Possession is nine tenths of the law (or is it?)
Keith Rylands - Senior Partner
If you have any queries about buying or selling land, adverse possession or property transactions in general contact me on 01580 762248 or email info@pengelly-rylands.co.uk.
There have been a lot of changes in house selling procedure in recent years, for example the introduction of the Home Information Pack (HIP), but one which causes much confusion is the abolition of deeds. Before 2003 the deeds of your property were very important documents, often kept at your solicitor's office or bank, and provided proof of ownership. Since then it has not been necessary for a seller to send a purchaser the packet of old deeds, and now on a change of ownership, the buyer is just issued with a title information document, which is a printout of the entries held by the Land Registry. Therefore, the only actual proof of ownership now is the information held on the Land Registry computer.
This however only applies to registered land. There are still a large number of unregistered titles around the country, and the Land Registry is keen that these should all be registered. It therefore offers a discounted fee if an application is made for voluntary first registration. Such an application has the advantage of providing an opportunity to clear up any queries over the legal title, for example boundary discrepancies at leisure, rather than trying to deal with them during a sale, when there is more time pressure. It is also true that it is usually easier (if less interesting) for a buyer's solicitor to inspect the title of a property if it has already been registered.
Also introduced in 2003 were new rules relating to adverse possession, more commonly known as 'squatters' rights'. Previously, if an occupier could show that he had treated land as his own to the exclusion of the title owner for twelve years, then he could apply to the Land Registry for a possessory title. That law still operates in respect of unregistered titles.
For registered titles however, the rule now is that the occupation need only be for ten years, but certain conditions apply, for example it could be that the occupied land should adjoin other land owned by the claimant. When an application to claim the land is submitted to the Land Registry, they will serve a notice on the title owner. If he concedes the claim, or fails to respond, then ownership of the land is transferred to the occupier, who this time gets an absolute title.
If on the other hand, the title owner objects to the claimant's occupation, then the merits of the claim will be considered by the Land Registry. If they reject the first claim, the claimant can make another two years later, and this time will be granted an absolute title despite any objections. The idea is that the title owner has those two years in which to take legal proceedings to evict the occupier from his land.
Published February 2010
