Claimant owning railway arches and land — Defendant using land and arches for considerable period of time — Whether defendant establishing title by way of adverse possession
The claimant was the owner of land that incorporated a number of railway arches. The defendant had occupied various of the arches and adjoining tracts of land for a considerable period of time. He claimed that he had acquired title to the disputed area by way of adverse possession. The issue for the court was whether he could demonstrate, for the purposes of section 15 of the Limitation Act 1980, that he had taken possession of the site by August 1989.
Held: The claim for adverse possession was dismissed.
It was impossible to say, on the balance of probabilities, upon which date the defendant had taken possession of the site. This, in itself, was fatal to his case. On the evidence, it was clear that although he had used the general area of the disputed site, the boundaries of that area were not clearly defined. He had erected signs and fences at various times to demarcate the area of the land that he was using, but, again, such actions did not amount to exclusive possession, or physical control, of the disputed area. The claimant had not abandoned the area, but had regularly inspected it, which meant that the defendant had not had “single and conclusive possession“.
Sara Benbow (instructed by Thomas Eggar) appeared for the claimant; Rupert D’Cruz (instructed by Silvers) appeared for the defendant until the conclusion of the evidence, after which the defendant appeared in person.
Vivienne Lane, barrister