Squatting or trespassing is when someone deliberately enters onto property or land without permission and occupies that land. This is also sometimes known as adverse possession.
Squatting in a residential building is illegal. If you are found to have committed this crime, you can be sentenced to up to 6 months in prison, a £5,000 fine, or both.
If someone enters property or land without the permission of the land owner, that is trespass; however, if the occupier did originally enter the land with the permission of the land owner, then they are not squatters.
If you rent a property and fall behind on rent payments, you are not squatting if you continue to live there because you were given permission to be there in the first place.
There are many situations when trespass can occur. For example:
- You may be a commercial business occupier and remain in occupation of the property when your lease ends (and you had a lease that was contracted out of the 1954 Landlord and Tenant Act).
- You replace a fence or wall in your garden, don't put it back on the original boundary line, and inadvertently include land that does not belong to you within the new boundary feature causing a boundary dispute.
- You discover that when your property was originally built, parts of your property, such as the gutters or eaves, overhang the legal boundary line and trespass onto next door's property.
- You decide to extend your property, and inadvertently, the extension to your property breaches the legal boundary line, resulting in trespass.
- You decide to store your bins or park on land you know you do not own for a prolonged period.
Many people will be familiar with the concept that if you have used land exclusively for a period of time, you can apply to HM Land Registry to become the owner of that land. This is commonly known as squatters' rights, and before the introduction of the Land Registration Act 2002 ("LRA"), you could apply for ownership if they had been in exclusive occupation and possession for a period of 12 years.
If you think that you have been occupying land that you did not own for a period in excess of 10 years, and, throughout that period, you have not allowed anybody else to use or access the property, you might be able to apply to have title to that land registered in your own name.
Since the introduction of the Land Registration Act 2002, if the period of exclusive use and occupation is over 10 years, adverse possession means that a squatter can apply to become the owner of the land.
How to become the owner of the land
The first thing to do would be to write to the land owner, if there is one, and set out that you have exclusively used and occupied the land for more than 10 or 12 years and invite them to consent to your Land Registry application to become the new owner. Assuming that is ignored or your claim is rejected, you would need to apply to HM Land Registry. They would then send a copy of the application to the registered owner of the land, and they would have the chance to object.
If the objection is maintained and the parties cannot agree to a settlement, ultimately, the Property First Tier Tribunal may have to decide whether the application can succeed or whether it has to be rejected.
What would I have to prove to succeed?
Adverse possession has two essential elements. The first is a demonstration of factual possession of the land, and the second is the necessary intention to possess the land without the true owner's consent.
Factual possession means that you will need to be able to demonstrate an appropriate degree of physical control of the land. The question of what constitutes a sufficient degree of exclusive physical control will depend on the circumstances, but broadly, you have to show that you have been dealing with the land as an occupying owner would have done so and that no one else has.
In terms of the intention to possess, you do not have to demonstrate an intention to own or have intended to acquire ownership of the land. What is important is that you can show that the possession has been adverse, i.e., the land owner has never given any permission for your use or occupation.
How to apply?
An application must be made to the HM Land Registry on form ADV1 accompanied by a statement of truth or declaration that meets the requirements. If you think that you have adversely possessed the land, you should promptly apply to avoid any argument that you have not acted quickly enough.
The application will also need to include supporting evidence demonstrating your adverse possession of the land for at least 10 years.
