Brown (Respondent) v Ridley and another (Appellants)

Hearing listed

Case summary
Appeal
Change log

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2024/0044

Parties

Appellant(s)

(1) Richard John Ridley (2) Sarah Louise Ridley

Respondent(s)

Alistdair Barclay Brown

Issue

What is the period of ten years in which an applicant for registration as the owner of land over on the basis of adverse possession must hold the reasonable belief that they were the owner of that land under paragraph 5(4)(c) of Schedule 6 of the Land Registration Act 2002?

Facts

Mr Brown (the respondent) is the registered owner of land known as “land on the west side of the Promenade” at Consett, County Durham, which he purchased in September 2002. Mr and Mrs Ridley (the appellants) are the registered owners of Valley View, which they purchased in July 2004. The respondent’s land is adjacent to the south-west boundary of Valley View. In the 1980s, Mr Shaw (a previous owner of Valley View) put up a fence and planted a hedge along what he understood to be the boundary wall of Valley View, but which it is now agreed by the parties was on the respondent’s land (referred to as the disputed land). The fence and the hedge remained in place until the summer of 2018. In early 2018, the appellants successfully applied for planning permission to build a new dwelling in the garden at Valley View. The appellants undertook construction works between June 2019 and October 2020. The corner of that new dwelling is located on the disputed land. In 2019, having become aware of the construction works, the respondent investigated the ownership of the disputed land. He concluded that the new dwelling was being built on his land. On 21 October 2019, the respondent gave notice to the appellants that he considered the works on the new dwelling to be in breach of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. On 10 December 2019, the appellants applied to HM Land Registry to be registered as the owners of the disputed land on the basis that they had been in adverse possession of that land since 2004. The respondent objected to that application. On 18 February 2021, as the matter could not be resolved before HM Land Registry, the Chief Land Registrar referred the appellants’ application to the First Tier Tribunal, which allowed the application. The respondent appealed to the Upper Tribunal, which allowed his appeal. The appellants now appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.