Mina Sharma & Anor v Susannah Jane James & Anor

Facts

Numbers 25 and 26 Cottage Grove, Surbiton, are adjoining semi-detached houses, probably once a single Victorian cottage. The dispute concerned a sliver of land about 480mm wide forming part of the kitchen (and possibly a small part of the bathroom) in the rear extension of number 26. The Applicants, Ms Sharma and Mr Deeley, bought number 26 in 2012 from Mr and Mrs Wallace, who had owned it since 2000. The First Respondent, Mrs James, bought number 25 in June 2021 and, after a surveyor's drawing in May 2022, asserted that the land lay within her title on a "straight line" boundary and that number 26 was trespassing. Her solicitors threatened a mandatory injunction. The boundary had never been determined under section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002. The Applicants accepted the straight-line premise and applied on form ADV1 dated 15 March 2023 for title by adverse possession under Schedule 6 paragraph 1 of the Land Registration Act 2002. Mrs James served notice requiring the application to be dealt with under Schedule 6 paragraph 5 of the Land Registration Act 2002. The Applicants relied only on the third condition in Schedule 6 paragraph 5(4) of the Land Registration Act 2002, conceding that any reasonable belief ended in September 2019, so that they needed the Wallaces' period of possession and belief. Mr James was joined as a Respondent. The matter came before Judge Ewan Paton in the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).