John Bartlett Jones v Mark Julian Snelling & Anor

Facts

The applicant, John Bartlett Jones, is the registered proprietor of 5 and 7 Spring Vale Road, Hayfield, High Peak. He has lived at 5 since 1974 and purchased the neighbouring 7 in 1994 from a mortgagee selling under a power of sale, at which point 7 was first registered; he then converted the two into a single property. The respondents, Mark Julian Snelling and Tina Snelling, are the registered proprietors of the leasehold interest in 9 Spring Vale Road, which they purchased in 2022 having rented it for a short time before. The disputed land is a strip forming part of the title to 9, allocated provisional title number DY581643, on which stands an extension to 7 co-extensive with that land and accessible only from inside the building on 7. The applicant applied to HM Land Registry under paragraph 1 of Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002 to be registered as proprietor of the disputed land, the application being entered on the day list on 20 May 2024. The respondents objected and served a counter notice requiring the application to be dealt with under paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to the Land Registration Act 2002, the applicant relying on the boundary condition. The dispute was referred to the First-tier Tribunal on 9 June 2025.