Case note: Out of the woods and onto the Register – a successful claim for possession and title to woodland.
Kayleigh Bloomfield of St Johns Chambers and Thomas Lewis of WBW Solicitors acted for the successful Claimants in a claim for possession and a declaration of title by virtue of adverse possession to an unregistered oak woodland. In this case note, Kayleigh and Thomas discuss the points of interest:
Facts
1. The Claimants purchased a cottage near the woodland the subject of the dispute in the mid-1970’s. Shortly thereafter, the Claimants discovered the woodland and began to use and maintain it until late 2022 when the Defendant entered the woodland without the Claimants’ permission and began to excavate, accumulate waste, cut down trees and even construct a hut on the land.
2. The woodland was unregistered land. The Claimants were not the paper title holders to the woodland, nor had they registered themselves as owners by virtue of their adverse possession. The Claimants took steps to exclude the Defendant from the woodland, by erecting a fence where the Defendant had been gaining access to the woodland and displaying signage to indicate that the land belonged to them. The Defendant cut down the fence erected by the Claimants and used the materials to erect a new fence and a gate which he then fastened with a bicycle chain and displayed his own sign upon. The Claimants served the Defendant with a notice requiring him to vacate the woodland within 14 days but he failed to do so.
The Claims
3. The Claimants therefore had no option but to commence possession proceedings and seek a declaration of their title to the woodland so that they could thereafter take steps to register that title.
Outcome
4. At the first hearing, the Defendant attended and relied upon a defence which was filed but not served on the Claimants’ solicitor. The Defendant was given an opportunity to amend his Defence and file further witness evidence.
5. At the second adjourned hearing the court may have either decided the claim or given further case management directions. It was successfully argued that the court should decide the claim on a summary basis at the adjourned hearing, where the Claimants’ claim succeeded in full and a cost order secured. An order sufficient to enable the Land Registry to register the Claimants as the owners of the woodland was approved and the Claimants have now been registered as such following an expedited application.
Points of interest
6. The case is of particular note in two respects: (i) what does it take to establish adverse possession to a woodland; and (ii) could the Claimants, as squatters, claim possession from the Defendant, a later squatter?
7. Regarding (i), acts including maintaining the woodland, bird watching, planting trees and partial fencing were sufficient to establish adverse possession and it was accepted that in the case of open land, pursuant to Thorpe v Frank [2019] EWCA Civ 150, it is generally impossible to secure every part of the boundary.
8. In respect of (ii), a person in possession of land is entitled to retain and defend that possession against the whole world, save only a person with better title. Third parties who have themselves no title, cannot exploit the relative weakness of another person in prior possession of land by pleading jus tertii. Competing squatters must claim the land on the strength of their own title, not on the weakness of their competitors (Ocean Estates Ltd v Pinder [1969] 2 A.C 19). In the Claimants’ case, it was argued that the Defendant failed to advance a case on the strength of his own title and to the extent that he did, his title was not ‘better’ than the Claimants. Once the Claimants had successfully established title to the woodland by adverse possession, there was little difficulty for the court to find that the Claimants had a better title.
9. The case is discussed in greater detail in the article published here which may be of particular interest to practitioners: https://www.stjohnschambers.co.uk/articles-publication/out-of-the-woods-and-onto-the-register-a-successful-claim-for-possession-and-title-to-woodland.
If you have any questions relating to this case note or any other type of dispute, please contact Thomas Lewis, who is a member of the dispute resolution team at WBW Solicitors, on 01392 260140 or email thomaslewis@wbw.co.uk.
WBW Solicitors has offices in Axminster, Bovey Tracey, Brixham, Chard, Exeter, Exmouth, Honiton, Launceston, Newton Abbot, Paignton, Seaton, Sidmouth, and Torquay.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.
