Frances Catherine Grogan & Anor v Mohammed Alam & Anor

Facts

Mr and Mrs Grogan are the registered proprietors of the leasehold property at 220 Queensway, Rochdale, under title number GM497074, which they purchased in 1989. Behind their house lies a strip of unregistered land forming part of what was once a passageway running behind the Queensway houses, separating 220 from 8 Laburnum Terrace, of which Mr Alam has been the registered proprietor since 2019. Mr and Mrs Bell, who have lived at 3 Laburnum Terrace since 1983, live diagonally opposite. The Grogans applied to HM Land Registry to alter the register so that easements over the disputed land — described in the Land Registry Case Summary as a right of way and a right to store materials — were entered against their leasehold title and the freehold title, claiming those rights by long use since 1989. Both Mr Alam and the Bells objected: Mr Bell did not object to a right of way on foot but resisted rights to park or store, while Mr Alam objected in their entirety. The matter was referred to the Tribunal on 23 March 2025 and heard over three days in March 2026, with written closing submissions to follow; all parties appeared in person against a background of profound hostility, criminal and other civil proceedings dating from 2019.