The tenants Mr and Mrs Levy did not know their landlord Mrs David’s address and had no means of paying the rent.
Held: They had acquired the title by adverse possession against their mesne landlord (Mrs David) – but that nevertheless their statutory tenancy had continued against the freeholder.
Sir John Pennycuick said that: ‘I should be very reluctant to introduce a substantive distinction in the application of a provision of the Limitation Act to registered and unregistered land respectively, based upon what is plainly a conveyancing device designed to adapt that provision to the former class of land.’
Stephenson LJ said: ‘Decisions of this court prevent us from deciding that Mrs Schwartz was not, from the receipt of the last payment of rent by Mrs David, ‘a person in whose favour the period of limitation can run,’ and so not ‘in adverse possession’ within section 10 (1) of the Act of 1939 . . ‘
Judges:
Sir John Pennycuick, Stephenson LJ
Citations:
[1978] QB 264
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Landlord and Tenant, Limitation
Updated: 23 June 2022; Ref: scu.252434
