Adverse possession

trevormax

However, it is not the neighbours land. It belongs to the council until such time as the neighbour buys the house and attached land or the claim for AP completes.

The neighbours are not losing anything. They've never used or owned the land and by the time they are able to buy the house, the land will possibly have already changed hands.

That might result in the cost of the house reducing slightly compared to what it would have been if it included the land.

Also, the neighbour has shown that they don't give two sqauts about the OP by tearing up fences, trees and crops etc rather than asking/telling the OP to remove them. The relationship between the OP and neighbour is probably already irreperably damaged.

silvercar

That might result in the cost of the house reducing slightly compared to what it would have been if it included the land.

Alternatively, the value with the land may increase (if it was based on a valuer visiting the property when the fences were still in position).

zagubov

This sounds like a great way to win a battle but lose a war. If it stays part of your land, are you required to say you had to get the police in due to a criminal damage to your fence?If it's not your land, do you have to say anything about your undisputed property?

Rosierees123

Thanks can't reg with them as you have to drag words into a column and my iPad won't do it x

Davesnave

zagubov wrote: »

This sounds like a great way to win a battle but lose a war. If it stays part of your land, are you required to say you had to get the police in due to a criminal damage to your fence?If it's not your land, do you have to say anything about your undisputed property?

This assumes the OP will be selling-up, but I can see where you're coming from.

Often, the ultimate outcome of cases like this is not decided by the law, but by the character of the individuals concerned.

Others have covered the legal aspects well enough. Without more insight into those in dispute, it's impossible to say how this one might go, so I wouldn't want to advise.

Rolling over rarely leads to happiness, but there again, entering into a full-on dispute isn't wise if age, health or temperament is against you.

Rosierees123

Thanks seems impossible to reg with then
M as u have to drag the words in a box and my iPad won't let me do it

paddy's_mum

Surely this is exactly the same as comes up time and again in the Wills section?

You cannot leave by will to another party something that you don't own. If you are a 'joint tenant' owner of a house, you cannot leave "your half" of the house elsewhere since it passes automatically at the instant of death to the other joint tenant owner.

The council are the original owners of the land in question. They have had many years to see and address the possession question and have not done so. By my understanding of the laws on adverse possession, the council are very unlikely to be able to overturn the Land Registry's moves, even should they wish to do so. One wonders how much it would cost the Local Authority to attempt to do so, presumably through the courts eventually. Would that be considered cost effective by the local taxpayers, I wonder?

The next door neighbour is an intending purchaser and as such, is almost an irrelevance to the ownership question, in which he should have no involvement at all, in my view. He has not been deprived of anything since the land was splintered off years before he even became the tenant.

If what happened legally in the past can be overthrown by shouting, screaming and stamping one's feet and destroying someone else's things, who would buy/rent/lease/inherit any house built on part of a garden or what used to be poor farmland or a brownfield site - a previous owner could come roaring back and deprive you of it!

In the OP's shoes, I would be seeing an experienced solicitor for advice. The relationship with the neighbour is already in tatters so you have little further to lose if doing so offends the neighbour even further. He has already proved himself a bully - which normal folk go round tearing up fences, plants and trees?

Rain_Shadow

Don't hold your breath on the LR dealing with the adverse possession.


My mother registered her property at the LR starting at least 18 months ago. The registration came back and revealed that a significant area of her garden, which she has used for over 30 years, wasn't on the original conveyance. The adverse possession claim for this land has now been with the LR since late last year with no sign of it being processed. Her solicitors tell her this is a normal timescale atm.

Rosierees123

Wonderful advice I believe the council have now said we can retain the land good always overcomes evil doing xx

konark

That is indeed very fortunate, you post on Sunday about a boundary dispute with adverse possession and by Monday evening the council have given you the land. In my experience these cases usually move at a glacial pace.

To have an absolute legal right to the land you should have written to whoever the land was registered to after 10 years to tell them you were 'aving their land. After a further 2 years with no objection, or if land not registered at LR you would get 'possessory title'. However if you have been in possession since approx 1993 the old rules apply and it's automatically yours after 12 years. The council may have decided the latter and not objected.

Now you've just got to mend your fences, quite literally, with the neighbours.