It is possible to claim ownership of another person’s land by a process called adverse possession if you physically occupy the land and hold a reasonable belief that you are the owner. The requisite period of ownership for claiming adverse possession of registered land is 10 years.
In Brown v Ridley, Mr and Mrs Ridley constructed a house called ‘Moonrakers’ on part of Mr Brown’s land. Mr and Mrs Ridley’s application for ownership was opposed but they were awarded ownership of the land at the conclusion of the trial. Mr Brown appealed the decision on the basis that his neighbours’ reasonable belief in their ownership ended in October 2019 before they applied to be registered as the owners in December 2019.
The case eventually came before the Supreme Court which had to decide whether the law required the applicants to maintain a reasonable belief in their ownership for 10 years up to the date of their application or whether the 10-year period only had to continue for any 10-year period during which they were in possession of the land.
The Supreme Court decided that the 10-year period of reasonable belief did not have to end on the date of the application to acquire ownership. If this interpretation had been correct, it would be very difficult for anyone to obtain ownership by adverse possession because the applicant’s realisation that they don’t own the land is often the trigger for the application. The process of taking advice and drafting the application also takes time and in the present case, the 2-month gap between Mr and Mrs Ridley’s realisation that they did not own the land and their application was too long to be overlooked.
Whilst boundary disputes will always remain difficult to resolve, the Supreme Court’s decision clarifies the requirement to prove a reasonable belief in the ownership of land which will hopefully make proceedings marginally easier and allow judges to spend more time considering evidence about how the disputed land has been used.
Alexander Haddad (0203 892 6805 ahaddad@nockolds.co.uk) works in the litigation team and has dealt with a number of adverse possession applications.