Pallett v Broxbourne Borough Council: FTTPC 27 Aug 2019

Adverse Possession. Application for adverse possession under Schedule 6 of part of a title first registered in 2005. Respondent local authority, and owner of the disputed land, contended it was subject to a covenant to keep it as an open space under the Open Spaces Act 1906. Respondent had lodged Land Registry form NAP but failed to require the matter to be dealt with under Schedule 6 paragraph. 5 conditions. Applicants alleged that adverse possession commenced in the 1980s. Respondent denied this and also claimed that because the land was open space subject to certain bylaws, this rendered Applicant’s activities unlawful and therefore incapable of supporting the claim, seeking to distinguish Best v Chief Land Registrar [2015] EWCA (Civ) 17. HELD that Applicant’s statutory declaration in support of the application was inconsistent with their evidence in a previous case concerning adjoining land and the differences could not be adequately explained. Applicant’s evidence therefore not accepted and it was found that adverse possession (if any )had commenced no earlier than 2016/2017. The Best point did not have to be decided.

Citations:

[2019] UKFTT 593 (PC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Land

Updated: 12 September 2022; Ref: scu.645427