Melluish v BMI (No 3) Ltd
Central heating systems installed in council houses became fixtures and so part of the land, whatever the parties had agreed.
Facts
A finance company bought central heating systems and other equipment, which it leased to local authorities. The equipment was installed in council houses and other buildings. The finance company claimed capital allowances for tax purposes on the basis that it remained the owner of the equipment, and that the equipment was still a chattel belonging to it, because the leasing agreements provided that it would remain the lessor's property.
Legal principle
The House of Lords held that the equipment had become fixtures, and so part of the land. Lord Browne-Wilkinson said that whether an object has become a fixture is determined by the degree and object of annexation, judged objectively. An agreement between the parties that an object will remain a chattel cannot prevent it from becoming part of the land as a matter of law, although it may give rise to contractual rights between them, such as a right to remove it.
Related cases on land, fixtures and chattels
- Berkley v Poulett (1976) 241 EG 911
- Bernstein of Leigh (Baron) v Skyviews & General Ltd [1978] QB 479
- Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd [2010] UKSC 35, [2011] 1 AC 380
- Botham v TSB Bank plc (1997) 73 P & CR D1
- Chelsea Yacht and Boat Co Ltd v Pope [2000] 1 WLR 1941
- D'Eyncourt v Gregory (1866) LR 3 Eq 382
- Elitestone Ltd v Morris [1997] 1 WLR 687
- Hamp v Bygrave (1983) 266 EG 720
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