Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Adverse possession definition

What does Adverse possession mean? In land law, adverse possession is acquiring land by long, open occupation without the owner’s consent, so the owner’s claim is time‑barred and the possessor may obtain title or registration. Statutory and shaped by case law (e.g. JA Pye v Graham): requires factual possession and an intention to possess; possession must be continuous, exclusive and not permissive, forcible or secret. England and Wales: for unregistered land, 12 years under the Limitation Act 1980 extinguishes title. For registered land, the Land Registration Act 2002, Sch 6 allows an application after 10 years; the registrar notifies the proprietor, who...

Prevent adverse possession applications; recover land discreetly

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Published by a LexisNexis Property expert

Q&As

In responding to this Q&A, the following assumptions are made:

the land is not a residential property
the land is registered
the period of Possession occurred after October 2013 and the 'new Rules' apply to it

Definitions used for clarity:

the owner is 'the registered proprietor'
the third party is 'the squatter'

For a squatter to pursue an Adverse possession claim against the registered proprietor, the squatter must demonstrate, for the requisite period of ten years, that both of the following are satisfied:

the claimant enjoyed uninterrupted factual possession of the land for that period ('factual possession'); and
the claimant intended to possess the land throughout that period ('intention to possess')

These elements must be established across the whole of that period.

Factual Possession

To establish factual possession, the squatter must have exercised a sufficient degree of exclusive physical control over the land. What amounts to sufficiency is circumstantial, fact-sensitive, and dependent on the usual or expected use of the land...

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Kate Andrews

Hamlins

Kate is a partner in the Property Litigation department at Hamlins LLP and advises on a wide variety of contentious property-related matters. Her main area of practice is contractual and development disputes, including specific performance claims, injunctions, rights to light, insolvency issues, Party Wall Act disputes and the redevelopment of business premises. She also deals with dilapidations, service charges, applications for consent, rent reviews and other landlord and tenant issues. Kate trained with Nabarro, qualifying in 2003. She joined Hamlins as a partner in 2014....

Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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