RTC Investments Limited v Grantley (Catford) Limited

Facts

RTC Investments Limited owns the freehold of Duke House, 84-86 Rushey Green, Catford. Grantley (Catford) Limited owns the neighbouring property at 80-82 Rushey Green. The two properties were never in common ownership. The alleyway between them lies wholly within the respondent's title. The original buildings at No. 84-86 were demolished in 1973-1974 and replaced by Duke House, an office building. Duke House was let to Lewisham in 1974, then leased to Hamnet Ltd in 2000, and the applicant bought the freehold in 2002. Ms Gloria Hamilton, the applicant's sole director, was also a director of Hamnet. On 30 May 2023 the applicant applied to HM Land Registry to register a prescriptive right of way on foot over the alleyway. It said the alleyway had long been used as an emergency fire escape route from two fire doors in Duke House. The respondent objected that it had seen no evidence of any such use. Land Registry referred the dispute to the Tribunal under s.73(7) Land Registration Act 2002. The applicant claimed a right over the whole alleyway or, alternatively, up to a point about a quarter of the way along it, relying on its own use and that of its predecessors back to the 1920s. By the hearing it accepted that its other pleaded rights and relief could not be pursued. It also accepted that prescription, under The Prescription Act 1832 or lost modern grant, was the only arguable basis for the claim.