Students: Chapter 11

Welcome to the Student Resources for Chapter 11 of Modern Land Law. Here you will be able to practice your exam technique with a set of essay questions; check your understanding of what land law is with our multiple-choice quiz and short-answer questions; test yourself on your knowledge of the key statutes and case law; and listen to a short lecture podcast on the latest developments within land law.

Click on the tabs below to view the resources:

Essay questions

Question 1

A. In 2001, Sue the registered proprietor of No. 24 Labyrinth Lane granted a two year lease to Anthony. Very soon after the lease was granted, Rosemary, a homeless lady, moved into the shed of No. 24 Labyrinth Lane with her dog, Lucy. Rosemary changed the locks on the shed and Anthony could no longer gain access, although he did not know this. In 2004, Sue realised that Rosemary was living in the shed and wanted her to leave. She therefore wrote to Rosemary asking her leave. Rosemary ignored this letter.

In 2003, once Anthony's original lease was up, he asked Sue to grant another lease. Sue agreed and granted him a 15 year lease. Rosemary has been living in the shed throughout. Rosemary is now upset that she is once again being asked to leave. Advise Rosemary.

B. Anthony also planted a hedge around No. 24 Labyrinth Lane in 2001. His hedge has enclosed a 100m wide, 100m long area of land that in fact belongs to the next-door neighbour, Jimmy, although neither Jimmy nor Anthony was aware of this fact. Anthony believed that the land belonged to him under the lease. Jimmy has now sold his house to Gillian and Gillian believes that she can require Anthony to move the hedge. Advise Gillian.

C. When the 15 year lease is up, Sue would like the hedge to remain. Advise Sue on the likely position following the termination of the lease.

Question 2

A. In 2000 Raymond, the freehold proprietor of No. 4 Labyrinth Lane, believing it to be his land, started to grow his vegetables on a patch at the side of his property approximately 0.5 acre in size. In fact this land belonged to Stephen, the freehold proprietor of No. 2 Labyrinth Lane. Stephen knew that the vegetable patch was his land but did not take any action to prevent Raymond from growing his vegetables. Stephen has now got married and had a child and wishes to use the 0.5 acre plot to build a play area.

B. At the other side of Stephen's property there is a barn. In 1996 he granted a five year lease for that barn to Teresa. Initially Teresa stored her hay there. In 1998, Victoire broke into the barn and changed the locks. Teresa could no longer get into the property to store her hay. Stephen has now discovered that he cannot enter the barn.

C. Stephen also has a field at the bottom of his garden which Wilhelm uses to graze his cattle. Wilhelm offered to pay for the use of the land in 2000 when he started grazing his animals there but Stephen failed to reply to his letters. As a result Wilhelm concluded that Stephen did not mind him using the field for grazing. Wilhelm did not put locks on the gates, but he did prevent a fellow neighbour, Zara, from attempting also to graze her cattle there. Stephen is now trying to remove Wilhelm's cattle from the field and Wilhelm is arguing that the field is his but also that it is a breach of his human rights to force him to remove the cattle in this way.

Advise Stephen.

Question 3

The Law Commission should have gone further in the Land Registration Act 2002 to close off the possibility of a successful claim to adverse possession. Discuss.

True/False Quiz

With the exception of the first three questions, answer the questions below based on the facts of this short scenario. A was registered freehold proprietor of No. 1 Main street in 1999. In 2000 B starts storing his garden furniture in the shed in the garden of No. 1 Main Street without permission but A keeps his paints and tools in there also. A does know about it. At the same time, C had built a fence at the bottom of his garden which is in fact on A's land so that 1m of A's land is now behind C's fence.

Please select a quiz..

You answered the following questions incorrectly:

Question
of

Statute Quiz

Here you should outline the main effect, role, etc. of the provisions below. This is designed as a guide to the most important provisions, and as a means to improve your recall of the statutory provisions.

Limitation Act 1980, section 15

Limitation Act 1980, section 15 establishes the limitation period for adverse possession of registered land. Book location: 11.2.1

Land Registration Act 2002, section 58

Land Registration Act 2002, section 58 guarantees title to registered land.

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraphs 3–5

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraphs 3–5 list the exceptional circumstances in which an adverse possessor can be registered as proprietor of a registered estate in land despite the registered proprietor serving a counter-notice. Book location: 11.4.3

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraph 1

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraph 1 establishes that an adverse possessor can apply to be registered as proprietor of a registered estate after ten years. Book location: 11.4.2

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraph 9

Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, paragraph 9 establishes that an adverse possessor who becomes registered proprietor of a registered estate will take subject to any rights binding the estate except registered charges. Book location: footnote 76

Case Law Quiz

Here you should attempt in one or two sentences to outline the main points to be taken from these cases and also three or four key words with their subject matter. This should assist in revision.

