LEGAL ASPECTS OF DIETETICS MODULE Ms. Esther Waitherero PROPERTY RIGHTS AND CONVEYANCING LAW Property right is the exclusive authority to determine how a resource is used whether that resource is owned by government or individuals. It also refers to a bundle of legal rights over the use to which a resource is put and over the use of any income that may be derived from that resource. The nature of real or personal property or anything people use or transfer to other people is general known as property. In strict legal sense it is not the thing itself but the rights and ownership of the thing which is referred to as property. Therefore property is any physical or virtual entity that is owned by an individual or jointly by a group of individuals. An owner of property has the right to consume , sell, rent , transfer and exchange his/her property. Property can be broadly classified as follows Personal property Real property. Real property refers to land and things permanent attached to the land. It refers to anything on the surface of earth and anything beneath it. Personal property refers to movable things or interest/right to that thing. They are items which are movable and not part of the land. They can the tangible or intangible. Intangible property includes Trade secrets, patent , copy rights which can be represented in a certificate or license. Property law is the area of law that govern various forms of ownership in real and personal property within common law legal system. Conveyance – in law conveyance refers to transfer of legal title or ownership from one person to another i.e. from sales to buyer. It also refers to transfer of ownership/interest in real property from one person to another by use of a document such as a deed lease or mortgage. Free hold – it is a term referring to complete ownership of property for a unlimited time. One may buy a property and get its full right and that property can be passed on to heirs .Ownership in this case can terminate if or when the person who own property live no heirs. If the owner dies with no will left or no living relatives the property is possessed by the state. Leasehold – the term lease hold originated from Feural Agrarian society in the U.K. This is where peasant worked on land that ownership belonged to their lord. Presently leasehold is similar to this in that the property is owned by freeholder but the leaseholder is granted possession of it for an established length of time by a lease or contract. The leaseholder is committed to pay for this possession in payment called ground pay rent.During those days a leasehold took an extend period of time e.g. 99yrs. A leasehold can take LEGAL ASPECTS OF DIETETICS MODULE 100 years long or less.A lease hold can be sold to another person but be transferred with the existing terms. A lease – It is a contract giving a right to one person (called a tenant or lessee) to posses property belonging to another (called a landlord or lessor) to the exclusion of the owner, landlord and all others except with the invitation of the tenant. It is also a rental agreement between a landlord and a tenant. The relationship between the landlord and tenant is called tenancy .The right to possession by the tenant is called lease hold interest. Common elements of a lease 1. The names of parties of agreement 2. The starting date and duration of agreement 3. Identify the specific object by street address, maker/models serial numbers e.t.c for property being leased. 4. It has a specific consideration for granting the use of the object; consideration can be paid in lumpsum or in periodic payments. 5. Provides conditions for renewal and non-renewal terms 6. It has provision for security deposit and terms for its return. 7. Has specific list of conditions which are there in described or default conditions and specific remedies. 8. It has to provide insurance for loss, restrictive use ,which party is responsible for maintenance etc. Different types of tenancy Fixed term tenancy /tenancy for years It lasts for some fixed period of time despite the name tenancy for years .Such a tenancy can last for any period of time even a tenancy for one week may be called a tenancy for years At common law the duration did not need to be certain but could be conditioned upon the happening for some events e.g. until the crops are ready for harvest, until the war is over etc. A fixed term tenancy comes to an end conditionally when the fixed terms runs out or in the case of a tenancy that ends or the happening of an event when the event occurs. Periodic tenancy / tenancy from year to year / month to month or week to week. It is a tenancy that exist for some period of time determined by the time of rent payment . Either the landlord or tenant may terminate the periodic tenancy at any time by giving notice to the other party or as required by law.Typical the landlord must give 6 month notice to terminate a tenancy from year to year. Tenancy of lesser duration must receive notice equal to the period of the tenancy e.g a month notice to terminate a tenancy from month to month. Tenancy at will A tenancy at will is a tenancy of which either the landlord or tenant may terminate at time by giving a reasonable notice. It is usually in the absence of a lease or where the tenancy is not for consideration .A tenancy at will is broken by law in the following circumstances: LEGAL ASPECTS OF DIETETICS MODULE 1. If a tenant commit waste against the property 2. tenant attempts to assign the tenancy 3. landlord transfer his interest to the property 4. the landlord leases the property to another person 5. if the tenant or landlord dies. Tenancy at sufferance /holdover tenancy It exists when a tenant remains in possession of property after the expiration of a lease and until the landlord acts to eject the tenant from the property. How ownership can be transferred Mortgage – this is the transfer of an interest in property to a lender as a security for debt usually a loan of money > a mortgage in itself is not a debt but a security of a debt. In most jurisdiction mortgages are strongly linked with loan secured in real estates. A mortgage is the standard method by which individual and business can purchase real estate without the need to pay the full value immediately from their own resources. Non-payment of the mortgage may compel the lender to end the mortgage so as to recover the debt. This legal procedures is referred to as fore-close. Anytime before the fore-closure the owner may be given time to settle the debt. The legal term used to keep the property during this period is referred to mortgage right of redemption. Contracts of conveyance The process in which estates in land or interest in the land is transfrerd from one party to another is commonly known as conveyancing. It involves two stages; The contract stage and the conveyancing stage. The contract contains two parts; a) particulars of sale that describes what is being sold b) Conditions of sale which describes the terms upon which the property is to be sold. In contracts of sale, the sellers full names as shown in the titles deeds together with the current address must be stated with sufficient clarity. There should be no errors in the buyers name. Proper description of the property must be given i.e whether its freehold or leasehold the seller must prove to the buyer that he can covey what he has agreed to convey .