Question

The law of chattels and fixtures has underlying principles, but also is subject to a degree of capriciousness. Discuss.

Answer 1

Fixtures in effect can be defined or viewed as “An article which was once a chattel but which has now become a part of land.” [1] It is a legal concept in law, which is used to define a “permanently attached or fixed to real property.” [2] In the event of sale of land, fixture are usually sold as a part of land, except otherwise stated in a conveyance report. It is however, the practice in some jurisdiction, the purchaser automatically owns the fixtures as part of the purchase. Exception is made when clear terms are stated in a sales contract. A fixture becomes more apparent when it is attach to land to enhance the use or increase its value. A building which a foundation rested directly on land is an obvious and typical example of a fixture.

Chattels can be described as any property except freehold land. These are usually moveable items of property that are neither land nor permanently attached to land or a building, either directly or vicariously through attachment to real property. Chattels are said to retain their independent character as personality despite close association with the realty. [3] Chattels which are affixed in any form to make a permanent improvement of land, are retained by a mortgagee unless otherwise stated in a sales contract or intentional left out in conveyance report.

The distinction between fixtures and chattels is made by, one, the physical degree of annexation to land. a less irreversible and a more permanently object affixed to land, is more likely to be defined as a fixture and become a part of land, the was clearly outline in Holland v Hodgson (1872),

Held: Blackburn J “Walmsley v Milne was was decided in 1859. This case and that of Wiltshear v Cottrell (1853) 1 E & B 674 seem authorities for this principle, that where an article is fixed by the owner of the fee, though only affixed by bolts and screws, it is to be considered a part of the land, in all events where the object of setting up articles is to enhance the value of the premises to which it is annexed for the purposes to which those premises are applied. The threshing machine in Wiltshear v Cottrell was affixed by the owner of the fee to the barn as an adjunct to the barn, and to improve its usefulness as a barn, in much the same way as the hay cutter in Walmsley v Milne was affixed to the stable as an adjunct to it, and to improve its usefulness as a stable. And it seems difficult to say that the machine in Mather v Fraser was not as much affixed to the mill as an adjunct to it and to improve the usefulness of the mill as such, as either the threshing machine or hay cutter.” [4]

It was held in Hulme v Bingham (1943) KB 152, heavy machinery unattached to land was considered a chattel. Any object that rests merely on land due to their own weight was the key feature of the gravity test. This test was also used in Botham v TSB Bank PLC (1996), it was held that appliances remaining in position by their own weight and are affixed electrically, would likely be a chattel. In Gray v Gray, the position mentioned above was challenge, and an objective view was taken. A degree of annexation was the key point of the argument. If an object as been attach no matter the degree of which it was affixed, the intent for that object to be permanently affixed to enhance the use and enjoyment of land is fair to be called a fixture. Example, An installation of a home cinema complete with a cooking range would be an improvement to realty.

The test of the degree of annexation would be on a object by object basis. In Rex v. Otley (1830) 1 B. & Ad. 161 for example , a wooden mill have been held not to form a part of realty, a wooden barn in Wansborough v. Matson (1836), was held not to a part of realty. However, in Snedeker v. Warring, 2 Kernan 178 Parker J. said: “A thing may be as firmly fixed to the land by gravitation as by clamps or cement. Its character may depend upon the object of its erection.”

A number of tests have been use to differentiate between fixtures and chattels, but a matter of precise analysis have to used as a determinant. Blackburn J. in Holland v. Hodgson, L.R.7 C.P.P. 328, 335, sums it up as;

“Thus blocks of stone placed one on the top of another without any mortar or cement for the purpose of forming a dry stone wall would become part of the land, though the same stones, if deposited in a builder’s yard and for convenience sake stacked on the top of each other in the form of a wall, would remain chattels.”