Land registry adverse possession

[Lance]

Posted here as there is no better place and this is a seroiuos question so not for General.


Anyone had any dealing with the land registry and taking ownership of unregistered land?
Long story short, the land is a strip of land that used to be a footpath. The footpath was moved with permission of the council over 20 years ago.
the strip of land is not registered with any owner at LR.
I've had the property for 15 years and been maintaining the unregistered land during that time.
The seller of the property put in an indemnity insurance against anyone claiming ownership.

I've read the following....
Practice guide 5: adverse possession of (1) unregistered land and (2) registered land where a right to be registered was acquired before 13 October 2003 - GOV.UK

Is this the right method?
Has anyone done similar?
My accountant can't help. I don't want to engage a solicitor unless I have to.
I'm thinking of selling (the entire property not just the land) and reckon that although I can buy indemnity insurance, a sale would be easier if I own it legitimately.

[courtg9000]

With anything involving the land registry get a good solicitor involved.
Do not try and do anything yourself with them it is not worth the pain and hassle and you can so easily do irrevocable damage.
If your purchasers solicitor are any good this will get flagged on their searches and probably delay exchange and or completion. If you end up in a chain this could affect that.

[Paralytic]

I believe adverse possession can only be claimed if the piece of land has been (and can be shown to have been) used exclusively by the person claiming it (eg, it is fenced in) and not available for use by others. eg, does anyone walk their dog over the piece of land?

I'd recommend

1) Post your question over here: Forum | buildhub.org.uk (these guys know their stuff)
2) If you get a strong answer you're confident with, make the claim yourself, otherwise get a solicitor
3) But, find out more before doing anything official - even just asking the council about ownership can preclude getting adverse possession as you're admitting there is a question over ownership - you don't want to end up with a ransom strip situation (though I guess the existing indemnity policy would come into play then)

Remember, the lack of an owner defined at LR does not mean the land does not have an owner.

I suspect selling with an indemnity policy will be a quicker route to a sale.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

Adverse posession is massive - There is even a book by Marc Wonnacott QC on this subject - It will be extremely expensive if it gets litigated upon