Land Registration Act 2002 - Adverse Possession

Adverse Possession

The Act is known for the changes it has made to the rules regulating adverse possession in relation to registered land (the rules applicable to unregistered land remain the same, and 12 years occupation nec vi, nec clam, nec precario is still required to obtain title).

The Act provides that anyone who occupies registered land without permission from the owner and treats it as his own for 10 years is entitled to apply to be registered as owner, although the system introduced by the Act means that few claims will succeed. Specifically, according to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 6 to the Act:

A person may apply to the registrar to be registered as the proprietor of a registered estate in land if he has been in adverse possession of the estate for the period of ten years ending on the date of the application.

The Land Registry is obliged to notify the registered proprietor of the land that an application for possessory title has been made. The registered proprietor then has 65 days to object to the registration. The objection may dispute the applicant's right to be registered as owner or, more usually, the registered proprietor will claim the benefit of the process found in paragraph 5 of Schedule 6. This provides that a registered proprietor who objects has a further two years to evict the adverse possessor. It will be enough to secure eviction within these two years that the registered proprietor relies on their registered title. No other reason need be given. Failure to secure the eviction of the adverse possessor within these two years gives the adverse possessor the right to re-apply to be registered and such a second application will be successful.

In three special cases, the adverse possessor may be registered as proprietor without having to wait for two further years and even if the proprietor objects. These special cases usually arise because the adverse possessor has some other reason for claiming ownership in addition to their possession for (at least) 10 years.

The new rules regulating adverse possession can be found in Part 9 of the Act, and the rules regulating the procedures for registration of an adverse possessor can be found at Schedule 6 to the Act.

These rules are much more difficult to satisfy than the common law with regard to adverse possession, although it is now clear that all rules of adverse possession (in unregistered land, under the LRA 1925 and under the LRA 2002) are human rights compliant, see generally the judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in J.A. Pye (Oxford) Land Ltd v United Kingdom

A registered proprietor need simply object and then proceed to evict within two years. The adverse possessor's claim is therefore vulnerable under the 2002 Act and the registered proprietor is protected in all but the most unusual circumstances.

After the passage of the Act, local councils and other organisations with large land holdings began the systematic registration of their land in order to prevent title being lost to squatters.