Applying for Adverse Possession

To acquire a right to be registered as the owner of land through adverse possession you need to meet three conditions:

_{The 3 conditions}

1. Factual possession of the land (control over who uses it e.g. putting up fencing around the boundaries);
2. Necessary intention to possess the land (use of the land as an owner e.g. building on the land or maintaining it); and
3. Possession without the owner’s consent.

_{What adverse possession process to follow}

You need to have met the above conditions for a certain length of time, and follow a particular process to be registered as the owner. The specifics depend upon which category you fall into:

• Are you claiming ownership of unregistered land or registered land where the right to be registered was acquired before 13^th October 2003?
• Are you claiming ownership of registered land where the right to be registered was acquired after 13^th October 2003?

_{Was the right acquired pre-2003?}

To be precise, are you claiming ownership of unregistered land or registered land where the right was acquired prior to 13^th October 2003.

You must be able to evidence that all three conditions have been met continuously for at least 12 years before you acquire a right to be registered as the owner. The 12-year period needs to have occurred before 13^th October 2003 and be continuing to date. A previous occupier can pass on their period of time to you.

If the application has sufficient evidence, a surveyor from the Land Registry will be sent to inspect the land. If the Land Registry is satisfied following the inspection they will write to all owners of neighbouring properties and any interested parties to notify them of the application.

If there are no responses from the notified parties, the application will be successful.

If a notified party does object and the Land Registry believes that their objection is not groundless there will be an option to negotiate or have the matter referred to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrange a Hearing. At this stage, and if you have not done so already, you will need to seek expert legal advice from a property litigation lawyer. Click here to contact us .

_{Was the right acquired post-2003?}

To be precise, are you claiming ownership of registered land where the right was acquired post 13^th October 2003?

You must be able to evidence that all three conditions have been met continuously for at least 10 years before you acquire a right to be registered as the owner. A previous occupier CAN NOT pass on their period of time to you.

If the application has sufficient evidence a surveyor from the Land Registry will be sent to inspect the land. If the Land Registry is satisfied following the inspection they will write to the registered owner of the property and any interested parties to notify them of the application. They will be given three options to respond to the application:

1. Consent to the application
2. Object to the application on another ground (to be specified by the registered owner)
3. Require the Land Registry to deal with the application under Paragraph 5 Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002

If the registered owner does not respond, the application will be successful.

If they respond and object on some other ground, the parties will be given the option to negotiate or have the matter referred to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrange a Hearing. At this stage, and if you have not done so already, you will need to seek expert legal advice from a property litigation lawyer. Click here to contact us.

_{Paragraph 5, Schedule 6 of the Land Registration Act 2002}

If the registered owner requires the application to be dealt with under Paragraph 5 Schedule 6, the application will be rejected unless the applicant is able to come under one of the three conditions in Paragraph 5.

The conditions are:

1. It would be unconscionable because of an equity by estoppel for the registered owner to seek to dispossess the applicant and the circumstances are such that the applicant ought to be registered as the proprietor.
   In practice this would involve the registered owner encouraging or allowing the applicant to believe that they owned the land and the registered owner allowing the applicant to act on this to their detriment.
2. The applicant is for some other reason entitled to be registered as the proprietor.
   The term “entitled” has been narrowly interpreted. Examples of successful applications are where the applicant was entitled to the land under the will or intestacy of the deceased proprietor, or where the applicant contracted to buy the land and paid the purchase price but the legal estate was never transferred to them.
3. The applicant has been in adverse possession of land adjacent to their own for at least 10 years under the mistaken but reasonable belief that they are the owner of it.
   
   Examples of successful applications would be where the dividing walls or fences on an estate were erected in the wrong place.

If the application is still disputed, the parties will be given the option to negotiate or have the matter referred to the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to arrange a Hearing.

_{Unsuccessful applications}

If an application is rejected as a result of an objection being raised, the applicant will be prohibited from making a further application for two years. The registered owner can take action during this two-year period to extinguish any claim by evicting the applicant.​  

_{Find out more}

If you would like to discuss your particular application or contest an application for adverse possession, please contact one of our specialist residential property litigation solicitors.​

The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.