Key Takeaways
- Walkers have represented the owners of almost 200 residential properties in a successful appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council concerning the enforceability of recreational golf and beach access rights.
- In an important judgment for the Cayman Islands and other jurisdictions with similar land registration systems, the Privy Council held that notwithstanding that rights may have been mislabelled, they remained valid without the need for rectification.
- This judgment provides substantial reassurance to residential owners as to the security of recreational and sporting property rights, which can be an important element of property value.
Overview of the judgment
In a judgment published on 23 June 2025 ([2025] UKPC 27), the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has overturned the decision of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal and found in favour of almost 200 owners at Britannia, a large residential development, in a long-running dispute over their rights to play golf on an adjacent course and access a prime stretch of Seven Mile Beach.
Although those rights were promised to owners when purchasing their units and had been recorded on the Land Register for more than thirty years, the acquisition of the course and beach by a major developer prompted an argument as to the effectiveness of that registration and the extent to which the rights could be enforced against a purchaser.
In a concise judgment available on the Privy Council's website, the owners' rights were held to be properly registered as easements in accordance with the Registered Land Act (the "RLA"), notwithstanding that they were mis-labelled as restrictive agreements, and the Privy Council emphasised the importance of looking not only at the face of the register but also the filed instruments themselves to establish the nature of the rights granted.
Observations and takeaways
This decision, with its clear emphasis on substance over form, is of significant importance both in the Cayman Islands and in the numerous jurisdictions with comparable land registration systems, offering a welcome level of reassurance to property owners that rights of this nature will be taken seriously by the courts and protected.
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