Adverse Possession Claim- Where owner of property has changed in the last 12 years

Hi,

We are currently in the process of selling our property and have discovered the boundaries on the title plan do not encompass the entirety of our garden. The garden has been fenced in since the property was built 20 years ago. However, when we have received the title plan to check as part of our sale the boundary does not reflect where the fence at the back of the garden is and cuts off approx one third of the garden. We had a lack of understanding of this when we bought the property and it has clearly not come to light in the previous sales as there have been multiple owners!  

We believe the land that is cut off on the title plan may have been unregistered land, so when the property was first registered there was potentially an issue with putting the full boundary on the title plan.

We bought the property in 2018 so do not have 12 years factual possession ourselves (although obviously do have 6!). Would we be able to use any other evidence to look to claim adverse possession of this land? One of the people responsible for building our house still lives in one of the neighbouring properties and has done since the properties were built. We were wondering whether evidence from him of continued use by previous owners would be sufficient or whether we would have to look at tracing the previous owners of our property to see if they could provide a statement confirming adverse possession in the time they owned the property? 

Would hugely appreciate any advice as we are very worried about this!

Thanks,

Laura

Hi Laura - sorry to read of the issues you are facing. One of the essentials involved here is the factual possession so to make up the number of years you would need a statement of truth form the previous owner(s) as appropriate. 
Neighbours or others with knowledge can be supportive but they won't be included in the essential factual possession calculation 
The alternative, and one to discuss with your conveyancer, is the possibility of offering your buyer an indemnity policy plus statement of truth to insure them should someone else coming forward to claim ownership of the land. Indemnity policies such as this are quite commonplace but very much a mater for the conveyancers and any mortgage lender to consider and agree to as appropriate
 

Thanks so much for your reply Adam, I really appreciate it!

There’s a possibility we may be able to get a statement of truth from the person we bought the property from as we have their contact details but it would only cover an additional 2 years. I imagine we’d struggle to find contact information for any of the other previous owners so it looks like our statement of truth and an indemnity policy would be the best option.

 Thanks again!