Land Registry mistake

User1205

Land Registry have admitted to a mistake in allocating a relatively small parcel of larger unregistered land of several acres, to a third party.  I would have thought following such admittance to a mistake that it would simply be a matter of them rectifying the error.  But no, it appears they need to write to the registered title holder for their permission to rectify their title needs and allow correct first registration (LR1) of the land originally purchased some 50 years ago.  

This land throughout those 50 years, albeit outside of the main entrance gate to the rest of the property, has remained in possession, having been used for various uses but mainly parking (own and visitors), putting rubbish bins out, external mail box, etc.  At no point in those prior 50 years has any neighbouring owner ever used or attempted to gain possession of the land.  The neighbouring property has changed hands numerous times.

Nor indeed had this one disputed any continued use of the land prior to the application to correct the Land Registry error submitted. It was discovered only recently that this particular parcel of land had been allocated to a neighbours title by the Land Registry following their purchase and an application to correct the error submitted. 

After considerable delays (returned mail, extension request, etc has an objection been raised but LR won't currently advise say what the objection is, only that its's gone to the legal team to decide whether a grounded or ungrounded objection with no time scale for how long that will take).

I have 2 questions: 

1) why when the LR have admitted the error, which comes within the period for any one else to gain possession or 'squatters rights', why do they not simply correct the error? 

LR can see straight away that 12 years have not passed since the neighbouring property changed hands so no 'squatters rights'. 

And even though 50 years ago, the boundary plan is very clear as this land runs directly outside of main entrance gate / existing land with both fencing and hedging out to the road.  So not a matter of a fence within a piece of land that may be under dispute re exact positioning but clearly defined by the actual road.

2)  what objections can the more recent buyers of the land have that the Land Registry would view as being grounded as apparently an objection has been raised? 
All I can find is the result of tribunals, not where the Land Registry decide whether grounded or not. 


Solicitor response:
The Solicitor has said we just need to wait to see what the LR legal team come back with, but this has already dragged on for months.  The Solicitor had previously said it was a straight forward case of a mistake, which he was right about of course given LR admitted the mistake, but didn't advise that many months on, it still hasn't been corrected and may not in fact be that straight forward.

It seems to me that the Land Registry system / procedure for correcting their own errors is severely flawed.  As well as the above 2 questions, any further comments?

EDIT to make clear:

The original purchasers 50 years ago have used this land throughout.  No-one else has.

The 'new' neighbours, 7 years ago, have not used the land at all, although some of their visitors parked there, seemingly for ease / too lazy to open the entrance gate to their property, drive through, re-shut gate, etc.

user1977

The whole point of land registers is that everyone can rely on them (with a government-backed guarantee of good title) rather than have to look behind the history of the title. If there is a mistake then it will often be the case that the register doesn't get amended (but the owner who has lost out might be entitled to compensation).

The @Land_Registry rep might be able to offer more advice about the procedure here.

RHemmings

Has there been a claim for adverse possession? Is this what you mean by 'squatters rights'?

It seems that the property that was allocated the piece of land that you are disputing has been using it exclusively for over 12 years. I didn't think the fact that property has sold in the last 12 years makes a difference. I checked up on that, and what I find supports that:

https://www.johnantell.co.uk/adverse-possession-of-land

How can you tell that someone owns (unregistered) land? Generally by asking the seller to show you the conveyance which they have from the time when they bought the land. But how can you tell that the person they bought the land from actually owned it, and the person before them? Nobody can trace their ownership of land by documentary evidence back to the first grant of land by William the Conqueror in 1066. This is where the 12 year rule comes in. Providing you can trace back ownership and prove that previous owners were in possession for at least 12 years then you know the person selling to you had good legal title because even if some previous seller did not actually own the land, the 12 years possession ensures that good title has been obtained by adverse possession. So the buyer knows that when they buy that they will have good legal title.

User1205

No, the 'new' neighbours have not been there for 12 years (just 7 to date), nor attempted to personally use the land.

User1205

The original owners continued to use the land (for 50 years) therefore assuming that is evidence of possession as well as the Title Deeds which are clear

RHemmings

DBennett said:

The original owners continued to use the land therefore assuming that is evidence of possession as well as the Title Deeds which are clear

When you say original owners, do you mean the people who were (in your view mistakenly) have the land you wish to dispute allocated to their deeds/title plan on LR? 

User1205

Sorry, I don't seem to be making this very clear !

When I say the 'original owners' I am referring to the ones who purchased, 50 years ago, land from the farm as it was at the time.  The 'new' owners for the farm purchased and first registered the farm in 2017.  Both had remained unregistered until this point. 

It was only this year it became clear that a parcel of land that had been purchased from the farm, by what I am calling the 'original' purchasers, had been mistakenly allocated back to the farm. 

Land Registry have acknowledged the mistake but following 'procedure' in getting response from the 'new' owners / title holders of the farm which originally sold the relevant parcel of land some 50 years ago.