Adverse possession is a menace but landowners can take steps to protect themselves, says Alec Samuels
- Adverse possession, and risks from squatters.
- Land Registration Act 2002 protects owners.
- Lawyers should advise clients to register title.
Adverse possession. There is still a lot of it about. Squatters’ rights, claiming title, usually arise when the paper owner of unregistered land, who seems to have been dormant or inactive for some years, decides to sell, lease or develop the land; or the squatters want to do likewise. The value of land is such these days that most paper owners keep a careful eye upon what is going on.
‘No action shall be brought by any person to recover any land after the expiration of 12 years from the date on which the right of action accrued to him or, if it first accrued to some person through whom he claims, to that person,’ Limitation Act 1980, s 15(1), and Accrual of rights of action to recover
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