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European Court Backs Squatters Rights

The European Court of Human Rights has handed down a judgment which accepts that the UK's law of ‘adverse possession’ is not a breach of human rights.

“The judgment will serve as a wake-up call to property owners who allow others to occupy land they own as if it were the squatters’ own land,” says Michael Clary of Grant Saw solicitors. The judgment was sought after an application was made to register the title to land, worth over £10m, in the name of the occupiers. The ruling overturns an earlier decision by the European Court which indicated that obtaining the legal title to land by exercising ‘squatters rights’ would be a breach of the human rights of the original owners as the title would pass without any compensation being paid.

Under UK law, anyone who is allowed unopposed occupation of a piece of land for more than twelve years acquires legal title to the land. This is called adverse possession. Numerous safeguards for property owners were introduced by the Land Registration Act 2002, which introduced a new system whereby notices had to be given before the title could be transferred.

The new system, which involves giving notices to owners of land when an application to transfer the title is made, should reduce the frequency with which ownership by adverse possession is claimed. However, there is still a large amount of unregistered land in the UK and it is often difficult to ascertain the ownership of that land in order to give the required notices. Furthermore, an owner who is unable to deal with notices served, by way of infirmity or because they cannot be contacted by post, could face particular problems if steps are not taken to oppose the transfer of title.

Michael Clary says, “Anyone owning property occupied by someone else without a formal legal arrangement should take legal advice to ensure that they are not inadvertently exposing themselves to avoidable risk of losing title to their property. If you own land that is unregistered, it makes sense in most cases to have it registered to ensure that you receive notices in the event that an application is made to transfer the legal title to the land.”

For further information, please contact Mr Michael Clary at this firm
Case JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham and Denton.

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