Adverse Possession

[Crazymadchickenlady]

Has anyone ever done an adverse possession claim and got any tips or idea how much it will cost to do through a solicitor? The garden behind our house has been fenced off and used solely by the owners of our house for the last 20 years at least. I have signed declarations (statement of truth) from the last two owners stating this covering up to 2005. The land is unregistered and we haven’t been able to find out who owns it. We have owned the house and used the garden for the last year. Thanks for any help and tips.

yes i agree

the op basically got the previous owners to sign something
won’t be worth the paper it’s written on

Yes our conveyancer advised we get a statement of truth from the previous owners in case we ever wanted to pursue adverse possession. What happened in 2005….the previous owners bought the house in 2005. They can only declare they had sole unhindered use from the time they bought it.

It's not a matter that land is "unclaimed" it's just that it is unregistered. It is quite usual for roads maintained by the local council not to registered.

If you have a look on the other side of the road from the OPs house you will notice that there is also another gap in between all the other registered houses.

This is a house that is unregistered and just because the house is next to the road that doesn't mean that it's in the same ownership, just that neither the road nor that house have been registered.

My parents have just found a document going back to the 1930s where my grandad owned some land behind some houses he built. ,He was going to build garages on it but the depression and the war etc so it never happened. Noone else knew about it and he died 50 years ago. My mum went to see the land and all the houses had claimed it as their own built garages or hardstanding etc. they are now going through the process or repossession or selling the land to the house owners. I don't know how it will pan out in the end, but you can't just use someone's land, they might turn up, Luke my mum has

I'm afraid that you're mistaken. A statement of truth means that it is worth the paper it's written on.

Now you've shown it on the map and on the photo, I can't help wondering whether there was some specific reason why those houses did not have that land included within their property boundaries.

How long ago were the houses built, and were they owner-occupied from the start? You might have to search in your county archives.

@invisiblecat the houses were built in 1904. Always owner occupied (I think!) and yes I agree it does seem odd. There is another set of the terraces further down the road which are the same. It seems weird as it changes mid block of terraces not even at the end of rows.

@Doggymummar that’s why we want to do an adverse possession as then when it’s legally ours no one can come back after 50 years and say its theirs. As far as I understand it the law says after a certain number of years of no one disputing the use and it being fenced in you can apply for it to become yours.

yes

but it is dependent on how it’s done

what would stop the neighbour who’s used it for exclusively for two decades doing this?

and presumably you’d then stop the neighbour using it if you were successful?

Has there ever been any historic subsidence anywhere along that stretch of road? It really is a very steep slope, and with the road at the top, it makes me wonder who would be responsible for what could be incredibly expensive repairs if the retaining wall were to collapse.

I think you have misunderstood. The neighbours haven’t been using it at all. They don’t even use the land behind their own houses and have no interest in doing so. We only want the land directly behind our house which we have been using as a garden and was already all fenced off all around it when we bought the house. The land is really steep and they have no terracing (we do). I think the cost of that (retaining walls etc) puts them off. They just use their very small back yards up to their boundary which is also a large retaining wall (we have wooden steps going up to the garden along the retaining wall). We have three retaining walls in total which all need some work doing to maintain them and stop the garden falling into the house. We don’t want the whole strip of green just the small square of land directly behind our house.

No. It all seems stable though our retaining walls do need some attention which is why DH now wanted to start the adverse possession before he did any work on them. The main retaining wall at the bottom which everyone has seems to be very solid but the smaller ones further up are just dry stone walls with lots of weeds growing through and the steps up need some attention too.

apologies

I'm a former property solicitor, this is much more common than you'd think. From what you've said (so no guarantees obviously!), your application would likely be successful. If so, you'd have Possessory Title registered at the Land Registry which you can then apply to upgrade to Absolute 12 years after the Possessory title is registered.

You would be best advised to take out indemnity insurance for the Possessory title and make sure you keep all of the statements of truth you have safe in case you decide to sell the house.

@popplego thanks. I will email our conveyancing solicitor tomorrow and see what she says and get the process going.

@invisiblecat just talked to my DH about what happens if the walls fall down and he still wants to pursue it. He says he prefers we are responsible and can do the upkeep rather than let them fall down. Not sure who owns the major wall at the current boundary line. Can’t remember that coming up during the conveyancing. The council does seem to look after the top road and the edging looks all
solid and new (maybe as the local councillor lives directly opposite our house on the back road!)

@Crazymadchickenlady hope you don't mind me commenting a few months after you posted! I am just buying a house and half what appears to be the front garden transpires is unregistered land. My Solicitor has asked the Seller to make application for adverse possession but they are refusing due to cost therefore if I proceed they'll just offer indemnity insurance and I am worried about issues now and potentially when I come to sell down the line. Have you been able to progress yours? Do you have to have lived there yourself for a certain amount of time before you can apply or is the previous owners use taken into account? And are you applying for possessory freehold or absolute freehold?! Apologies for 20 questions!!

@TheUniversalsHere we have started progressing it but not got very far yet due to solicitors only just having sent us their paperwork. We have just signed the documents for the solicitor and sent them back last week. The estimated cost of our is just over £800 where £650 of that is solicitors costs and the rest searches and land registry costs. As far as I understand it you go for possessory freehold for 12 years and then can apply for absolute title after that time has passed. I don’t think you have to have lived there yourself for any length of time but we had to show it had been fenced off for exclusive use for the last 12 years (I think we had proof for the last 20 years). You have to get statements of truth from the current owner that they have exclusively used it and no one has challenged it for the last 12 years. If they haven’t owned it that long then you have to go to the owners before them and get one from them too (which I what I did).

Thank you @Crazymadchickenlady . So I guess you are going for the initial possessory freehold? Do you plan on living there at least 12 years so you will eventually apply for absolute freehold? I am worried if I want to move on when kids up sticks I won't be able to provide new buyers with 'absolute freehold' paperwork and it could put people off. Thanks for coming back to me 😊

Yes I don’t think we have any choice and you can’t get absolute possession straight off (as far as I understand it!). It’s actually my daughter’s house but she has some learning difficulties so we are helping her/doing this for her. Not sure how long she will keep the house for and she only moved in at Christmas last year. It might put some people off as it is making you question buying it and it will cost you money to go for the adverse possession yourself. We got the house really cheaply and knew the garden didn’t belong to it but were prepared to go (and pay) for the adverse possession claim so it didn’t put us off. I suppose it depends how much you like the house and if you think your getting a good deal (or not!).

Our solicitor also wrote the statement of truth and we got the previous owner to sign it as part of the conveyancing process. So if you do go for it make sure you get that as you will need it.

Thank you that's really good to know. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly for you!!