Unregistered Land

[shomer42]

I have just tried toregister some land I bought in the 1960's only to discover someone has registered part of it in their name in the 1980's. As I have the deeds should this be easy to resolve?

[Ethel]

What's happening with the land? Has the other person been using it? It is not going to be easy to resolve at all.

[Dave G]

If you go to the land registry web page for your area there will be a download form that will be helpfull
I had some dealings with the Portsmouth office and with thier help I purchased a piece of land with no solicitors at a cost of �40 legal fees, The solicitor wanted �500 so a phone call is all it takes and they e.mail all relevant forms etc
Good Luck
Dave G

[Ethel]

This is not straightforward, DaveG

The land is already registered to somebody else, who is presumably going to claim it is theirs and they have the Title Register to prove it.

[buildersmate]

As Ethel says, not straight-forward at all.
I suspect that you are going to find that someone else has been occupying and maintaining it for 12 years. They have then used Adverse Possession (what the popular press like to call Squatters' Rights) to claim and register the land.
If that has happened you may have lost it forever.
It cannot happen with registered land - it can with unregistered.
Who or what is physically sitting on the land in question?

[corbsy]

Ok basically, from a guess, I am going to assume that you occupy the property in question.

Therefore, on this assumption, you would be able to claim the property via adverse possession under the old rules as the 12 years ended before the Land Registration Act 2002. This act does not have a retrospective effect, and your claim would be relevent to the old rules in The Land Registration Act 1925 and the Limitation Act 1980. Section 15(1) of the Limitation act clearly states that "No action shall be brought by any person to recover any land after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which the right of action accrued to him or, if it first accrued to some person through whom he claims, to that person.'

This basically means that the proprietor owner of the legal estate loses his right to reclaim possession of the land, which your self have 'adversedly possessed'. Regardless of the fact that the estate was registered or not, as the time limit is before the 2002 act, the limitation act will prevail and take precedence. The registered owner will be barred from taking legal action to recover the land due to the limitation period imposed on him.

Along with this, you must be able to prove that you had factual possession (physical possession of the land, intention to possess (you must prove that at all times you had the intention to treat the land as your own) and finally that you occupied the property for the sufficient length of time, i.e. 12 years.

[corbsy]

HOWEVER, if your dates are not accurate, and the 12 years ended past 2000, then the Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force on the 2nd of October 2000, will play a major role due to the first protocol in that act. Furthermore, if the 12 years ended past the 13th of October, 2003, then the Land Registration Act 2002 will basically estopp you from claiming the land as your own. It seems to be the case, that it is nearly impossible to gain the land, as the 2002 act abolished the limitation period, and you have to apply to be registered as the proprietor owner. Furthermore, the paper title owner will be notified, and will have 65 working days to respond to your application. If he does not respond, the property is yours, if he does reject, then you will not have the property unless you can satisfy one of three conditions a) estoppel b) the squatter is legally entitled to the land c)there is a boundry dispute.

However, I am concerned as to how the other person was able to register the land without showing good title! Especially as you hold the deeds to the property! Are you sure that other person registered the legal estate, and not an equitable interest? As unregistered land requires most of equitable interests to be registered under the Land Charges Act 1925 in order to be bound upon a bona fide purchaser for value!

So in summary, in all likelyhood, this is fairly easy to resolve. Get a decent solicitor who can write a letter to the registered owner and the registry office in plymouth to make you proprietor owner of the estate.

If your wandering about my credit worthiness, I am a law student who has just finished writing an essay on adverse possession, so i know what i'm talking about.

Hope it all runs smoothly, and you regain full control of your property!

[jen78]

Regardless of all the above, there is not enough information given for us to advise you properly.

I agree with Ethel that it is not necessarily straightforward and would recommend legal advise as how best to protect and try and reclaim your interest in the land, if that is at all possible.

They will obviously be able to get all the relevant facts from you in order to properly advise as we don't know the type or occupation or extent of the land, circumstances in which it was registered etc...

One thing to rule out initially would be the possibility of the Land Registry making a mistake as it does happen, especially with small strips of land.

If you consider how the LR have to make up title plans from old deeds and documents, especially in the case of more rural land which can have irregular shaped boundaries.

There may also have been some kind of disparity in guidance dimensions which were often put on old documents plans to assist with identification.

It's always worth getting this checked in the first instance.

As regards registering unregistered land, the root of title needs only to be 15 years old (there are 20+ between your purchase in 1960 and the registration in the 1980's so it is feasible that an application was made somehow on the basis of title deeds being lost (there may be indications on the title register which may suggest this).

I hope you get it resolved.

[shomer42]

Thank you to everyone for your help. I am now trying to resolve this with LR. I do think it is unfair that I bought it and someone else has claimed it, I don't suppose you can do that with a car for example, but the law is the law. Thank you again.

[furrydice2]

Have you tried http://www.findermonkey.co.uk/unregistered-land-buildings I use them all the time, they're pretty good.