CASE SUMMARIES : House

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

House Duke of Westminster v Birrane; CA (Nourse, Mann, Saville LJJ); 10 Nov 1994.

For the purposes of s2(2) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, which provided that references in that part of the Act to a "house" did not apply to a house which was not structurally detached and of which a material part lay above or below a part of the structure comprised in the house, the part of the house which lay above or below a part of the structure not comprised in it was a material part of the house if it was of sufficient substance or significance to make it likely that leasehold enfranchisement would prejudice the enjoyment of the house or another part of the structure, whether by reason of the inability of one freehold owner to enforce positive obligations against successors in title of the other, or otherwise.

Robert Reid QC (Boodle Hatfield ) for the appellants; Paul Morgan QC (Jeffrey Green Russell) for the respondent.