Four centuries of squatters’ rights laws have been unsettled by the high court, which last week upheld a London landowner’s human rights defence.
The court ruled that Beaulane Properties could retain its ownership of a 2.4-acre field near Heathrow airport, even though squatter Terence Palmer had used the land without interruption for the requisite 12 years.
Deputy judge Mr Nicholas Strauss QC held that, under the Human Rights Act 1988, taking land from Beaulane without the payment of compensation would be “unfair and disproportionate” and would result in an “unjustified windfall” to Palmer.
“There is no good reason why the trespasser should acquire the property without paying for it,” said Strauss.
Under the adverse possession principle, landowners have generally lost the right to recover land from squatters who have been in occupation for 12 years. Strauss’s ruling means that, in addition to the protection afforded to the owners of registered land under the Land Registration Act 2002 regime, owners of unregistered land may now challenge the principle as constituting a breach of their human rights.
Jeremy Berg, a director at law firm Vyman, which acted for Beaulane, said: “The case illustrates how the Human Rights Act can be used to bring about a just outcome that would not otherwise have been achievable.”
Palmer’s solicitor, Kenneth Seakens of Seakens & Co, said that his client would decide whether to appeal in three months, once the European Court of Human Rights had considered a similar claim by landowner JA Pye.
He added that the ruling could have “wider implications” for the Limitation Act 1980, which establishes the 12-year time limit. “If the Limitation Act can be called into question under human rights legislation, it is conceivable that limitation periods in other cases would be challenged,” he said.
References: EGi Legal News 04/04/05
