Fixtures - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition fixtures

Definition :

Fixtures. Things of an accessory character which are not something which is part of the original struc-ture, Boswell v. Crucible Steel Co., (1925) 1 KB 119, annexed to houses or lands, which become, immediately on annexation, part of the realty itself, i.e., governed by the same law which applies to the land, in conformity with the maxim quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit. The application of this legal principle, however, is not uniform, as may be thus shown:

(1) Between landlord and tenant. If the chattels be not let into the soil, they are not fixtures at all, and may be removed at will, like any other species of personal property. When the chattel is connected with the free-hold, by being let into the earth, or by being cemented or otherwise united to some erection attached to the ground, the question arises-when may the tenant remove such fixtures?

The general rule as to annexations made by a tenant during the continuance of his term is the following-Whenever he has affixed anything to the demised premises during the term he can never again sever it without his landlord's consent; the property, by being annexed to the land, immediately belongs to the freeholder, and a tenant, by making it a part of the freehold, is considered to have abandoned all future right to it, so that it would be waste in him to remove it afterwards; it therefore falls in with his term, and comes to the reversioner as part of the land. But a tenant may so construct the erections that they shall not be deemed fixtures; thus, even if he erect buildings'as barns, granaries, sheds, and mills upon blocks, rollers, patterns, pillars, or plates, resting on brickwork, they may be removed; for unless they be affixed to the freehold by being let into it, or are, by means of nails, mortar, or the like, united to it, they remain merely movable chattels.

The exceptions to the above rule are three: (x) In favour of trade. A tenant may remove such things which he has fixed to the freehold for purposes of trade or manufacture, if the removal causes no material injury to the estate; furnaces, coppers, brewing vessels, fixed vats, salt pans, and the like; machinery in breweries, collieries, and mills, such as steam-engines, cider mills, etc.; buildings for trade, as a varnish-house, built on plates laid on brickwork, and a shed called a Dutch barn, formed of uprights rising from a foundation of brick. (b) For agricultural purposes. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923, s. 22 (see that title), abrogating, as did the Acts of 1883 and 1908, the rule of Elwes v. Maw, (1802) 3 East 38; 2 Sm. L.C., gives a tenant a property in any engine, machinery, fencing, or building for which he cannot get compensation, so that it is removable by a tenant before, or within a reasonable time after, the termination of the tenancy, subject, however, to the tenant paying any rent due, etc., avoiding or making good damage, giving the landlord notice before removal, and allowing the landlord an option of purchase. The Agricultural Holdings Act, 1875, s. 53, and the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. 25), s. 3, contained very similar enactments, but the Act of 1851 applied only where the fixtures were put up with the written consent of the landlord, and the Act of 1875 made express provision for its exclusion by landlords. (g) For ornament and convenience. The following are removable: Hangings, tapestry, and pier-glasses, whether nailed to the walls on panels or put up lieu of panels; marble or other ornamental chimney-pieces; marble slabs, window blinds; wainscots fixed to the wall by screws; grates, ranges, and stoves although fixed in brickwork; iron backs to chimneys beds fastened to the walls or ceiling; fixed tables, furnances and coppers, mash-tubs, and fixed water-tubs; coffee and malt-mills; cupboards fixed with hold-fasts; clock cases, iron ovens, and the like; provided the separation occasion but little or no damage. The fixtures must be moved before the tenant's term or interest expires, unless in the case of a strict tenancy at will, when the tenant may be allowed a reasonable time after his tenancy, if his interest were not terminated by his own act, Woodfall, L. and T.

(2) Before 1926, between the heir and the personal representative of the terre-tenants. Though the fixtures will generally pass with the freehold to the heir, yet such of them as are put up for ornament, domestic use, or trade devolve to the personal representative, provided they can be easily removed and are not essential to the enjoyment of the inheritance. See Re Lord Chesterfield's Settled Estates, (1911) 1 Ch 237.

(3) Between the tenant of a particular estate and the remainder-man or reversioner a similar rule applies as in the last case, see Leigh v. Taylor, 1902 AC 157; and see now as to heirlooms generally, (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, s. 67, and also (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, s. 130.

A mortgage of land, including fixtures, does not recognize a Bill of Sale under the (English) Bills of Sales Acts, 1878 and 1882, (English) Law of Property act, 1925, s. 88(4).

The larceny of fixtures is punishable; see (English) Larceny Act, 1916, s. 16.

Consult Amos and Ferard on Fixtures; Goodeve on the Law of Real Property.

Personal property that is attached to land or building and that is regarded as an irremovable part of real property, such as a fire place built into a home, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., 652.