What does the SQE1 Land Law section actually test?

Estates, interests, trusts, and registration. The SRA assessment specification breaks Land Law into 12 topics, each examined through single-best-answer (SBA) questions in the FLK2 paper.

Is Land Law part of FLK1 or FLK2?

Land Law sits in FLK2. From January 2027 the FLK2 paper is 170 single-best-answer questions (180 until July 2026), sat as two sessions of 85 questions, 2 hours 33 minutes each, on the same day.

How many topics are in Land Law?

12. Our notes, flashcards, and question bank are mapped one-to-one against the SRA's LL specification so nothing is missed.

How long should I spend on Land Law?

Most candidates allocate roughly 36–60 hours across notes, flashcards, and timed practice. The exact split depends on your background — re-sitters can usually focus on weak topics rather than re-reading.

What is the best way to revise Land Law?

Active recall beats re-reading. Read the notes once, then practise SBA questions in mixed order, then revisit weak topics. Our weak-area tracker surfaces the topics where your accuracy is below 70%.

Are these Land Law SQE notes free?

The notes preview on this page and the sample topics are free, and the first chapter of the Land Law study guide downloads free as a PDF and EPUB. The complete notes for all 12 topics come with lifetime access to the platform, and the whole subject is also available as a £9.99 study guide.

Are the Land Law notes updated for the January 2027 specification?

Yes. The SRA's updated SQE1 specification applies from the January 2027 sitting, and the notes, questions and flashcards were revised against it in July 2026. Updates are included at no extra cost.

What is the difference between these notes and the Land Law study guide?

Same content, two formats. The platform gives you the notes alongside the LL question bank, flashcards and mock exams with progress tracking. The study guide is the Land Law notes as a book, PDF and EPUB with a paperback edition, with worked questions and flashcards in every chapter, for £9.99.

Can I practise Land Law questions without paying?

Yes. The free readiness quiz includes a sample from every subject, and free accounts can access sample questions across all subjects. The full LL question bank is unlocked with a one-time lifetime purchase and is covered by the 14-day money-back guarantee.

LLFLK2 · 12 topics

Land Law SQE notes.

Estates, interests, trusts, and registration. Below: a preview of the notes, all 12 topics, sample questions with worked explanations, and the first chapter of the Land Law study guide to download free, all mapped to the SRA’s FLK2 specification.

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Free sample chapter

The first chapter of the Land Law study guide, with five worked questions, as a PDF and EPUB. The full guide is £9.99 on its own, and every subject is included with lifetime access.

From the notes

Topic 01: Nature of Land and Property

How the Land Law notes read. Every one of the 12 topics is written the same way: the rule, the trap the examiners set, and a worked question.

Land law governs the ownership, use, and transfer of land and property. It is one of the core areas of English law and a significant component of the SQE1 exam. Land law determines who has rights over land, how those rights are created and transferred, and how they are protected against third parties.

Freehold estates (fee simple, life estates)
Easements and profits a prendre
Restrictive covenants (equitable)
Mortgages and charges over land

Common Exam Items: In the SQE, you are likely to be asked about common household items. Fitted kitchens, built-in wardrobes, and central heating systems are generally fixtures. Free-standing fridges, washing machines, and carpets (unless fixed) are generally chattels. Items like satellite dishes, garden sheds, and greenhouse bases often require careful analysis using both parts of the two-stage test. Always apply the test: how is it attached, and why was it attached?

Full notes for all 12 topics are included with lifetime access, or as the Land Law study guide (£9.99).

