A leasehold estate is defined by having an end date that can be identified, however distant
A worked RES examination question on estate types and duration, from our Paper 1 bank — with the rule it turns on, and why each of the four options is right or wrong.
The question
A candidate revising over the weekend is comparing three titles he has come across in his firm's files: a State lease of ninety-nine years; a private lease of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years; and an estate in perpetuity.
Consider the following statements.
- (i) The ninety-nine-year State lease ends on a date that can be identified.
- (ii) The private lease, though enormously long, remains a leasehold estate.
- (iii) The estate in perpetuity carries no date of expiry.
- (iv) That private lease is, given its length, as good as a freehold in law.
The answer, and why
Answer: A
The rule. A leasehold estate is defined by having an end date that can be identified, however distant. A term of any length remains leasehold. An estate in perpetuity has no expiry. Length does not move a lease along a spectrum towards freehold; the categories are distinct.
Why A is correct. The ninety-nine-year State lease has an identifiable end date; the private lease, however long, is still leasehold; the estate in perpetuity never expires — so (i), (ii) and (iii) hold. (iv) is false: that private lease is no nearer freehold in law than a three-year one.
The other options.
- B and C both carry the false (iv), which candidates accept because in economic terms a very long lease behaves like a freehold.
- D carries it too.
Exam note. The examiner reaches for an absurd lease length precisely because it makes (iv) feel true. Ask whether there is an end date, not whether anyone alive will see it.
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