Guy Thompson & Anor v The Borough Council of Calderdale

Facts

The applicants, Guy Thompson and Joanne Todd, bought 12 Clough Lane, Mixenden, near Halifax, in 2007. Their registered freehold title extends to a small area at the front of the terraced house but, at the rear, no further than the building itself. Behind the row lies a large open area of former school land registered to the Borough Council of Calderdale. A small part of that land has been enclosed and used as a rear garden for number 12. The council, working in partnership with a housing association on a new housing project on the former school site, identified the encroachment and in 2023 wrote asking for the fence to be removed. That prompted the applicants to apply to HM Land Registry to be registered as proprietors of the enclosed area under Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002, relying on the boundary condition; the application was treated as made on 1 December 2023, although the Form ADV1 is dated 11 March 2024. The council objected, contending that the applicants had not had exclusive possession before 2018 and that the boundary condition could not be met. The dispute was referred to the First-tier Tribunal, which held a site inspection on 27 April 2026 and a video hearing the following day, the applicants appearing in person.