All 12 topics in Land Law

SRA-aligned

01
Nature of Land and Property
Real property vs personal property, legal estates, equitable interests, co-ownership, and registered vs unregistered land
Free
02
Legal and Equitable Interests in Land
Acquiring and disposing of legal and equitable interests, formalities, third party protection, and the doctrine of notice
03
Registered Land
Land Registration Act 2002, the register, protecting interests, overriding interests, and adverse possession
04
Unregistered Land
Title deeds, Land Charges Act 1972, doctrine of notice, and overreaching
05
Co-ownership
Joint tenancies and tenancies in common: creation, severance, survivorship, and implied co-ownership through resulting and constructive trusts
06
Trusts of Land
TOLATA 1996: trustees' powers, s.14 applications, resolving co-owner disputes, and rights of occupation
07
Easements
Re Ellenborough Park criteria, types of easements, creation methods (express, implied, prescription), enforcement, defences, and reform
08
Freehold Covenants
Freehold covenants: passing the benefit and burden, positive vs restrictive covenants, enforcement, remedies, statutory modification, and workarounds
09
Mortgages
Legal and equitable mortgages, lender powers, priority disputes, and protection of mortgagors and third parties
10
Leases — Creation and Characteristics
Essential characteristics of a lease, legal formalities, types of leasehold estate, and distinguishing leases from licences
11
Leasehold Covenants and Enforceability
Privity of contract and estate, passing of benefit and burden, Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, and alienation covenants
12
Lease Termination and Remedies
Methods of lease termination, forfeiture, relief against forfeiture, and remedies for breach of leasehold covenants

Try before you buy

4 sample LL questions

Real SBA questions from the Land Law bank, with the full explanation. The paid bank covers all 12 topics and difficulty levels.

A man has exchanged contracts to sell his freehold house and garden, and completion is a week away. Before moving out he digs up three mature apple trees and a row of established shrubs and takes them to his new home. He also takes a stack of cut logs and a dozen potted plants from the patio. The contract says nothing about anything in the garden. The buyer objects when she next visits the property.

Is the seller entitled to take the apple trees and the shrubs to his new home?

No, because plants growing in the soil form part of the land and pass to the buyer on completion. Correct
No, because everything the seller kept in the garden passes to the buyer, whether or not it was growing in the soil.
Yes, because the contract mentions nothing in the garden, so only the house and the ground itself were sold.
Yes, because things a landowner plants for his own enjoyment stay his property and may be taken when he leaves.
Yes, because what passes is fixed by the title plan, which shows only the surface area of the plot.

Why: The correct answer is A. Land is not merely the surface of the earth. It comprises the surface, the buildings and structures on it, anything growing in it, the subsoil beneath, and the airspace above to the height needed for the ordinary use of the land (Law of Property Act 1925 s.205(1)(ix); Bernstein v Skyviews & General Ltd [1978]). Whatever is planted in the soil belongs to the soil, so the growing trees and shrubs formed part of the land the man contracted to sell and had to be left for the buyer. The cut logs and the potted plants are movable chattels and remain his. B is incorrect because it goes too far: things merely standing in the garden, such as the logs and the pots, are chattels and do not pass with the land. C is incorrect because a contract to sell land needs no inventory of what grows in the soil; everything forming part of the land passes unless it is expressly excepted. D is incorrect because the purpose for which a plant was put in the ground does not keep it a chattel once it is growing in the soil. E is incorrect because the title plan shows the extent of the surface area only; it does not determine what counts as part of the land.

A woman dies leaving a registered freehold house. Her will gives the house "to my husband for life, and after his death to my daughter absolutely", and appoints two executors, who are to hold as trustees. The husband asks the executors to have him registered at the Land Registry as owner of the house for the rest of his life, with the daughter registered as owner of what is left afterwards.

Can the husband be registered as the proprietor of a legal estate for his lifetime?

Yes, because an estate for life may be created at law where it is given by will rather than by deed.
Yes, because he is entitled to immediate possession of the house for the rest of his life.
No, because the only estates capable of subsisting at law are the fee simple absolute in possession and the term of years absolute. Correct
No, because a legal estate cannot be registered in a beneficiary's name until the executors have executed a written assent vesting it in him.
No, because a legal estate in land can be vested in no more than four persons at any one time.

