Cases - Observatory Hill Ltd v Camtel Investments SA
Record details
- Name
- Observatory Hill Ltd v Camtel Investments SA
- Date
- [1997]
- Citation
- 1 EGLR 140
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Party walls - London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939
- Summary
-
A party wall award entitled the plaintiff (the building owner) to carry out work. It imposed on the plaintiff an obligation to make good damage to the defendant's building and provided that, if he failed to do so, the adjoining owner was entitled to carry out such works at the plaintiff's expense and on the plaintiff's land. The works caused damage to the defendant's land and the defendant registered a caution against the land at the Land Registry. The plaintiff applied to Court to have the caution removed. The defendant argued that it had a sufficient interest in the land to register a caution, as the award:
- permitted the work to be carried out on land partly the property of each party;
- required the plaintiff to make good damage at its own expense to the defendant's building; and
- entitled the defendant to enter the plaintiff's land to carry out making good at the plaintiff's expense, if the latter failed to do so.
The judge decided that an adjoining owner with the benefit of an award under the London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939 did not have a sufficient interest in the land to be entitled to register a caution.