c. 27 (Real Property Limitation Act, 1833) c. 105 (Dower Act, 1833) 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 50 (General Highway Act, 1835) 2 & 3 Vict. c. 62 .... 3 17 3 28, 29 41 3 27 3 30 27 29 2 2 2 10 & 11 Vict. c. 17 (General Waterworks Clauses Act, 1847). 18 & 19 Vict. c. 120 (Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855)..3, 4, c. 122 (Metropolitan Building Act, 1855) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 80 26 10 2 27 3 23 & 24 Vict. c. 93 3 c. 125 (Metropolis Gas Act, 1860) 27 13 37 & 38 Vict. c. 42 (Building Societies Act, 1874). c. 78 (Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874) 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55 (Public Health Act, 1875) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 42 c. 82 (Taxes Management Act, 1880) ... PAGE 27 3 26 .3, 4, 39 29 26 53 24 .6, 49, 51 .4, 25, 26, 33 44 & 45 Vict. c. 41 (Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 27 1881) 3 2 28 ....7, 11, 23, 32, 40, 48, 49 c. 39 (Conveyancing Act, 1882) 46 & 47 Vict. c. 61 (Agricultural Holdings Act, 1883) 47 & 48 Vict. c. 54 (Yorkshire Registries Act, 1884). 48 & 49 Vict. c. 26 c. 32 51 & 52 Vict. c. 8 (Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1888) c. 41 (Local Government Act, 1888) 26 44 .7, 51 51 51 3 43 39 52 44 17 2 2 4 3 49 c. 51 (Land Charges Registration and Searches 52 & 53 Vict. c. 7 (Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1889) c. 30 c. 42 c. 50 53 & 54 Vict. c. 59 (Public Health Act, 1890) 54 Vict. c. 8 (Tithe Act, 1891) 54 & 55 Vict. c. 39 (Stamp Act, 1891) c. 64 (Land Registry (Middlesex Deeds) Act, 1891) 51 c. 76 (Public Health (London) Act, 1891) 55 & 56 Vict. c. 57 (Private Street Works Act, 1892) 57 & 58 Vict. c. 30 (Finance Act, 1894) Part I. NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON GENERAL REQUISITIONS ON TITLE. CHAPTER I. USUAL REQUISITIONS ON PURCHASE OF FREEHOLD LAND. 1. Is there any land tax, sewers rate, tithe, or tithe rentcharge, payable in respect of the property? If redeemed, the certificate of redemption should be produced and handed over on completion. The object of this inquiry, which is a very usual and constant one, is to ascertain the nature of the burdens upon the land. The charges in question are of the nature of outgoings, which are payable by the vendor up to completion; when, if need be, they should be apportioned between the vendor and purchaser. Land tax. This is a permanent charge on land and all messuages, tenements, quarries, mines, and such incorporeal hereditaments as parks, chases, warrens, fishings, tithes, tolls, and fee farm rents, and annuities payable out of land. The tax is, in the absence of an express agreement on the part of the tenant to pay the same, a charge on the landlord, although rated in the first instance on the tenant D. B as the person "having or holding" the property in respect whereof the charge is made within the meaning of the statute 38 Geo. 3, c. 5, s. 4 (the earliest statute dealing with the subject). In this connection it is important to notice that any covenant or agreement by a lessee or tenant to pay "all rates and taxes" will render him liable to pay the land tax. (See Prid. Conv., 15th edit., Vol. II., p. 11.) It has been held that the land tax is a "parliamentary tax" within the meaning of an agreement to pay "all taxes, parliamentary and parochial" (Manning v. Lunn, 2 C. & K. 13; Governors of Christ's Hospital v. Harrild, 2 M. & G. 707); but the tax is not a "parochial tax.” The best evidence of the land tax having been redeemed is the certificate of the Land Commissioners (now assimilated with the Board of Agriculture) with the receipt of the cashier of the Bank of England attached. This certificate should be produced on completion, and handed over to the purchaser to be kept with the title deeds. The following are the principal Acts relating to the land tax and its redemption: 38 Geo. 3, c. 5; 38 Geo. 3, c. 60; 42 Geo. 3, c. 116; 53 Geo. 3, c. 142; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 74; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 90; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 117; 19 & 20 Vict. c. 80 ; 43 & 44 Vict. c. 19; 52 & 53 Vict. c. 42; and 52 & 53 Vict. c. 50. Sewers rate. This is a charge assessed upon the owners of land lying within the districts over which the Commissioners of Sewers have jurisdiction, in respect of improvements to such land, arising from the general drainage and other works done in the district by the Commissioners. (See Soady v. Wilson, 3 A. & E. 248, where this general rule is laid down.) The tenant or occupier pays the rate in the first instance, but is entitled to deduct the amount so paid from the next payment of rent, unless he has stipulated to pay the same, either expressly or in general terms. The rate has been held not to be included in the term "parliamentary tax" (Palmer v. Earith, 14 M. & W. 428); but it is included in the words "scot and outgoing" (Waller v. Andrews, 3 M. & W. 312). The following are the principal Acts relating to the rate : 23 Hen. 8, c. 5, as amended by 13 Eliz. c. 9; 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 22; 4 & 5 Vict. c. 45; 12 & 13 Vict. c. 50; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 133; and the Metropolis Local Management Acts, 1855 and 1862 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120; and 25 & 26 Vict. c. 102). By the operation of the last-mentioned Acts, and of the Act of 21 & 22 Vict. c. 104, the Metropolitan Board of Works were authorized to raise a special rate, to be called the Metropolitan Main Drainage Rate, to meet the expenses incurred in the purification of the Thames, and the main drainage of the metropolis. Tithe and tithe rentcharge.-Tithes, or the payment in kind out of the annual increase of the land, are now of small importance, and are rarely met with, since, by the operation of the Tithe Commutation Act, 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 71), and subsequent Acts, they have almost invariably been commuted into annual rentcharges, issuing out of the land, and varying in amount with the average price of corn. The tithe rentcharge is now in all cases a charge upon the "owner" of land, and any contract to the contrary on the part of any lessee or tenant is void. (See the Tithe Act, 1891 (54 Vict. c. 8, s. 1).) The charge is payable half-yearly, and is apportioned among the landowners in each parish. In addition to the above-noted Acts, the following are the principal Acts bearing on the subject, viz. :-2 & 3 Vict. c. 62; 3 & 4 Vict. c. 15; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 73; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 93; 41 & 42 Vict. c. 42; and 48 & 49 Vict. c. 32. |