Registered Land

Guardsman

Hi All

I own land next to my property and I have given permission to my neighbour to graze his horses there.
He has repaired the fence to stop his stock going to the road and repaired the gate.
My question is can he put in a claim for my land in a few years time if I have given him permission to use it for free ?
I did not ask him to put the fence up on the roadside hedge he did this on his own accord to stop his horses from wandering off.
The land was registered in my name last year.

Guardsman

Have I posted this question in the right forum ?

lincroft1710

What sort of agreement do you have with the neighbour?

You really need something officially drawn up so it is clear how much notice should be given by either party to vacate the land and a date when the agreement comes to an end. If rent is passing then a proper tenancy agreement should be entered into by both parties.

G_M

Guardsman wrote: »

Hi All

.......can he put in a claim for my land in a few years time if I have given him permission to use it for free ?

.

Yes. Of course he can.

However that claim is unlikely to succeed unless he can prove he believed, and acted as if, he has owned it for 10 years. A simple agreement bewteen you would scupper any such claim.

http://www.legalcentre.co.uk/property/guide/adverse-possession-of-land/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertyclinic/5231581/Property-advice-adverse-possession.html

Guardsman

Just a verbal agreement that he can use the land. Nothing may come of it I'm just protecting my back.
Do I legally need to give him notice to leave ? if he uses it for free but obviously I would let him know in advance that I needed the use of the field.
The way I see it he gets to use the field for free and his animals keep the grass down saves me cutting it.

Guardsman

So basically after 10 years he can put a claim in, The Land Registry will inform me about it.

I then respond by telling them he cant have it and I also inform my neighbour to get Daisy out of my field.
If he does not remove the stock then I can open the gate send the animals down to his place and put a lock on the gate.
If he breaks the lock to get back in the field then he will have caused criminal damage or Is it not that simple.

PS I served 30 years in the Infantry not the Intelligence core.

DominicJ_2

The problem is, animials.
An agricultural tenancy is not anything like a residential tenancy.
I knew someone who got stung by this over bees of all things.

Richard_Webster

I'm not going to claim to be an expert in agricultural tenancies and you obviously need to make sure that you do not unwittingly create one but in order to defeat a claim for adverse possession you simply need his regular acknowledgement that he accepts that you own it. This should be in writing.

Johnhowell

Guardsman,

It is my understanding that the law on adverse possession changed a few years back. Parties can no longer retrospectively claim adverse possession - which I think was 12 years of use.

Now the party has to register their use at the start of possession and maintain use for 7 years. However, as your land is registered, HMLR will contact you that some has registered an interest and I think you have 2 years to respond. Make sure your registered address on the title is correct - allows HMLR to contact your easily.

Also, horses do not count toward agricultural use of land.

Richard's suggestion of a declaration of ownership sounds good.

Regards,
John

P.S. is it not corp not core? ;-)

hcb42

Horse called Daisy? Is that not a cow's name?

Guardsman

Thanks for the Info John.
BTW glad you spotted the irony and yes it's corps pronounced core by us wooden-tops and anybody else who followed us.