CiPA03 — General Law and Practice (England & Wales)

Unit 3 is the legal-foundations unit, covering seven real learning outcomes: agency, contract, land, planning, tort, discrimination and dispute resolution law. It is general property law — not lettings-specific — so it applies whether you specialise in lettings, sales or commercial.

The law of agency

Central to the whole qualification, since an agent’s entire relationship with a client rests on it.

• An agent acts on behalf of a principal and owes fiduciary duties: good faith, avoiding conflicts of interest, not making a secret profit, full disclosure
• Actual authority (expressly given) versus apparent authority (what a third party reasonably believes the agent has, even if not actually granted) — apparent authority can bind the principal even without express authority, which is why agents must be careful how they describe their own powers to third parties
• Vicarious liability can make an employer responsible for wrongful acts committed by an employee acting in the course of their employment
• Termination of agency — by agreement, completion of the task, or operation of law such as death or insolvency

Contract law essentials

• The elements of a valid contract: offer, acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations
• An implied term is not expressly written but is read into a contract by statute, common law or established custom
• Privity of contract means, generally, only the parties to a contract can enforce its terms — a third party who benefits cannot usually sue on it, subject to limited statutory exceptions
• Misrepresentation — a false statement of fact inducing a contract. Innocent, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation each carry different remedies; fraudulent misrepresentation, made knowingly or recklessly, can entitle the innocent party to rescind and/or claim damages
• Terms versus representations — whether a false statement became a contractual term (breach remedies) or remained a mere representation (misrepresentation remedies) often turns on how central it was to the parties entering the contract
• Void, voidable and unenforceable contracts — a voidable contract remains valid unless and until the entitled party chooses to rescind it, which matters for unfair terms in tenancy agreements
• Contracts with a minor (under 18) are subject to specific capacity rules, often voidable or of limited enforceability depending on the type of contract

Land law fundamentals

• Freehold versus leasehold — freehold is absolute ownership; leasehold is a time-limited right to occupy, subject to the freeholder’s interest
• Registered land is recorded with the Land Registry, which shows ownership, charges and restrictions on a title
• Easements, such as a right of way, require dominant land (which benefits) and servient land (which is burdened), under different ownership — the right must accommodate the dominant land and be capable of forming the subject of a grant
• Restrictive covenants limit land use and generally bind future owners; positive covenants (such as an obligation to maintain a fence) generally do not pass automatically to successors
• Commonhold lets unit owners hold freehold-style title to their own unit while jointly managing shared common parts, distinct from leasehold
• Proprietary estoppel can allow a claim where someone reasonably relied, to their detriment, on an assurance about land, making it unfair for the person who gave that assurance to go back on it
• Joint tenants hold with the right of survivorship — a deceased owner’s interest passes automatically to survivors. Tenants in common hold distinct shares that can be left by will

Town and country planning law

Governs whether a change of use or development requires permission. Most residential-to-residential sales need no planning involvement — but converting a house into flats, creating an HMO in an area with an Article 4 Direction, or extending a property can all trigger a requirement.

Permitted development rights allow some changes without full planning permission, subject to conditions and limits — useful to know at a basic level, since agents are regularly asked whether a change needs permission before it happens rather than after.

Tort law relevant to property

• Negligence requires duty of care, breach, causation and damage — relevant to an agent’s professional liability if bad advice causes loss
• Nuisance covers interference with a neighbour’s use and enjoyment of land, such as noise or smell disputes between occupiers
• Trespass to land is entering or remaining on land without lawful permission
• The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 establishes a duty of care owed to lawful visitors; a more limited duty to trespassers exists under the 1984 Act

Discrimination law

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic — race, sex, disability, religion, age and others. In a property context this includes refusing to deal with an applicant, offering worse terms, or steering someone away from a property because of a protected characteristic.

Both direct and indirect discrimination are unlawful. Indirect discrimination — a policy that disadvantages a particular group even without deliberate intent — is often the less obvious risk, and the one exam scenarios most often test, since it does not require any conscious intention to discriminate.

Dispute resolution methods

Several routes exist, in roughly ascending order of formality:

• Internal complaints procedures — the first step, and mandatory for every agent
• The redress schemes — The Property Ombudsman and The Property Redress Scheme, providing independent, binding-on-the-agent decisions
• Mediation — a facilitated but non-binding negotiation, useful where the relationship needs to continue
• Arbitration — a binding decision from an independent third party, often used where a contract specifies it
• Courts, or the First-tier Tribunal for specific matters such as rent or deposit disputes

England & Wales specific points

Scotland uses a different conveyancing process (missives) and land registration system (Land Register of Scotland). Contract formation principles are broadly similar across UK jurisdictions, but remedies and specific statutes differ — never assume a rule transfers automatically from one nation to another.

Quick revision checklist

1. Explain the difference between actual and apparent authority
2. Define the four elements of a valid contract, and give an example of an implied term
3. State the four conditions for a valid easement, and the difference between restrictive and positive covenants
4. Explain when planning permission is likely to be needed for a change of use
5. Distinguish negligence from nuisance and give an example of each
6. Explain the difference between direct and indirect discrimination
7. List the dispute resolution routes in ascending order of formality