A candidate opens a Land Law question and sees a familiar problem: one buyer has completed, another claims a right of way, and a lender is asking whether an interest binds the land. Is it legal? Does it need registration? Will it survive a sale? These are the moments that decide marks in SQE1 FLK2 Land Law, because the exam rewards calm rule-spotting as much as pure recall.
If you are preparing for solicitor qualification, Land Law can feel technical at first. But the subject becomes much easier once you organise it around a few core ideas: what counts as an interest in land, how rights are created, and when those rights bind successors. That is the structure to use in the exam, and it is the structure I would use in practice too.
SQE1 FLK2 Land Law: the core framework
Land Law in SQE1 FLK2 is not just about memorising definitions. It is about identifying the legal effect of a transaction. You need to ask four questions quickly: what right is involved, how was it created, has it been protected, and does it bind a buyer or mortgagee?
The key statutes appear often. The Law of Property Act 1925 gives the basic framework for legal estates and interests. The Land Registration Act 2002 governs registered land, including priority, notice and overriding interests. For unregistered land, you still need to know the old methods of protection, especially registration of land charges where relevant.
In the exam, do not start with the answer. Start with the status of the land: registered or unregistered. That one step often determines the whole analysis.
A practical approach helps. If the question mentions a sale, transfer, mortgage or lease, pause and ask whether the right is legal or equitable. Then ask whether it was properly protected. That habit saves time and reduces errors under pressure.
SQE1 FLK2 Land Law and rights over land
Rights over land are a favourite area for MCQs because the facts can look similar while the legal outcome changes. Easements, restrictive covenants and proprietary estoppel all involve one person using or affecting another person’s land, but the legal tests are different.
Easements in SQE1 Land Law
An easement is a right attached to one piece of land, known as the dominant tenement, over another piece of land, the servient tenement. The classic authority is Re Ellenborough Park, which is still the best starting point for the essential characteristics of an easement. If a question asks whether a right is capable of being an easement, test whether there is a dominant and servient landowner, whether the right accommodates the dominant land, and whether the right is capable of forming the subject matter of a grant.
Think carefully about parking rights, access rights and rights to light. The exam may present them in plain language, but the legal issue is whether the right fits the easement framework. If it does, then you move to creation and protection. If it does not, you should not force it into the wrong category.
For SQE1, know the main methods of creation: express grant or reservation, implied grant, and prescription. A legal easement usually needs proper formality. In practice, if the problem says the right was “agreed verbally” or “used for years”, do not assume that is enough. Check whether the facts support an implied easement or a prescriptive claim.
Restrictive covenants and enforceability
A restrictive covenant is a promise not to do something on land, such as not to build above a certain height. The leading case is Tulk v Moxhay, which established that a restrictive covenant can bind successors in equity if the conditions are met. That case is old, but it matters every year because it explains why some burdens run with land and others do not.
You should be able to distinguish a restrictive covenant from a positive covenant. A positive covenant requires action or expenditure, such as maintaining a fence or contributing to repairs. As a general rule, positive covenants do not run with freehold land in the same way. If the question involves a chain of title, a management company, or a contribution to maintenance, slow down and identify whether the burden can actually pass.
For exam purposes, ask three things: is the covenant restrictive, does it benefit identifiable land, and has it been properly protected? If the land is registered, the burden is usually protected by a notice if the covenant is registrable. If the land is unregistered, different rules apply. That is where candidates lose marks by mixing systems.
SQE1 FLK2 Land Law priority and registration
Priority is one of the most examinable themes in Land Law. A buyer wants to know what binds them. A lender wants to know what comes ahead of their charge. The answer depends on whether the land is registered and whether the interest was protected correctly.
Under the Land Registration Act 2002, the general rule is that a registrable disposition does not operate at law until registration. Priority is usually governed by the order of registration, subject to exceptions. Some interests may override registration, including certain short leases, legal easements and interests of persons in actual occupation, depending on the facts and the statutory conditions.
A useful exam habit: when you see a registered title, immediately ask whether the right is protected on the register, whether it is overriding, or whether it has been overreached.
Overreaching is one of those topics that looks abstract until it appears in a question. It is the process by which beneficial interests under a trust are detached from the land and attach to the sale proceeds when the purchase money is paid to at least two trustees or a trust corporation. If you see co-ownership plus a sale, stop and check whether overreaching applies. It often does.
For unregistered land, the language changes. The concern is not register entries, but whether the interest is protected through the correct mechanism, often by registration as a land charge where the statute requires it. The practical point is simple: do not use registered-land rules in an unregistered-land question. They are similar in theme, but not interchangeable.
SQE1 FLK2 Land Law problem questions: how to work them through
MCQs in SQE1 often test Land Law through short but dense fact patterns. The facts may mention a neighbour using a track, a promise about a garden wall, or a family member living in the property without being named on the title. The task is to classify the issue quickly and then apply the correct rule.
Here is a method that works well in revision and in the exam:
- Identify the type of land: registered or unregistered.
- Identify the right: easement, covenant, beneficial interest, lease, mortgage, or other interest.
- Check creation: was there a deed, writing, or a recognised implied route?
- Check protection: notice, registration, actual occupation, or overreaching.
- Check priority: does the right bind the purchaser or lender?
That sequence keeps your answer anchored. It also prevents a common mistake: jumping straight to a memorable case without checking the facts. For example, Re Ellenborough Park helps with easements, but only if the issue really is an easement. Tulk v Moxhay helps with restrictive covenants, but not with every promise about land. Matching the principle to the problem is the skill.
When revising, make your own comparison table. Put easements, covenants and beneficial interests side by side. Under each one, note the creation requirements, protection rules and whether the burden runs with the land. If you can explain the differences out loud, you are much closer to answering the MCQ correctly under time pressure.
SQE1 FLK2 Land Law revision tips that actually help
Land Law is easier when revision is active and specific. Reading the same notes again and again rarely fixes weak spots. What helps is short bursts of rule application. Take one topic, write the rule from memory, and then test it against a fresh scenario. That is where the learning sticks.
A good revision session for SQE1 FLK2 Land Law might look like this:
- Spend 10 minutes on one topic, such as easements.
- Write the legal test from memory.
- Answer 5 to 10 MCQs on the same topic.
- Review not only the correct answer, but why the other options fail.
- Repeat the topic two or three days later with a different fact pattern.
You should also pay attention to language. In Land Law, words matter. “Right to use” may indicate an easement. “Promise not to build” may indicate a restrictive covenant. “Lives in the property” may point to a beneficial interest and actual occupation. The exam rewards careful reading, not speed alone.
One more point: do not ignore the basics of formalities. Many Land Law errors begin with a failure to ask whether a deed was needed, whether writing was required, or whether the right was properly registered. If the formal step is missing, the legal outcome may change completely. That is why the subject feels detailed, but also why it is so testable.
If a Land Law question feels confusing, strip it back to the land status, the right, and the protection method. Those three questions solve a surprising number of problems.
And yes, the topic connects to broader solicitor work. In conveyancing, you are constantly checking title, rights and restrictions. In practice, a missed easement or overlooked covenant can become expensive very quickly. That is why SQE1 asks these questions in such detail: they reflect real professional risk.
If you are also preparing for SQE2, the same disciplined reading helps in case analysis and drafting. The legal rules change by assessment, but the habit does not: identify the issue, apply the authority, and keep the answer tightly focused on the facts.
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