Сборник текстов для перевода. Борисова Л.А. - 32 стр.

                                        TEXT 23

                                  Estate in English law

       In 1925, several laws were passed in England in an attempt to simplify the
system of holding and transferring land. These laws recognized two estates in
land. An estate is a right to possess land for a defined period of time, and the
two estates recognized are (i) "fee simple absolute in possession" and (ii) "term
of years absolute." The first means that the landholder owns the land throughout
his life unless he sells or gives it to someone else. Eventually, this land will pass
to his heirs (people entitled to the property of someone after he dies: see previ-
ous chapter). The second is a right to hold land for a certain fixed period, after
which the land returns to the holder of the estate "absolute in possession."
       We often call the first estate a freehold and the second a leasehold, or
lease. All land is ultimately held by a freeholder, but sometimes it is the free-
holder who is using the land, and sometimes it is a leaseholder. In England a
majority of people living in houses own the freehold, but people living in apart-
ments usually own a lease. When they buy an apartment they will want to buy as
long a lease as possible from the freeholder – for example, 99 years. Often the
leaseholder (or lessee) has the right to sell his lease to someone else, but of
course he can only sell the right to use the land for the number of years remain-
ing on the lease. Until the lease ends, he has the right to possess the land exclu-
sively: even the freeholder has no right to enter the land without the lease-
holder's permission. However, the contract he signed with the freeholder will re-
quire him to fulfill certain obligations, such as paying rent (ground rent) and
keeping buildings in a good condition. The obligations, or covenants, which the
leaseholder and freeholder owe to each other can be very complicated. For ex-
ample, they must decide who is to pay if expensive repairs need to be done.
Even a 99 year lease could be ended (forfeited) if the lessee breaks an important
agreement such as rent payment.
       It seems likely that the leasehold system for owning an apartment will be
changed in the near future. In other countries which inherited the English system
of law, apartment owners usually hold a commonhold—a share in the freehold
of the land on which the whole apartment building stands. This system is similar
to the way apartments are owned in continental-law countries and enables an
owner to sell his apartment without the worry that his lease is too short.

                                     Legal interests

       As well as these two estates, or ways of holding your land, English law
since 1925 has recognized four legal interests over land held by someone else.
The first is an easement, such as a neighbor's right to use a footpath over your
land, or your right not to have buildings or trees on your land block light to his
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