SQE1 Land Law (FLK2): what is tested and how to revise it

What is tested in SQE1 Land Law?

SQE1 Land Law is an FLK2 subject covering estates and interests, registered and unregistered title, co-ownership, easements, freehold covenants, mortgages and leases. The SRA blueprint allocates 14–20% of FLK2 to Land Law. (SRA, FLK2 specification) (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4) Revise by identifying the right, checking how it was created and deciding whether it can be enforced against the person in the question.

Land Law supplies the rules about ownership and rights over land. Property Law and Practice covers the solicitor’s transactional work, including title investigation, searches, exchange and completion. Both include leases. (SRA, FLK2 specification) Use our Property Practice guide alongside this subject to connect rights with the steps taken on a client’s matter.

How is Land Law assessed?

SQE1 uses closed-book single best answer questions with five options and one correct answer. The task is to apply fundamental rules to realistic client situations at the level of a newly qualified solicitor. Questions may combine subjects within FLK2, and Ethics and Professional Conduct can be examined across all subject areas. (SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification) The blueprint classifies questions by their main focus; its percentage range does not limit every use of Land Law knowledge. (SRA, SQE1 Annex 4) From the January 2027 sitting, Land Law questions appear in FLK2 session 1, mixed in random order with Wills and the Administration of Estates, Solicitors Accounts in the wills context and Trusts Law; the blueprint proportions do not change. (SRA announcement, 10 September 2026)

Practise explaining the outcome for the client before comparing the options. Identify whether the task concerns creation, protection, priority or a remedy. Our single best answer guide provides a routine for choosing between plausible answers.

What does the SRA Land Law syllabus cover?

The specification groups Land Law under the following headings. This is a revision map in plain language; use the linked specification for the full scope. (SRA, FLK2 specification)

Nature of land: identify the right and its formalities

Cover the distinction between real and personal property, the ways land can be held, and the acquisition and transfer of legal estates. Include creating and disposing of legal and equitable interests, the required formalities, and protection and enforcement of third-party interests. (SRA, FLK2 specification)Build a comparison sheet for each type of right: what creates it, what documents or registration it requires, and what follows if a requirement is missing. Keep creation and protection as separate questions.

Title to land: distinguish registered and unregistered systems

For registered land, revise which estates can have their own registered title, how interests are protected, and the distinction between overriding interests and interests needing protection on the register. For unregistered land, cover title deeds, Land Charges and the continuing role of the doctrine of notice. (SRA, FLK2 specification) Start each practice answer by identifying the relevant system. Then trace the interest from its creation to the transaction in question, noting any entry, enquiry or occupation mentioned in the facts.

Co-ownership and trusts: separate legal title from beneficial ownership

The syllabus includes joint tenancies and tenancies in common, the position at law and in equity, survivorship and severance. It also covers resolving disagreements between co-owners through sections 14 and 15 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. (SRA, FLK2 specification) Draw separate lines for the legal owners and beneficial owners. Record the form of ownership, any relevant change and the remedy sought before deciding the result. Pair this revision with the family-home topics in Trusts Law.(SRA, FLK2 specification)

Proprietary rights: easements, covenants and mortgages

Easements require knowledge of their defining characteristics and methods of creation. Freehold covenants require analysis of how their benefit and burden pass. Mortgages include enforceability of terms, competing mortgages’ priority, lenders’ powers and duties, and protection of borrowers and other people with interests in the land. (SRA, FLK2 specification) For revision, trace who originally held the right, who now claims it and against whom. For a mortgage remedy, check both the lender’s power and the protections relevant to its exercise.

Leases: identify the relationship, liability and remedy

Cover the landlord–tenant relationship, the essential features of a lease and its distinction from a licence. Include privity of contract and estate, the passing and enforcement of leasehold covenants, alienation covenants, remedies for breach including forfeiture, and methods of termination.(SRA, FLK2 specification) Map the original and current parties before analysing liability. Then check the covenant, the alleged breach and the conditions for the proposed remedy. Keep freehold covenant rules and leasehold covenant rules in separate revision tables.

Which distinctions deserve particular care?

• Validity and priority. A notice preserves a valid interest’s priority when a later registrable disposition for value is registered. Entry does not prove that the right exists or is valid. Check the underlying right before relying on its register entry. (HM Land Registry, notices and restrictions)
• Notices and restrictions. These perform different functions. A restriction regulates or prevents registration of a disposition; it does not itself confer priority. Interests under a trust of land cannot be protected by notice. (HM Land Registry, notices and restrictions)
• Occupation and an overriding interest. For a registered disposition, actual occupation alone is insufficient: the person must hold a qualifying interest at the time of the disposition, and protection extends only to the land they actually occupy. One exception applies if the person was asked about the right before the disposition and failed to disclose it when disclosure could reasonably have been expected. Check all the statutory exceptions before deciding whether the interest overrides the disposition. (Land Registration Act 2002, Sch 3 para 2)
• A right and the remedy sought. During practice, distinguish whether the question asks who owns an interest, whether a successor is bound or what action a party can take. Check that your chosen answer resolves the precise issue, including any relevant conditions or exceptions.

How should you revise Land Law?

Use the following as a suggested study routine. Start with estates, interests and formalities, then work through title protection before combining those topics with co-ownership, proprietary rights and leases. Turn each syllabus heading into a short checklist you can reconstruct without your notes.

Practise a focused question set on a weak distinction. For each answer, identify the relevant title system, parties, right, formalities and transaction. Explain why the closest alternative fails. When you make a mistake, record the decisive fact, the applicable rule and the reason for the outcome; check the cited authority before revising your notes.

Return to that distinction in a later session, then mix topics so the question’s heading no longer supplies the route to the answer. Connect Land Law questions with Property Practice and Trusts Law. Our revision guide develops this routine. Check the SRA specification and the law cut-off for your sitting when updating materials.(SRA, SQE1 Assessment Specification)

Try the free SQE1 quick test for mixed-subject practice and use your errors to choose what to revisit. It provides a starting point rather than a complete Land Law assessment. The SQE1 course page shows subject coverage. This guide is a syllabus overview and study aid, not legal advice.

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