Resolving adverse possession issue

IdleHans

I thought I'd direct this question to the huge knowledge pool that is CL in the hope that someone might be able to provide a bit of guidance.

I am in the process of selling an old (1797) terraced house that I've owned for just over ten years. It's the ninth house in a terrace of 13 cottages, which were all owned by a single property company until 1963, at which point the houses were sold off individually.

I accepted an offer back in August 2024, but it came to light in about November that there is a very small area of unregistered land in the back garden, entirely within my boundary. It's about where my raspberries are planted. It has never previously come to light, so i'm a bit bemused as to why it would only now be an issue. My house has changed hands at least 5 or 6 times without this being a thing.

I've been in touch with Land Registry to ask how and why this anomaly has arisen, but they simply say it is what it is, and I need to apply for adverse possession to resolve the position. My conveyancing solicitor (whose service levels have thus far been unremittingly sh1t, which I expect to continue) has quoted me £1,000 plus VAT plus disbursements to deal with this, but as far as I can tell it should be relatively straightforward to handle this myself. Has anyone done this themselves and how difficult was it?

Many thanks all

Valleyfan2

The law used to be that if yiu had 13 years adverse possession then you would be entitled to title to the land. Now for registered land time has been reduced to 10 years but the registered proprietor can object to an adverse title application and will likely succeed except in certain circumstances. However if the squatter is not then evicted within 2 years he can re-apply for title and the registered owner will be unable to object. 

It is complicated but the application is by standard forms so no reason not to do it on your own. 

Good luck! 

Valleyfan2

Correction to first line, law used to 12 years not 13. 

Lordflashheart

You can get indemnity insurance for this I believe 

IdleHans

Thanks. The area of land is unregistered according to the plan, the reason for which i dont understand at all as the gardens are all simple, straight narrow rectangles aside from a kink in one of my boundaries reflecting a communal access passageway, and would pre '63 have been under common ownership. I suspect it's simply some drafting error that nobody's given a toss about before.

There are no practical consequences of this little anomaly - if anyone tried to gain access to the unregistered land they would have to cross my garden, and I would simply sue them for trespass (or shoot them)

IdleHans

Lordflashheart said:

You can get indemnity insurance for this I believe 

I imagine so - I've got a whole list of policies ready to go, including one for planning consent (which it did not occur to me I would need) for replacing a three layer felt roof with another three layer felt roof. Bloody ridiculous.

Valleyfan2

Sorry, I assumed it was registered land. 

The rules for unregistered land have remained largely unchanged. The period is 12 years and if you can prove factual possession  for at least 12 years yiu will likely succeed. Much better chances for unregistered land as against registered land. 

Chizz

For a straightforward case like yours, you could likely handle the adverse possession application yourself, especially if the land has been uncontested for decades and is entirely within your boundary. Start by reviewing the Land Registry’s Practice Guide 4 (Adverse Possession of Registered Land) for detailed instructions. If the process feels daunting or an objection arises, you can always engage your solicitor later. 

Covered End

I had a “similarish” issue when selling my mother in law’s house 3 years ago.

The purchaser’s solicitor was querying the access road to the garages behind the terraced houses and suggesting (IIRC) that there didn’t appear to be a legal right of way to get to your own garage.

Additionally, the public apparently had a right of access to the front garden and could legally just plot up and use the garden as they would a park.

The property was ex council and lived in by them since the mid 60’s without issue ( they bought early 80’s).

My solicitor (as they all seem to) was ignoring my correspondence and not returning calls for a couple of weeks, when I was querying the delay.

In the end I refused to be fobbed off and insisted on speaking to him.

I said it was ridiculous and there must be a solution and he said I could pay £250 for an indemnity, which I did immediately and that resolved it.

I honestly don’t think the solicitor would have suggested this if I hadn’t insisted.

My presumption is that the longer they can drag out matters and the more work they do letters/phone calls etc the more they claim in fees.

Good luck and ask him how to quickly resolve the issue.

IdleHans

Covered End said:

I had a “similarish” issue when selling my mother in law’s house 3 years ago.

The purchaser’s solicitor was querying the access road to the garages behind the terraced houses and suggesting (IIRC) that there didn’t appear to be a legal right of way to get to your own garage.

Additionally, the public apparently had a right of access to the front garden and could legally just plot up and use the garden as they would a park.

The property was ex council and lived in by them since the mid 60’s without issue ( they bought early 80’s).

My solicitor (as they all seem to) was ignoring my correspondence and not returning calls for a couple of weeks, when I was querying the delay.

