commission’s proposals for conservation covenants would do just that,