Why: The correct answer is C. Section 1(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925 provides that the only estates in land capable of subsisting or of being conveyed or created at law are the fee simple absolute in possession and the term of years absolute. An estate for life is not among them, and by s.1(3) it can take effect only as an equitable interest. The house is therefore held on a trust of land: the executors, once they have assented, hold the legal fee simple absolute in possession as trustees, and the husband and the daughter take equitable interests in succession behind that trust. A is incorrect because the form of the disposition makes no difference; a life interest cannot be a legal estate however it is created. B is incorrect because a right to immediate possession does not make an interest a legal estate; the estate must also be a fee simple absolute or a term of years absolute. D is incorrect because, although an assent is needed to vest a legal estate in a beneficiary, no assent could give the husband a legal estate for life. E is incorrect because the four-person limit in LPA 1925 s.34(2) is not in issue here; only two people are concerned.

A man and a woman bought a house together twelve years ago. They were registered as joint proprietors and the transfer declared that they held the beneficial interest as joint tenants. Nothing was ever done to change that. Last year the man made a valid will leaving his entire estate to his brother. The man has now died. The brother says that half the house belongs to him under the will, and has asked the woman to buy him out.

Who became entitled to the man's interest in the house on his death?

The brother, because the will disposed of the man's share in the house along with the rest of his estate.
The brother, because a joint tenant may leave his share by will if the will is made after the purchase.
The woman, because the man's share passed to her under the intestacy rules when he died.
The woman, because on the death of a joint tenant the deceased's interest accrues to the surviving joint tenant. Correct
The woman and the brother in equal shares, because the man's death severed the joint tenancy.

Why: The correct answer is D. The defining feature of a joint tenancy is the right of survivorship. Joint tenants hold no distinct shares; on the death of one, the deceased's interest accrues to the survivor, who then owns the whole. Survivorship operates at the moment of death and takes effect before the will can bite, so a will cannot dispose of an interest held under a subsisting joint tenancy. Because the joint tenancy was never severed, the woman is now the sole legal and beneficial owner, and the brother takes nothing in the house. A is incorrect because the man had no separate share in the house capable of passing under his will. B is incorrect because the date of the will is irrelevant; a will can never defeat survivorship, whenever it is made. C is incorrect because the man died leaving a valid will, and in any event the intestacy rules could not reach an interest that has passed by survivorship. E is incorrect because death does not sever a joint tenancy; severance must occur in the joint tenant's lifetime, by written notice under LPA 1925 s.36(2) or by one of the methods in Williams v Hensman (1861).

A house is held by two trustees on trust for a woman and her sister in equal shares. The trust was set up so that the family would have somewhere to live, and the house is empty and in good repair. The woman asks to move in. The trustees refuse, telling her that the house is theirs as the legal owners, that she is entitled only to half the money if it is ever sold, and that a beneficiary has no right to live in trust property.

Is the woman entitled to occupy the house as a beneficiary of the trust?

No, because the legal estate is vested in the trustees, who alone are entitled to possession of the house.
No, because a beneficiary's interest under a trust of land is an interest in the proceeds of sale only.
Yes, because a beneficiary with an interest in possession may occupy land the trustees hold so as to be available. Correct
Yes, because a beneficiary entitled to half of the trust property may occupy half of the house.
Yes, because trustees of land must in all cases give effect to the wishes of a beneficiary of full age.

Why: The correct answer is C. Under s.12 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 a beneficiary beneficially entitled to an interest in possession in land subject to a trust of land is entitled to occupy it if the purposes of the trust include making the land available for his occupation, or if the trustees hold it so as to be so available. Both limbs are satisfied: the trust was created to house the family, and the house is empty and suitable. The trustees hold the legal estate and have the powers of an absolute owner, but they hold it for the beneficiaries; s.13 allows them to exclude or restrict occupation where beneficiaries compete for it, but not unreasonably and not by denying the right altogether. A is incorrect because the trustees hold the legal estate for the beneficiaries and not for themselves; legal title gives them no personal right to keep a beneficiary out. B is incorrect because the doctrine of conversion was abolished by s.3 of the 1996 Act: the beneficiary's interest is an interest in the land itself, not merely in the money it would fetch. D is incorrect because s.12 confers a right to occupy the land, not a right to occupy a fraction of it matching the size of the beneficiary's share. E is incorrect because trustees need not do whatever a beneficiary asks; they must exercise their powers properly, and s.13 lets them regulate occupation between competing beneficiaries.

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