adverse possession

[whocaresanyway123]

I have lived in my property for 14yrs and looked after the grass verge directly outside the front of my property which is attached to my front garden for this period of time.
I have planted small bushes and ornamental stone because it was originally grass which died and wasn't maintained.
The house was new at the time and the house builder has only just starting to hand the estate over to the council for adoption. I have received a letter from the builder advising me that they are going to remove the bushes and stone and re-instate to grass so the council will adopt this area.
As the builder "abandoned" this area and did not maintain or question what I have done for the last 14yrs, can I now apply for adverse possession?

You could try but the builder could oppose your application. Assuming this is registered land, unless you can show that you reasonably believed that you were the owner of the grass verge for the last 14 years it is unlikely you would succeed.

You would need to instruct a solicitor to look at the particular circumstances and advise whether it meets the criteria or not.

Full guidance here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-possession-of-registered-land/practice-guide-4-adverse-possession-of-registered-land#adverse-possession-the-essentials

You don’t stand a chance unless you have excluded all others from the plot. Merely tending to it as a garden is nowhere near enough.

thanks for your replies

Cillaborate, if this was fenced off for this time would this help?

If it was fenced off so that others could not get into it, that helps you. But you do need proper advice from a lawyer who can look at the documents.

How much is the land worth to you? 10 years ago I obtained adverse possession on a piece of land that had been continually fenced as garden for 50 years without challenge. The registered owners registered address was now a factory. Still even though there was no challenge to the adverse possession it was £3.5K in fees 10years ago. The land was worth more than that to me, but 10 years later I think you could expect fees to be much higher.

Given that the builder's letter telling you what they intend to do with the land at least implies that they see themselves as the owner, and are telling you to vacate the land, it's probably now too late to claim adverse possession.

Believing that the property is yours is not a requirement for establishing adverse possession.

Believing that the property is yours is not a requirement for establishing adverse possession

If you make a claim for adverse possession against registered land the owner will be notified. If they object your claim will fail unless one of three conditions has been met:

• estoppel. In essence the owner has allowed you to believe that you own the land and, as a result, you have acted to your detriment with the owner's knowledge

• the land is adjacent to yours and you reasonably believed you owned it

• you are entitled to the land for some other reason, e.g. you bought the land but legal title was never transferred to you

This is set out in full in the practice guide linked to by foxycleopauper above.

Of course, if the owner does not object to your application it doesn't matter whether or not you believed the land was yours. Also, if your initial claim fails but the owner does not evict you from their property you can try again two years later and will succeed regardless of their objections. And if the land is not registered the rules are different.

"estoppel. In essence the owner has allowed you to believe that you own the land and, as a result, you have acted to your detriment with the owner's knowledge"

The piece of land in question is a verge which is in front of my property which is approximately 400mm wide x 12M long and is attached to my front "garden" which is about the same size... I literally walk out of my house onto a road.
It was left by the builder, a well known national house builder, as a grassed verge but it soon died and they done nothing about it but as it was me who was looking at it everytime I went in and out of the house I decided to remove the grass and try to make it look presentable.
through takeovers and acquisitions involving the house builder the estate was never taken over by the local council. The builder who has now been left with the responsibly of the estate is trying to hand it over to the council who insist that everything should be as it was 14yrs ago and line with the original planning conditions.

The owner has not allowed you to believe you own the land. You have not acted to your detriment with the owner's knowledge. And, as Collaborate says, you haven't excluded other people from the plot. You can try but I would expect you to fail.

So you always knew it wasn’t yours, chose to change it so it looked nicer for you, and didn’t exclude others from it.

I’m assuming it’s registered land?

If so then I really don’t think you have a case. You can always apply and hope they don’t object but as they’re aware of the issue that seems unlikely.

yes of course I have known it isn't mine but they have left it to me to me to maintain it

More accurate to say they failed to maintain it, they didn’t ask you to or require you to.

You don’t have a case here.

Why don’t you ask if they adopt it as it is and you continue to maintain it?

thank you everyone for your replies