Where 12 years adverse possession is established prior to 13 October 2003 the person in possession is entitled to be registered as proprietor of the estate.
The First-tier Tribunal Land Registration Division has considered the application of the law on adverse possession prior to the implementation of the Land Registration Act 2002 in Sarah Elizabeth Walter and Gerard Waters v Andrew Stott (2023) REF/2021/0470.
The case concerned adjacent properties in Middleton, Manchester – numbers 4 and 6 Boardman Fold Close – which were built in 1970 and sold under 999-year leases. The disputed triangle of land was demised by the lease of Number 4 and included on the title plan. However, the original owners of Number 6, William and Theresa Slater, laid out a garden which included the disputed land and treated it as part of their garden without objection from the owners of Number 4.
The applicants acquired Number 6 from the Slaters in 2001 and carried on using the disputed triangle of land as part of their garden without objection. A dispute only arose after the respondent and his wife acquired Number 4 in November 2018 and alleged that the applicants had stolen the disputed land.
The applicants applied to the Land Registry to be registered as proprietors of the disputed land based on adverse possession. The respondent objected and the dispute was referred to the First-tier Tribunal.
The judge decided that the applicants had proved that the disputed land had been treated as part of the Number 6 garden since 1970. The Slaters had been in possession of it without the consent of the owners of Number 4. Knowledge of how the disputed land was being used, without objection, did not constitute consent.
Time started to run in 1970 for the purposes of the Limitation Act 1980. After 12 years, section 75 of the 1925 Act meant that the disputed land was deemed to be held on bare trust for the Slaters.
The Slaters’ rights under the trust constituted a possessory title, which passed to the applicants in 2001 when they acquired possession. When the 2002 Act came into force, on 13 October 2003, the 1925 Act was repealed. Schedule 12 paragraph 18 of the 2002 Act provides that where immediately before 13 October 2003, a registered estate was held in trust for a person under section 75, that person is entitled to be registered as proprietor of that estate.
The applicants were entitled to be registered as proprietors of the disputed land.
Louise Clark is a property law consultant and mediator
