There is a principle of public interest that land should actually be used properly, i.e. that land owners should not be able to exercise rights of ownership over land without also actually using their land for something useful.

“Adverse possession”, “prescription”, “squatters rights” – are all names for the general English and Welsh legal principle that if the actual owner of property is ejected from their possession and use of their property by a trespasser or other occupier without consent, for a sufficiently long time, without the actual owner doing anything to regain their possession of their property, then (because the owner has apparently abandoned their rights as owner) the trespasser actually using the land should have the right to become the actual owner of the land instead of the original actual owner.

The relevant principles are so mired in history, political philosophy, myth, and legal complexity, that it is impossible to give any very useful generalization of how the law might work for any particular circumstances. The most general application is that someone who has possessed land without the actual owner’s permission, to the exclusion of the owner and everyone else, might have the right to apply to the Land Registry to be registered as having the right to possess the land indefinitely:

1. after 10 years, if the land was registered with HM Land Registry, or

2. after 12 years, if the land has never been registered before.

A tenant can never get these rights to land they came into occupation of as tenant – regardless of whether they actually pay any rent.

This product comprises taking your instructions and then preparing the necessary evidence and application to HM Land Registry for you to be registered with possessory title.

We don’t generally do anything for new clients until our process of client retention has concluded – this involves agreeing the scope of what we are doing for the price (our terms are below), setting-up our client record (that includes ID checks), and producing the bill (payment in advance is required for all new clients).

After that, the production of the application and evidence is a complicated job that we can undertake in several hours once we can schedule it in our workflow, that can depend on how busy we are at any particular time. We would not usually take-on a job for which we could not engage within about a working week. However, we find getting complete instructions in these cases often takes days or weeks.

The completed application will then need to be submitted to HM Land Registry for registration. The time HM Land Registry take to process such a registration varies greatly, depending on how busy they are. Some applications are processed very quickly, up to “next day”; however, most applications appear to languish awaiting HM Land Registry attention; in 2021 many applications were taking about 6 months to be registered – and some types of application can take even longer than that, unfortunately. However, once submitted HM Land Registry process applications on any title in order of submission – so their delay ought not to affect the priority of your application relative to other matters on that title.

Your supplier is SRA-regulated Mounteney Solicitors, that charges VAT some customers may be able to reclaim

We charge £850 + VAT = £1020 (+ HMLR fee, £30)

There is more about our fees on our website here

If you have any questions or require any further information, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us.