Lawyers do not have a good track record when it comes to plans. The Court of Appeal has been required to scrutinise a number of their attempts to illustrate property deals by the use of plans.
The latest high-level examination was made in Gillon v Baxter [2003] PLSCS 235, in which the disposal of part of a registered title of a farm, effected in 1985, had been shown in thick red pen on a plan with a scale of 1:3650. The trial judge was held to have adopted the correct approach in donning wellington boots and inspecting the farm in order to observe the topographical features discernible from the plan. Whatever the result, though, there was embarrassment all round for both sets of law firms involved in the 1985 deal.
Incidentally, the Land Registration Act 2002 reforms lay down detailed requirements for plans, and stipulate that a breach of those requirements will cause an application to the Registry to be rejected.
Nicholas Redman, professional support lawyer at DLA
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Lawyers do not have a good track record when it comes to plans. The Court of Appeal has been required to scrutinise a number of their attempts to illustrate property deals by the use of plans.
The latest high-level examination was made in Gillon v Baxter [2003] PLSCS 235, in which the disposal of part of a registered title of a farm, effected in 1985, had been shown in thick red pen on a plan with a scale of 1:3650. The trial judge was held to have adopted the correct approach in donning wellington boots and inspecting the farm in order to observe the topographical features discernible from the plan. Whatever the result, though, there was embarrassment all round for both sets of law firms involved in the 1985 deal.
Incidentally, the Land Registration Act 2002 reforms lay down detailed requirements for plans, and stipulate that a breach of those requirements will cause an application to the Registry to be rejected.
Nicholas Redman, professional support lawyer at DLA
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Sidbury farmers in boundary dispute EGi Legal News 23 October 2003