Powell v. McFarlane (1979) 38 P & CR 452

Factual possession, intention to possess. Factual possession is established by dealing with the land as an occupying owner might have been expected to deal with the land. Intention to possess involves an intention to exclude the whole world, including the true owner, as far as possible. Book location: 11.1.1, 11.1.2

Pye v. Graham [2002] UKHL 30

Principles of adverse possession. Factual possession is established by dealing with the land as an occupying owner might have been expected to deal with the land. Intention to possess involves an intention to exclude the whole world, including the true owner, as far as possible. Book location: 11.1

Pye v. UK ECHR 44302/02

Adverse possession, human rights. European Court of Human Rights concluded that the rules relating to adverse possession are human rights compliant. Book location: 11.1.3

Buckinghamshire CC v. Moran [1990] Ch 623

Adverse possession, enclosure. Enclosing land by a fence may constitute both the act of possession and demonstrate the intention to possess land for the purposes of adverse possession. Book location: 11.1.1

Baxter v. Mannion [2011] EWCA Civ 120

Adverse possession, registered land. Where an application to be registered on the basis of adverse possession is successful, the register can nevertheless be rectified on the basis of mistake if it becomes apparent that the required period of adverse possession had not in fact been completed. Book location: 11.4.2

Short Answer Questions

Can an adverse possessor bring an action for possession against a trespasser?

Yes, their possessory title permits this.

Podcasts

Stopped:

00:00

Podcast Script

This podcast examines the rules relating to adverse possession of registered land.

In the previous podcast in this series we looked at mortgages and especially the rules regarding the power of sale and the power to appoint a receiver as outlined in Sections 101 to 104 Law of Property Act 1925. In this podcast we will be examining schedule 6 of the LRA 2002 and the rules regarding adverse possession of registered land.

Since 2003 the rules regarding adverse possession have changed dramatically. Whilst the meaning of adverse possession remains the same, as can be seen in Chapter 10, the time required and the consequences of being an adverse possessor are fundamentally different. More than this, in registered land, adverse possession is no longer dependent on the concept of limitation periods. Instead the consequences of adverse possession depend on the register. We will be looking at applications to be registered as proprietor on the basis of adverse possession, how the registrar must deal with this application, and objections to the registration.

The application to be registered

If an adverse possessor has been in adverse possession for more than 10 years, he is entitled to apply to become registered proprietor as long as he is not a defendant in possession proceedings nor has been the object of a judgment for possession of a land in the past two years.

How the registrar must deal with this application

Once the registrar has received the application he must send a notice to the registered proprietor of the estate, amongst others, including a registered charge holder. If the registered proprietor etc do not reply and object to the registration under schedule 6, paragraph 4, the applicant adverse possessor will be registered as proprietor. For this reason it is crucial that the registered proprietor keep his contact details up to date at the land registry and reply promptly to the notice.

Objections to the registration

If the registered proprietor etc do respond to the notice from the registrar, the registrar must deal with the application under Paragraph 5 Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6. Paragraph 5 specifies that unless one of the three conditions is met, following the objection, the applicant cannot be registered as proprietor.

The three conditions are:

It would be unconscionable for the existing proprietor to seek possession from the adverse possessor as a result of an estoppel, and the situation is such that the applicant ought to be registered.
The applicant is entitled to be registered proprietor for some other reason.
The boundary exception. Where the land in question is adjacent to the land belonging to the applicant and the exact boundary line has not been determined, and where for at least 10 years of the adverse possession the applicant reasonably believed the land belonged to him, then the applicant can be registered as proprietor despite the objection.

If the application has been rejected and the applicant is not registered as proprietor, 2 years after the application is rejected he may apply again to be registered. If he has not been defendant in possession proceedings during this time, then he can be registered as proprietor. In other words, the existing proprietor has 2 years to bring possession proceedings against the adverse possessor following the initial application. If he does not do this then the adverse possessor will become registered proprietor.

Thus it is clear that compared with the position in relation to unregistered land, registered title is much less vulnerable to adverse possession. This is one of the biggest incentives in the 2002 Act for freeholders of large estates to voluntarily register their title.

This is the last podcast in this series. Thank you for listening. We hope that you have found the material on the website useful. For more detail on each of the topics, please refer to the relevant chapters in Martin Dixon’s “Modern Land Law”. Today’s key concept: schedule 6 LRA 2002.

Modern Land Law, 9th Edition