In the end I refused to be fobbed off and insisted on speaking to him.

I said it was ridiculous and there must be a solution and he said I could pay £250 for an indemnity, which I did immediately and that resolved it.

I honestly don’t think the solicitor would have suggested this if I hadn’t insisted.

My presumption is that the longer they can drag out matters and the more work they do letters/phone calls etc the more they claim in fees.

Good luck and ask him how to quickly resolve the issue.

Well, the conveyancing is fixed fee but this would be a nice bundle of extra income for them, so i reckon you're right.

I'm half inclined to put a fence round the unregistered bit and just say it's not part of the garden.

Valiantphil

Buy an indemnity as suggested. 

They are about £40, and your solicitor should have suggested it. I wonder if this is how the property has changed hands before - there may already be a policy in place somewhere. 

guinnessaddick

We had a similar problem when selling our parents’ house a few years back. There was a query with part of the garden & the buyer’s solicitor was asking all sorts of questions, which we couldn’t answer. Looked back through the original paperwork when my parents bought the property. There wasn’t any mention of it, I did notice that the solicitor my parents used was the same as the solicitor that the buyer were using. Spoke to our solicitor and basically said the same solicitor didn’t have a problem when my parents were buying it. The problem soon disappeared.

Arsenetatters

Every time I’ve moved there’s been a bloody indemnity for something or other. 

CAFCDAZ

IdleHans said:

I thought I'd direct this question to the huge knowledge pool that is CL in the hope that someone might be able to provide a bit of guidance.

I am in the process of selling an old (1797) terraced house that I've owned for just over ten years. It's the ninth house in a terrace of 13 cottages, which were all owned by a single property company until 1963, at which point the houses were sold off individually.

I accepted an offer back in August 2024, but it came to light in about November that there is a very small area of unregistered land in the back garden, entirely within my boundary. It's about where my raspberries are planted. It has never previously come to light, so i'm a bit bemused as to why it would only now be an issue. My house has changed hands at least 5 or 6 times without this being a thing.

I've been in touch with Land Registry to ask how and why this anomaly has arisen, but they simply say it is what it is, and I need to apply for adverse possession to resolve the position. My conveyancing solicitor (whose service levels have thus far been unremittingly sh1t, which I expect to continue) has quoted me £1,000 plus VAT plus disbursements to deal with this, but as far as I can tell it should be relatively straightforward to handle this myself. Has anyone done this themselves and how difficult was it?

Many thanks all

I had this exact issue when selling our leasehold property in August last year, we were a week away from completion and this came up. Basically my error but something so ridiculous and the council knew it, who were our freeholders. They had not given us our driveway, a house we had owned/occupied for more than 40 years, had maintained etc also, which is where the law of Adverse possession came in. We ended up having our pants pulled down to get things completed, by agreeing to an indemnity insurance policy, basically stating no one would argue ownership and it would be used solely by the new owners. Maybe this is something you can look into? It cost us around £600.

Gribbo

CAFCDAZ said:

IdleHans said:

I thought I'd direct this question to the huge knowledge pool that is CL in the hope that someone might be able to provide a bit of guidance.

I am in the process of selling an old (1797) terraced house that I've owned for just over ten years. It's the ninth house in a terrace of 13 cottages, which were all owned by a single property company until 1963, at which point the houses were sold off individually.

I accepted an offer back in August 2024, but it came to light in about November that there is a very small area of unregistered land in the back garden, entirely within my boundary. It's about where my raspberries are planted. It has never previously come to light, so i'm a bit bemused as to why it would only now be an issue. My house has changed hands at least 5 or 6 times without this being a thing.

I've been in touch with Land Registry to ask how and why this anomaly has arisen, but they simply say it is what it is, and I need to apply for adverse possession to resolve the position. My conveyancing solicitor (whose service levels have thus far been unremittingly sh1t, which I expect to continue) has quoted me £1,000 plus VAT plus disbursements to deal with this, but as far as I can tell it should be relatively straightforward to handle this myself. Has anyone done this themselves and how difficult was it?

Many thanks all

I had this exact issue when selling our leasehold property in August last year, we were a week away from completion and this came up. Basically my error but something so ridiculous and the council knew it, who were our freeholders. They had not given us our driveway, a house we had owned/occupied for more than 40 years, had maintained etc also, which is where the law of Adverse possession came in. We ended up having our pants pulled down to get things completed, by agreeing to an indemnity insurance policy, basically stating no one would argue ownership and it would be used solely by the new owners**. Maybe this is something you can look into? It cost us around £600.

**new owner and the raspberries