Part 7: Conservation Covenants Section 122: Benefit and burden of obligation of landowner
This section sets out who is responsible for complying with an obligation under a conservation covenant entered into by a landowner and, therefore, the person against whom any enforcement action can be taken in the event of breach. It also spells out who may take such action (that is, the person to whom the obligation is owed).
	Subsection (1) provides that an obligation under a conservation covenant is owed by a landowner to the responsible body under the conservation covenant.
	Subsection (2) has the effect that a conservation covenant will bind the landowner who created it (referred to in these notes as "the original covenantor"), and burden the estate in land which enabled the landowner to create it ("the qualifying estate"). A conservation covenant will bind any successors of the original covenantor – that is, anyone who acquires the original covenantor’s estate in the land (or part of that land) or who holds an estate derived from that estate (for example, a lease of the whole or part of the land) – unless one of the exceptions in subsection (5) applies.
	A conservation covenant will not bind anyone whose interest in the land predates the conservation covenant. If a freeholder grants a lease, and then enters into a conservation covenant relating to the land which is the subject of the lease, and the lessee is not a party to the conservation covenant, the lessee will not be bound by any obligation of the landowner under the conservation covenant. On the other hand, where a freeholder enters into a conservation covenant of indefinite duration and then grants a lease of the land then, unless one of the exceptions in subsection (5) applies, the leaseholder will be bound by the conservation covenant throughout the term of the lease.
	Subsection (4) provides that a landowner’s liability in respect of an obligation under a conservation covenant comes to an end on parting with the whole of the estate by virtue of which he or she is bound by the obligation, or if the land is no longer bound by the conservation covenant. If the landowner ceases to own only part of the land, he or she will continue to be bound by the obligation but only in relation to the retained land. If an obligation is partially discharged, the application of subsection (2)(b) is correspondingly reduced because the land to which the obligation relates diminishes. In the case of modification, the obligation continues, but needs to be read as modified as respects the land to which the modification relates.
	Subsection (5) provides for three situations in which a successor will not be bound by the conservation covenant:
Subsection (5)(a) provides that a lessee under a lease granted for seven years or less is not bound by positive obligations under a conservation covenant. Accordingly, where a freeholder creates a conservation covenant which is registered as a local land charge (as set out in subsection (5)(b)), and then grants a periodic tenancy (e.g. one which lasts from week to week or month to month), the lessee will be bound by negative obligations in the conservation covenant but not by positive ones. The same result follows if a lessee with a lease of more than seven years (see section 107(4) and the definition of "qualifying estate") creates a conservation covenant and then grants a sub-lease of seven years or less, or a periodic tenancy.
Subsection (5)(b) provides that a successor will only be bound by a conservation covenant if it was registered as a local land charge at the time they acquired the land. An estate in land is "acquired" for these purpose at the time of the disposition (for example, a sale, a gift, a grant of a lease) even if that disposition is required to be completed by registration at the Land Registry (subsection (7)).
Subsection (5)(c) provides that a successor will not be bound by a conservation covenant if their immediate predecessor was not bound. This could arise in the context of the discharge of a conservation covenant in respect of part of the land to which it related or where a conservation covenant is registered late. For example, a landowner, A, and a responsible body enter into a conservation covenant agreement. Before the responsible body registers the conservation covenant as a local land charge, A transfers part of the land to B, who later transfers it to C. Even if the conservation covenant is subsequently registered as a local land charge, C will not be bound by it because B was not bound by it at the time B transferred it to C. "Immediate predecessor" is defined by subsections (8) and (9).
	Subsection (6) deals with the fact that the changes made to the system of local land charges registers by Schedule 5 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 are being introduced incrementally. The changes in question are the replacement of the system where local authorities maintain their own separate local land charges register by a system where a unified local charges register is maintained by HM Land Registry.