Finding Land
Occupation of land without permission
Whether you own the land or are occupying the land, the question of trespass, adverse
possession and squatting is a common query received by CLAS advisers. Entry onto land
without the owner’s consent is called ‘trespassing’ or when someone with permission to
enter does something that is not covered by the permission. When there is an intention to
occupy in order to claim ownership, this is called ‘adverse possession’ or ‘squatting’.
The aim of this paper is to help you understand trespassing and adverse possession and how
it may affect you. It will answer what status an occupier has, how much notice will be
needed to get the occupier to leave and if the ownership of land can ever be claimed by the
squatter, consequences and what laws may have been broken.
It is quite easy to imagine a situation which could be considered as trespassing or squatting,
for example:
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a group might start a garden on some land with no apparent owner or an absent and
disinterested owner who has not responded to enquiries, or
there has been a mistake with the boundaries of a rented site, meaning only part of
the site is owned by the landlord, but a lease has been granted for the whole site, or
a fence has been moved to include some additional land because more space was
wanted to grow potatoes.
Registered and Unregistered Land
When a property is bought or rented (for more than 7 years), the new owner (proprietor) or
the new tenant will apply to the land registry to have the land transferred into their name.
Even where land has not had a change in ownership for many years, it may still be
registered. See the following paper on land registration about registering a lease or
purchase:
How To Register A Lease | CLAS
(http://en.communitylandadvice.org.uk/wl/resource/how-register-lease)
Once land is registered with the Land Registry, one of four types of titles will be granted
depending on the evidence provided of your ownership/ tenancy. These are Absolute,
Possessory, Good Leasehold and Qualified and are listed here in order of security.
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One of the major benefits of registering land is that if anyone tries to register possession of
the land, the proprietor will be notified by the Land Registry (if they think the claim is on
good grounds) and. Action can then be taken to defend against the claim through the civil
courts.
In order to protect your land from trespass or adverse possession, you should:
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Maintain your boundary fences and hedges
Regularly inspect your land
Register it with the land registry
Keep your details up to date with the land registry
If you are not using your land, you could rent it out.
Myths:
If a squatter remains on the land for 12 years, they can’t be thrown off and the land
becomes theirs.
Sort of True! - On registered land, an application to become the proprietor could be made
by the squatters after 10 years and if the Land Registry believes that the application is on
good grounds, then the registered proprietor would be notified and has the opportunity to
dispute the claim. If it is not disputed or the squatters win the case, then the squatters will
replace the previous proprietor on the land registry. The squatter must show factual
possession (meaning that they are on the land) with the intention to possess & be doing so
without the owner’s consent.
With unregistered land (or on registered land where 12 years was clocked up before 13 th
October 2003) under section 15 of the Limitation Act 1980, squatters can acquire the
ownership (title) if they can prove they had been in continuous occupation for 12 years and
that they have had factual possession, intention to possess and do not have the owner’s
consent. They would apply to the Land Registry to register the land and it would depend on
the evidence as to what title is registered.
If you fence off an area and it’s not contested for 12 years you legally own it
Sort of True - To claim adverse possession of a piece of land, one of the criteria you have to
show that you have had factual possession which signifies an appropriate degree of physical
control. This means that you have had exclusive use of it (by locking the gate) or putting up
a fence and you have had physical control, such as growing vegetables, erecting a shed –
basically done everything that an owner would have done. These would all be good forms
of evidence but are not a guarantee. This has to be done for 10 years if the land is
registered or 12 years if it is unregistered and then an application can be made to the land
registry.
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If the land has been vacant/waste for more than 18 months before you took occupation
then you have to have at least a year’s notice before you can be thrown off.
False - A property owner can take possession proceedings at any time against a trespasser,
no matter what use or not the land was previously in. Possession proceedings would
include occupying the land, removing equipment etc. which belongs to the trespasser,
changing the locks and taking action through the courts on the grounds of trespassing.
