Deck 11: Adverse Possession

Question 1

There can be no adverse possession of land over which there is a public right of way.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

What is the limitation period in section 15 Limitation Act 1980 for the majority of adverse possession cases?

A) 12 years
B) 10 years
C) 30 years
D) 8 years

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What is the limitation period for unregistered land for land belonging to the Crown?

A) 12 years
B) 10 years
C) 30 years
D) 8 years

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following would not have the effect of stopping the clock for an adverse possessor?

A) A realisation by the claimant that they do not own the land in question
B) A successful action for possession by the paper owner
C) An acknowledgement of the paper owner's title by the adverse possessor
D) The paper owner peacefully and lawfully regains physical possession of the land where the paper owner has retaken custody and control of that land

Question 5

What is the period of adverse possession required in order to make an application to be registered proprietor under the Land Registration Act 2002?

A) 12 years
B) 10 years
C) 30 years
D) 8 years

Question 6

Which of the following is not one of the exceptional circumstances listed in Schedule 6 Land Registration Act 2002?

A) It would be unconscionable for the proprietor to dispossess the adverse possessor because of an estoppel and these circumstances means that the adverse possessor ought to be registered
B) The adverse possessor is entitled to be registered as proprietor for some other reason
C) The period of adverse possession has been 40 years
D) There is a boundary dispute concerning adjoining land and for at least 10 years the applicant believed the disputed land to be his and the disputed land has been registered for more than one year prior to the application

Question 7

Why was the register altered in Baxter v. Mannion?

A) The 'adverse possessor' had not in fact been in adverse possession for 10 years
B) It was unfair for the adverse possessor to be registered as proprietor because the paper owner had been ill
C) The adverse possessor had promised the paper owner that they would not apply to be registered as proprietor
D) The register was not altered because the guarantee in section 58 meant that the adverse possessor had guaranteed freehold title

Question 8

Which of the following would generally be sufficient to amount to physical possession for the purposes of adverse possession?

A) Grazing your cattle
B) Locked gate
C) Planting trees
D) Diverting a channel of water

Question 9

Is it necessary for a claim to adverse possession that the possessor knew that the land was not theirs?

Question 10

Is the necessary animus possidendi present even if the claimant would have been prepared to accept permission to use the land if it had been offered? Justify by reference to the case law.

Question 11

What effect will 12 years of adverse possession against a leaseholder have on the freehold owner?

Question 12

What was the result of the original tenant's attempted surrender of his lease in Fairweather v. St Marylebone Property Co Ltd?

Question 13

What is the effect of a counter-notice following an application of an adverse possessor to be registered proprietor of a registered estate under the Land Registration Act 2002?

Question 14

Is it necessary for the paper owner to be aware that they have lost physical possession of the land for a claim in adverse possession to succeed?

Question 15

In which case did Slade J summarise the requirement for factual possession as requiring the claimant to deal with the land as 'an occupying owner might have been expected to deal with it and that no-one else has done so'?

A) Baxter v. Mannion
B) Powell v. McFarlane
C) Pye v. Graham
D) Manchester Airport v. Dutton

Question 16

In which case was it held that if an adverse possessor of unregistered land acknowledges the paper owner's title after the 12 years limitation period has run, he cannot rely on his adverse possession as a defence to an action for possession from the paper owner?

A) Buckinghamshire CC v. Moran
B) Pye v. UK
C) Colchester BC v. Smith
D) Powell v. McFarlane

Question 17

the claim to adverse possession in Clowes Developments v. Walters failed because the claimant believed that they had permission to occupy.

Question 18

an adverse possessor takes unregistered land subject to interests which pre-exist the ending of the limitation period but which are not registered even though required to be registered as a land charge.

Question 19

a landlord can bring forfeiture proceedings against an original tenant where the leasehold interest has been acquired by a third party through adverse possession.

Question 20

an adverse possessor is able to transfer their period of possession to another who is then in turn able to use that period of possession to make up the total of the period required.

Question 21

an entitlement to be registered as proprietor of a registered estate is an interest capable of being protected by actual occupation against a purchaser.

Question 22

Under the Land Registration Act 2002 there is no period of limitation against a registered title.

Question 23

the court in Pye v. UK concluded that the rules on adverse possession were in breach of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Question 24

the acts taken which are said to be constitutive of the physical possession must be done solely in order to secure possession of the land and cannot have another motive. Justify your answer by reference to the case law.

Question 25

a tenant who adversely possesses a neighbour's land for the required period of time will himself be entitled to apply to be registered freehold proprietor on the basis of that adverse possession.

Question 26

a tenant who adversely possesses against his landlord is entitled to be registered as freehold proprietor of that land on the basis of that adverse possession.

Question 27

an adverse possessor of unregistered land obtains a new title to the land, rather than being transferred the paper owner's title.

Question 28

if an adverse possessor deliberately hides the fact of his possession this will generally prevent him from applying to be registered proprietor on the basis of adverse possession.

Question 29

if an adverse possessor becomes proprietor of a leasehold estate, the landlord can require the adverse possessor to pay rent and/or enforce the original tenant's repairing covenants.

Question 30

Is being in the receipt of rents an act of possession sufficient to found a claim in adverse possession?