Natalie Pratt joined Buckingham Law School in 2013 from the University of Oxford, St Hugh’s College, where she was reading for the postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law degree. She graduated from the BCL with the subject prize for Advanced Property and Trusts. She is currently working on a theory for the classification of new rights emerging in the field of property law, with specific focus on the law of town and village greens, the recent Law Commission consultation on conservation covenants and the Law Commission proposals on the new ‘land obligation’. Natalie has also been part of the legal team at a number of specialist land public inquiries, covering commons, village green and planning disputes.
Publication of the week: Natalie Pratt
15 September 2014
Pratt, N., “Conservation covenants: a proprietary analysis”, Conveyancer and Property Lawyer (2014): [2014] 78 Conv. 328
This article reflects on why the Law Commission proposals to make conservation covenants a statutory burden rather than proprietary interests should be rejected. It explains the importance of proprietary recognition, and how the law distinguishes between proprietary and personal rights, highlighting whether conservation covenants demonstrate the hallmarks of the closed list of proprietary interests, or meet the criteria for admission to the list. The article also responds to the arguments for making such covenants a statutory burden, including the absence of a dominant tenement, and explains why these should be rejected.
The full text of the article is available on University computers via Westlaw.