Tag Archive for 'Adverse possession'

On the naughty step: Bait and Switch

By NL on 19/03/2011. 14 Comments

I don’t read the Daily Telegraph. Frankly I’ve failed to see the point since it stopped featuring details of the salacious trial of the day as a regular fixture on page 3, because the rest of it was preposterous blimpish nonsense, mainly full of regret that Britain ever came off the gold standard. I was dimly aware that it had a re-design some years ago and was trying to be hip, which is like Tunbridge Wells re-branding itself as Barcelona, or the journalistic equivalent of dad-dancing.

Still, it is a broadsheet newspaper, with small print, a serif typeface and the occasional long word, so it has pretensions to being … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, Housing law - All, Licences and occupiers and Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Adverse Possession of a Highway II

By Francis Davey on 12/03/2010. 8 Comments

Last year we reported the decision R (Smith) v Land Registry [2009] EWHC 328 (Admin) in which the High Court held (amongst other things) that it was impossible to acquire land by adverse possession if that land was subject to a public highway. At the time I expressed my concern about the soundness of that conclusion and so it is rather pleasing to find that on appeal in R (Smith) v Land Registry [2010] EWCA Civ 200, the Court Appeal agree with me.

To recap: the claimant lives in a caravan on land to the North of road which is a part of the public highway, even though it is … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession and Uncategorized. Tags: , , .

Adverse possession of the river bed

By Francis Davey on 14/05/2009. 1 Comment

In Port of London Authority v Ashmore [2009] EWHC 954 (Ch) the Defendant had, since 1983, tethered his sailing barge to Albion Wharf on the Thames close by Battersea Bridge. The Authority wished to register title to the bed of the river Thames but Mr Ashmore opposed this, claiming that, since his barge rested on the river bed twice each day (with the falling of the tide) he had acquired title to it by adverse possession.

The Authority raised two objections to Mr Ashmore’s claim.

First, it was argued that Mr Ashmore did not have and had not had exclusive possession of the river bed because he had “no continuous, … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, FLW case note and Housing law - All. Tags: , , .

Adverse possession of a highway

By Francis Davey on 13/05/2009. 29 Comments

Can you acquire title to land over which a highway runs? There seems to be no reason in principle why not but R (Smith) v Land Registry (Peterborough) [2009] EWHC 328 (Admin) — wrongly in my view — suggests otherwise.

The Claimant had occupied land with his caravan and its associated structures for in excess of 12 years. He applied to the Land Registry to register his title to the land by adverse possession. The land itself formed a part of a public highway open to all traffic. Accordingly the assistant land registrar refused the application for two reasons: (1) “title cannot be acquired to highway by adverse possession” and … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, FLW case note and Housing law - All. Tags: , .

Without Prejudice acknowledgment of title?

By NL on 18/03/2009. 0 Comments

Ofulue v Bossert [2009] UKHL 16 was an adverse possession case – we commented on the Court of Appeal hearing here, and that post gives the background. There was an appeal to the House of Lords which was primarily concerned with the limitation period of adverse possession. This is a late and brief report because the issues involved were not housing law in particular, but broader ones of evidence, limitation and civil procedure.

There is only one possession related issue. The Court of Appeal had held that an admission of title in a defence to a possession claim was an admission of freehold, not of immediate right to possession … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, FLW case note and Housing law - All. Tags: , , , .

Adverse possession and estoppel

By Dave on 18/12/2008. 0 Comments

In St Pancras & Humanist HA v Leonard  [2008] EWCA Civ 1442, the Court of Appeal held that, although Mr Leonard had possession of the relevant property (a garage), he nevertheless was estopped from claiming a right by adverse possession against the Claimant. The case is interesting largely because of the way the CA deployed estoppel to defeat the claim despite Mr Leonard having the relevant intention to possess.

In brief, the facts were that Mr Leonard (described variously as a “seasoned squatter” and “a coloniser – maybe a closet coloniser”) and colleagues occupied a couple of properties owned by LB Camden and which they were going to demolish … Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, FLW case note, Housing law - All and Trusts and Estoppel. Tags: , .

The Crown as squatter

By NL on 20/02/2008. 0 Comments

A more than a little unusual Court of Appeal judgment on adverse possession has just been handed down. Roberts v Crown Estate Commissioners [2008] EWCA Civ 98. I won’t go into the details – it involved a challenge to Crown possession of an area of foreshore and river bed of the Severn by the purchaser of an ancient manorial title. The result – the Crown can gain property by adverse possession. ‘The same law of limitation applies to both Crown and citizen’.… Read the full post

Posted in Adverse possession, FLW case note and Housing law - All. Tags: , , .
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