DMC OF REGISTERED LAND? THAT’S THE WAY IT IS

Rahman v Hassan [2024] EWHC 1290 (Ch) is a significant, albeit firstinstance, decision on the donatio mortis causa doctrine.In 2015, Mr. Al Mahmood ("the deceased") and his wife, "Aunty", made wills leaving their residuary estates to the survivor in the first instance, and to Aunty's brother and three nieces ("the defendants") in the event that one predeceased the other.Mr. Rahman ("the claimant") was a distant relative of the deceased, upon whom the deceased and Aunty became increasingly dependent as they aged.Eventually, the claimant moved in with the deceased and Aunty.The deceased had several serious health conditions and was found to be fatalistic.On 6 October 2020, Aunty died unexpectedly.On 15 October, a Mr. Amponsah visited the deceased to take new will instructions, and those instructions were that the claimant was to be his sole beneficiary.But the new will was never executed accordingly.On 20 October, having been told that Mr. Amponsah's execution visit was not due for another two days, the deceased explained to the claimant the login details for various online accounts and handed over bank cards, cheque books and login devices, pin readers and other security items to the claimant.He also handed over the registered land certificate for his house to the claimant, and said it was for him.He told him where the spare keys for the house were.In addition, the deceased handed over documents relating to two other properties over which he held long leaseholds, but not land certificates since these were no longer issued by the time in question.The deceased said, inter alia, that everything was now the claimant's and that he could take it now or wait until the deceased was dead, and that it did not matter whether Mr. Amponsah came to secure the execution of the new will or not.The deceased's health was poor, but by 22 October he refused to go to hospital, saying that there was nothing a doctor could do and that his time was short.Text messages the deceased sent to Mr. Amponsah and to the husband of Aunty's friend inter alia described the claimant as the absolute owner of all the deceased's assets.The deceased died in the early hours of 23 October, with the cause of death ultimately found to be bronchopneumonia.The defendants proved the 2015 will, but the claimant successfully asserted that the deceased had made several valid donationes mortis causa (