The Law Commission has launched a consultation on wide scale reform to land law, specifically in relation to easements, covenants, and profits à prendre. The executive summary of the consultation raises the perceived problems: inadvertent creation of easements coupled with the inability of the courts to remove them due to changes in circumstances; the competing, overlapping and complex relationship of proprietary and contractual interests in restrictive covenants, and a number of other areas. The main focus of the reform is the semi-abolition of restrictive covenants and replacing them with a "Land Obligation", and a significant reduction in the circumstances in which easements and profits can be created by any other means than grant. The full consultation documents can be viewed on the Commission's site, and the deadline for responses is 30^th June 2008.

Written by Simon Liddy, Barrister at New Walk Chambers, specialising in Land Law.