Alistdair Barclay Brown v Richard John Ridley & Anor
[2024] UKUT 14 (LC)
Naeem Nazir & Anor v Dilshad Begum
21 February 2024
[2024] EWHC 378 (KB)
High Court
Someone claimed they owned a piece of land because they'd lived on it for 10 years (adverse possession). The previous owners argued that because their dad died and the estate was being handled, this stopped the 10 year clock. The court said no; the rules about trusts don't apply in this situation and the person claiming adverse possession won.
Key Facts
- •Appeal concerning adverse possession of land.
- •Appellants' father died intestate; letters of administration obtained during the alleged adverse possession period.
- •Respondent claimed 10-year adverse possession.
- •Appellants argued that a statutory trust under Section 33 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 prevented adverse possession.
- •This point was raised for the first time on appeal.
- •Lower court found in favour of the Respondent, concluding that adverse possession had been established.
Legal Principles
A person is not to be regarded as being in adverse possession of an estate when the estate is subject to a trust, unless the interests of each of the beneficiaries in the estate is an interest in possession.
Schedule 6 paragraph 12 to the Land Registration Act 2002
The court is cautious about allowing a point to be run for the first time on appeal, generally requiring new evidence or a different trial conduct if the point had been raised earlier.
Singh v Dass [2019] EWCA Civ 360; Mullarkey v Broad [2009] EWCA Civ 2
On the death of a person intestate, the estate is held in trust by personal representatives with the power to sell it.
Section 33 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925
For a trust to exist, there must be identifiable property, a trustee, and identifiable beneficiaries who can enforce the trustee's duties.
Best v Curtis [2015] EWLandR 20150130; Commissioner of Stamp Duties (Queensland) v Livingstone [1965] AC 694; Ayerst v C & K (Construction) Ltd [1976] AC 167
Relief from sanctions for late service of a Respondent's Notice will be granted if it is just in all the circumstances.
Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
The court found that the statutory trust under Section 33 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 did not prevent adverse possession. Even if it did, the exception in Schedule 6 paragraph 12 applied because the beneficiaries (the appellants) had an interest in possession. The court also granted relief from sanctions for the late service of the Respondent's Notice.