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The purpose of this paper is to explore how S.62 LPA 1925 and its equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions have been interpreted as having the capacity to create new easements. It is intended to identify that the theoretical justification for this interpretation can be viewed as flawed, and that its practical implications are unsatisfactory. It intends to restate the need for reform and to challenge arguments that this interpretation is correct and justified.

This paper examines and analyses the origins of the principle that S.62 LPA 1925 can create new legal rights, consider similar provisions from other jurisdictions, examine recent attempts to justify the creative effect of the section and offer observations on proposals for reform.

It is found that the ability of S.62 LPA 1925 to create legal easements from precarious rights has been replicated in many jurisdictions, has been widely criticised as both incorrect in principle and problematic in practice and has been the subject of well-reasoned and workable proposals for reform for more than 40 years.

From both theoretical and property practitioner perspectives, this paper highlights the lack of justification for the principle that S.62 LPA can create easements from precarious rights, challenges the arguments for retaining the principle and offers practical proposals drawn from several jurisdictions as to how the section and its equivalent provisions abroad could be reformed.

Several pending court cases regarding the valuation of historic façade easements and the associated tax credit have generated interest in the valuation of such preservation tools. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of façade easements on the value of single‐family home sales.

The hedonic method, initially applied to real estate economics by Rosen in 1974, is used to analyze the data.

Results contradict established theory and research on other property types, showing no observable impact.

The paper is limited to a single historic district in the USA, though it is the largest and arguably one of the most important. Facade easements, however, are used in many cities, making the study relevant in other geographic areas.

Little empirical work has been conducted on façade easements, and none in the context of single‐family homes, making this research an important contribution to real estate valuation literature.

I once began a lecture to the Pyramus and Thisbe Club (which, as you doubtless know, is the organisation which all Party Wall surveyors belong to, have applied to join, or should aspire to) by saying that easements were something which they should have nothing to do with. I am not at all sure that the same is not true of surveyors in general, and that just as the House of the Tragic Poet at Pompeii has (or, at any rate, had until the late earthquake) cave canem written at the doorway, so should all instructions to surveyors concerned with development have written at their head ‘Beware of the Easements.’

In the UK over the last 20 years there has been a proliferation in the statutory provisions for wayleaves. The utilities requiring wayleaves such as the water, gas and electricity companies have now been joined by cable TV and a host of telecommunications providers. All have access to compulsory powers. However, there are variations between these powers and between the compensation arrangements. The main objective of this article is to examine whether the compensation arrangements are now appropriate, following the privatisation of the gas, electricity, water and telecommunication companies. The article considers the results of a six‐month study of wayleaves funded by the RICS, which was completed in 2000, and recommends that, in order to strike a fair balance between the interests of the utilities and the landowners, legislative change is required. Claimants should not merely be entitled to the financial equivalent of their loss, but instead a consideration should be paid reflecting, in effect, a rental for the wayleave.

Nobel laureate Ronald Coase (1937) was one of the first modern economists to focus attention on the ways in which firms reduce transaction costs by supplanting market contracts with hierarchical, internal management decisions. Coase and later Cheung (1983) explain that firms save on the costs of discovering prices and on the costs of measuring and monitoring the contribution of inputs to the production process. Still, however, their explanations of why a firm exists beg the question of where the entrepreneur fits into the firm.

This paper seeks to extend the literature on property damage assessment by incorporating the right of exclusion as a compensable component to damages. The paper aims to go on to illustrate methodologies to estimate as a rent this damage component.

The authors develop a conceptual framework from which to examine the value of underground storage space with special reference to situations in which migrating contamination from commercial operations have invaded private real property. Specifically they view this invasion as a compensable violation of the right of exclusion. This underground storage analysis uses the three approaches common to traditional appraisal (income, sales and cost) to estimate the value of underground storage caused by migrating contamination.

Conceptually the paper finds that underground storage can be easily valued with existing appraisal methods. Using contamination scenarios paired with actual market data from the South‐Eastern USA, the paper shows an example of each of the three methods for valuation. It concludes by reconciling the estimated values and supply additional issues to consider when valuing underground storage.

Contaminated properties analysis and damages have focused on the right of transfer when estimating damages to real property. Other portions of the bundle of rights also require examination.

This is the first discussion of underground trespass in relation to contaminated property coupled with an empirical example to address the right of exclusion and estimated rents due for use of adjacent properties as a storage facility.

In a previous paper (MRN,5,1) it was shown that the liquidation of Rolls‐Royce Limited in February 1971 came about because the implied assumptions on which the RB 211 engine cost estimates had been based were not reflected in the engine development programme as it unfolded.

This paper aims to examine the recent jurisprudence of the Supreme Court concerning the registration of land as a town or village green (TVG). This area of law has proved contentious over the past decade and shows no sign of relenting. Most recently, in April 2014, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether use that is pursuant to a statutory right could be qualifying use for the purposes of village green registration, which requires 20 years use “as of right”.

The paper starts by summarising the law relating to the registration of land as a TVG and identifies the current problem that the courts are grappling with, namely the “by right” defence. After analysing the two leading authorities in relation to this point, the paper makes a judgment on the operation and conceptual underpinning of the “by right” defence.

The paper concludes that the “by right” defence in the context of village green registration is a functioning concept that prevents the registration of land as a town and village green whenever the use relied upon is indulged in pursuant to a statutory right. Furthermore, the defence should also be construed with the pre-existing test for use “as of right” rather than being recognised as an additional limb to this test.

The value of this paper is that it seeks to clarify an area of planning and property law that is fraught with conceptual uncertainty, and seeks to re-align the law of town and village greens with its prescriptive underpinnings.

This paper aims to examine how social and environmental issues were accounted for and traded off within decision-making for Australia’s largest seawater desalination plant. This is done through an investigation of disclosures contained within key publicly available documents pertaining to the project.

The study deploys content analysis to initially identify relevant disclosures. Themes and subthemes are based on definitions of social and environmental accounting adapted from prior research. Relevant information was used to develop “silent accounts” to identify and analyse accountability issues in the case.

It was found that a number of claims made throughout reporting were unsupported or insufficiently explained. At the same time, it is found that various forms of basic measurements used to describe social and environmental issues conveyed the rationale of decision makers. It is concluded that many of the claims were asserted rather than evidenced; yet, the manner and context of their presentation gave them the appearance of being incontestable truths. Further, it is argued that the portrayal of social and environmental issues through measurable means is emblematic of values associated with contemporary neoliberal and public sector reforms.

The findings and conclusions of this study are contextually bound and therefore limited to this case.

This paper illustrates problems with the reporting of non-financial information and strengthens our understanding of the use of “silent accounting”. It illustrates the value of this approach to research examining accounting and accountability issues.

The findings contribute to the literature on social and environmental accounting by providing unique empirical analysis of non-financial disclosures within publicly available reporting.