There is no need to give any notice period before possession actions are taken.
The land registry plans show the exact boundary of your land
False - The title plan only indicates the general boundaries of the owned land. The plans are
based on Ordnance Survey maps which show walls, streams, hedges, roads and fences and
where these are the boundaries. The title plan is mapped up to them. So these physical
features surrounding the registered land are shown, but the exact boundary is not normally
specified.
You can only take possession of privately owned land not council land
False - Any land can be adversely possessed, should occupation be continuous for 10 years if
it is registered, 12 years if unregistered. However land owned by the Crown (the Queen,
Duchy of Lancaster or Duchy of Cornwall), a much longer occupation period is necessary (30
years or 60 years for foreshore).
You could go to prison for squatting on land or non-residential buildings
False - Section 144 of the Legal Aid Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 made
squatting a criminal offence only in residential properties. Trespassing remains a civil
offence on land and non-residential buildings and so does not carry a prison sentence. In a
civil case, a Judge may make the squatter/trespasser pay the costs such as legal fees
incurred by the proprietor as well as the cost of putting right any damaged caused.
Once you’ve registered with the land registry, the land is yours and no one can take it
from you
False - If someone adversely possesses your land for 10 years, they may be able to make a
claim for possession. As soon as you notice someone adversely possessing your land you
need to assert your ownership and notify them that they shouldn’t be there and are
trespassing. You may wish to grant them a lease and charge rent.
The original squatters have moved off but some new ones moved straight in, this means
that the 10 or 12 years of occupation to claim possession re-starts
False – the new squatters may be able to prove that their occupation is a continuation of
the previous squatters’ occupation, so long as there was not a break in occupation and they
fulfil the other criteria for adverse possession. It would be usual for the new squatters to
get a written record (affidavit) from the previous occupiers as evidence to be presented to
the Land Registry when they make their adverse possession claim.
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If you stay on the land after your lease ends and don’t pay rent, eventually the land
becomes yours
False - The tenancy will convert to a tenancy at will which means the terms and conditions
in the old tenancy continue to apply unless a notice to quit (a written notice informing the
tenant that they have to leave by a certain date) is served. Failure to pay rent (if demanded
or not) is a breach of the tenancy and the landlord can take measures to end the tenancy
and repossess the land
If the ex-tenant stayed after a notice to quit was served and the property was not
repossessed then the 10 year or 12 year occupation period would start from the day they
ex-tenant should have left as stated in the notice to quit.
As the landlord has failed to give us a written tenancy agreement, we can claim ownership
of the land.
False - You will have an unwritten tenancy (also known as a verbal tenancy) and as you had
agreed to have a tenancy, you would struggle to prove that you were there without the
landlord’s consent which would be required for an adverse possession claim.
Only the owner of the land can seek possession of the land when it is being occupied by
someone else.
True – or someone acting on the owners behalf (it could be the tenant). An occupier should
ask the person claiming to be the owner for evidence that they are the owner. Ideally this
would be the entry from the land registry or the title deeds. If an owner of unregistered
land had noticed someone squatting on their land the first thing they would be advised to
do by their solicitor would be to register their ownership with the land registry. Then they
would make contact with the trespassers and take possession action. This would probably
start with a strongly worded letter attached to the gate, fence or nearby telephone pole. If
necessary, they could apply to court for a possession order for the land but would need to
prove to the court that they had the right to do so (by proving they were the owner).
If a lease is granted and it turns out the landlord doesn’t own all of it, the landlord can
claim adverse possession.
True – The Landlord can make a claim for adverse possession after 10 or 12 years of
occupation by their tenant, so long as the usual criteria are met to make an adverse
possession claim. If the Landlord previously occupied the land and then leased it out, both
occupations would count together towards the 10 or 12 years.
Further information:
The Land Registry has produced several different guides on adverse possession (See practice
guide 4, 5 8 and 16). To read it, go to www.landregistry.gov.uk/professional/guides
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