Success for Holly Hickin in adverse possession claim before FTT.

January 14, 2025

Holly Hickin successfully represented the Applicant in a claim for adverse possession. The case concerned disputed land which was part of a larger field, the Applicant’s case being that she had been in exclusive possession of the entire field since 1988 at the latest and at the time the land was subject to First Registration in January 2008. The Respondent challenged the claim, disputing that the Applicant was ever in exclusive possession and purported that the Applicant was in fact a tenant of the land.

The Tribunal considered the ‘old’ law of adverse possession pursuant to the Limitation Act 1980 and further, whether the Applicant was in “actual occupation” of the land prior to First Registration resulting in an overriding interest pursuant to Section 11(4)(b) and Schedule 1, paragraph 2 of the Land Registration Act 2002.

The Tribunal found that the Applicant was in adverse possession of the disputed land prior to conveyance to the Respondent and as such, defeated and barred the Respondent’s title. Further it was found that the Applicant was in fact in actual occupation of the land when it was subject to First Registration sometime later.

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